This early picture of the children of the Henry family was published in Newsweek, May 17, 1993, pg. 50.  All five—Diana, Paulina, Vanessa, Phillip, and Stephen—were killed during the Waco Holocaust.

We have noted before that, when talking about the numbers and identities of the Branch Davidians at the Mt. Carmel Center, the government's numbers do not add up.  The death toll is a case in point.

We have also seen contemporaneous newspaper accounts that 14 Branch Davidians died the first day, and many more were injured (e.g., The Dallas Morning News, March 3, 1993: "Negotiations with cult drag on: 14 may be dead in compound; Group's leader fails to give up as promised").  We have noted no newspapers carried reports of injured persons coming out during the siege.

On April 22 several newspapers across the country quoted the FBI to the effect that 86 Branch Davidians died during the fire.  A list was published along with this statement.  The image of the tally from the Washington Times is produced in FBI List of Mt. Carmel Residents, April 21, 1993.  The tally has been formatted for readability.  That FBI release named:

That "information" is yet another piece of disinformation and an attempt to confuse.

The "unaccounted for," by definition, must be those people who were lost in the fire.  Yet there were only 55 names in that list, not 86.  Of those 55 "unaccounted for" names, three were "reportedly" killed in February.  Among those is the name of Michael Schroeder.  Yet Michael Schroeder had been killed in an open field outside the Mt. Carmel Center—the Texas Rangers/FBI had authority over the body since February 28.  There was no "reportedly" about it: Michael Schroeder was dead.

At 1:50 p.m., the body of Michael Schroeder was recovered by agents in a wooded area near the compound. Schroeder had been shot by ATF agents on February 28 when he and two other individuals ambushed the agents. (DoJ Report, pg. 39)

Here we have an evolving story:

The Jillane Matthews Problem: The name, "Jillane Matthews," appears on the "unaccounted for" list in both newspapers.  That is the first and last time a "Jillane Matthews" is mentioned; she is not on any list of the dead and did not leave during the siege.  Thus of the 55 names of persons on the "unaccounted for" list, three died in February, one was possibly fictitious—that left 51 names available for fire victims.  Yet the FBI claimed there were 86 fire victims.

Again, the US had a number of sophisticated eavesdropping devices monitoring the Branch Davidians, informants among the Davidians, and unlimited access to the Branch Davidians who left during the siege.  Through any of those means, they must have had the names of those who were in the Mt. Carmel Center on April 19.  The FBI obviously had the names of those who allegedly escaped the fire.  Therefore, the names of those who died should have been immediately obvious.

Death Toll—Other Media Reports

The news services provide us with additional death toll information and numbers.

FBI Blamed Koresh for Discrepancies

The FBI blamed David Koresh for the discrepancies, saying that Koresh gave them false information on the number of people in the Mt. Carmel Center.  Yet, as we have seen, the FBI had

  1. surveillance devices
  2. undercover operatives
  3. the Davidians who left during the siege

—all of those were available to furnish the identities of those in the Center at the time of the April 19 fire.  There was no reason at all for the FBI or anyone else to consult David Koresh or rely on his information.

Death Toll—Branch Davidian and DoJ Reports

According to Branch Davidian fire survivor Clive Doyle, 82 Branch Davidians died between the days of February 28 and April 19, 1993 (Clive Doyle's Complete List of Mt. Carmel Deaths).  That number includes six Davidians killed on February 28.

The DoJ Report (Redacted Version), published on October 8, 1993, states that 75 persons died during the fire.  At the time of publication, many of the remains were unidentified.

Death Toll—The McLennan County Inquest List

We now turn to the McLennan County List ("Waco ID's"), obtained from the office of Judge Collier, Justice of the Peace in McLennan County, which the Museum has termed, the "Inquest List."  The handwriting on that List was present when the Museum received the document and the significance is not known.  Note that no organizational name appears on the List.  The Doe Numbers are listed in the left column, followed by the identity assigned to the remains, the identification method, the date of identification, and comments.

While reviewing the Inquest List, the reader should be warned that the methods used in tracking the remains during the forensic process were inconsistent.  For example:

The Davidian names Lisa Marie Martin, Sheila Renee Martin, Paulina Henry, Jillane Matthews, and Startle Summers are not found in the McLennan County Inquest list.

Collated Identification Matrix

The Collated Identification Matrix is a collation of lists of Mt. Carmel casualties from the different sources.  The primary source is McLennan County's Identification List list.  That information is collated with the Autopsy Reports and Inquest Certificates provided by Judge Collier's office.  Also included is the information from the Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas (cached), the FBI list, Clive Doyle's list, and trial testimony.

By default, this list is sorted by Mt. Carmel Doe number.  The reader can sort the list by surname, given name, method of identification, or date of identification by clicking on the header of the column.

Linked to each Mt. Carmel Doe number is a page with the autopsy report and death certificate for the individual.  In May 1996, Judge James Collier confirmed by telephone that, since the issue of that matrix, no additional identifications had been established.