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03/13/93
2 Branch Davidians leave compound, are detained; Action marks break in stalemate between agents, sect
By Bruce Nichols / The Dallas Morning News
WACO-For the first time in a week, a break in a stalemate with a barricaded religious cult came Friday with the departure of two members -- including the first male follower to voluntarily leave the group's compound.
A man identified as Oliver Gyarfas, 19, of Australia was taken into custody about 6:30 p.m. Friday, 7 _ hours after Kathryn Schroeder surrendered to law officers, said federal authorities.
Mr. Gyarfas was one of three men reported by federal agents to have received permission Thursday from cult leader David Koresh to leave the compound. The other two men remained inside the compound Friday night, the 13th day of the standoff with the Branch Davidian sect.
Mrs. Schroeder, whose four children previously had left the compound, told federal agents that "she's anxious to be reunited with her children,' said FBI Special Agent Richard Swensen of New Orleans.
The action marked the first positive signs in the impasse between cult members and federal agents, who hauled several cars away from the compound's outer walls Friday in bitterly cold, windy weather and sodden conditions.
"The release of a second person, particularly a second adult, is a positive step,' said Jack Killorin, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in Washington.
Also Friday, a group of lawyers who say they are representing some cult members' relatives complained that federal officials were blocking their efforts to gain access to the cult. And Mr. Koresh's paternal grandmother was turned back by authorities when she tried to approach the compound to offer her help as a negotiator.
Mrs. Schroeder, whose Texas driver's license lists her as age 30, was in federal custody Friday night as a material witness in the federal investigation. An affidavit filed by the U.S. attorney's office to explain reasons for her detention was ordered sealed Friday by a U.S. magistrate in Waco, said a spokesman for the ATF.
Mr. Killorin said Mr. Gyarfas was taken into custody after "he just walked out' of the Branch Davidian compound.
"He's being processed at the command post (at Texas State Technical College) and then to the McLennan County Jail, probably to be charged as a material witness,' Mr. Killorin said.
Four ATF agents and an undetermined number of sect members were killed in the initial shootout with ATF agents Feb. 28. Federal agents then surrounded the so-called Ranch Apocalypse, bringing in armored vehicles and tanks, to wait for sect members' surrender.
Mrs. Schroeder's husband, Michael, 29, was killed in a brief gunbattle later that day. His body was found in a wooded area about 350 yards behind the compound.
Although her first husband has been given given custody of her three oldest children, Agent Swensen said, Mrs. Schroeder wants to be reunited with the fourth child, a 3-year-old boy still in state custody.
A federal law enforcement official who asked not to be identified said Mrs. Schroeder has been identified by children who left the compound as one of a number of female cult followers who may have fired shots at ATF agents during the raid.
The departure of Mr. Gyarfas and Mrs. Schroeder brings to 25 the number of people who have left since the standoff began.
Two older women and 21 children have also have left. Another male follower, Delroy Nash of Jamaica, was captured after the gunbattle with federal agents in which Mr. Schroeder was killed, several hours after the initial firefight. Woodrow Kendrick, 62, who authorities believe was also involved in that second gunbattle, was arrested this week on federal firearms violation charges.
Mrs. Schroeder was whisked away from the area in a sedan, appearing to hide under a coat as she passed reporters and photographers encamped near the standoff site.
Friday morning, Agent Swensen had described as "a setback' the failure of three men to emerge as promised Thursday by Branch Davidian leaders.
But he said agents haven't given up, and Friday evening, their hopes were realized with Mr. Gyarfas' emergence. The other two men who have asked to leave were identified as Kevin White-cliff, 32, and Brad McBranch, 34, the FBI said.
The return of Mr. Koresh to telephone negotiations with federal agents Thursday night also was described as a hopeful sign.
Mr. Koresh had not talked to agents in more than two days, during which his second-in-command, Steve Schneider, handled negotiations for the group in the compound.
Mr. Koresh, who has said he is suffering from headaches and pain because of a gunshot wound he suffered in the Feb. 28 shootout, talked to agents from 7 until about 8:15 p.m. Thursday, Agent Swensen said.
"It was about the same as always,' Agent Swensen said of the conversation. "He started off a little tired, picked up, got some adrenalin going and seemed to be fine after that. We didn't get into the long Bible studies that we frequently do.'
When the conversation moved to the mechanics of sending more people out of the compound, Mr. Koresh handed the telephone to Mr. Schneider, though Mr. Koresh appears to still be in command, Agent Swensen said.
In the last two days, dealing with Mr. Schneider has produced about the same progress as dealing with Mr. Koresh, Agent Swensen said.
"Frankly, we've had some very positive conversations with both. . .
. We kind of get the impression that both of them are pitching in and taking a fair share of the negotiations,' Agent Swensen said.
As for Mr. Koresh's wounds, the agent said, the major injury has been described as a flesh wound on his left side and is not considered life-threatening unless it becomes infected. He also is believed to have been wounded in one wrist, federal officials said.
Federal authorities remain opposed to allowing Mr. Koresh's mother, Bonnie Haldeman, lawyers or anyone else into the compound, although they don't rule out third-party participations in future negotiations, Agent Swensen said.
Mrs. Haldeman was turned back Thursday when she and her lawyer, Dick De-Guerin of Houston, tried to approach the compound.
Friday, Jean Holub of Houston, Mr. Koresh's paternal grandmother, was also turned back when she tried to pass police barricades with an Australian television crew.
Mrs. Haldeman and two lawyers' groups, Cause Foundation Inc. and the ad hoc Lawyers Response Committee to the Mount Carmel Assault, have asked a federal judge to allow them access to Mr. Koresh. That judge rejected their initial request Thursday.
Federal authorities said Mr. Koresh has not requested outside legal aid.
As for introducing a third party to the negotiations, Agent Swensen said: "We can handle that well ourselves (but) . . . that option is still remaining open. . . . If we think it's the time to do it, we will. It's an option we leave open, but right now I don't hear any talk of doing that.'
Asked at a news briefing whether the agencies felt impotent, Agent Swensen denied it.
"Obviously we have a strategy. We've already gotten 21 children out . . . and we've just talked of getting four more out,' he said.
"We don't feel impotent. I think clearly the situation could be resolved tactically whenever we want to. And I think clearly the bureau (FBI) and ATF are thinking of all the lives that are in the compound and want to get this resolved peacefully without any further loss of life.'
Friday's cold, damp weather makes waiting beside the road for an end to the standoff harder, Agent Swensen said, but "it's not having an effect on what we're doing.'
Staff writers Lee Hancock and Bruce Tomaso contributed to this report.
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