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04/26/93
Life getting back to normal in Waco; Officers sift rubble for clues
By David McLemore / The Dallas Morning News
WACO-While the city's churches tried to put the tragedy at Mount Carmel in perspective Sunday, investigators continued to rake through the rubble of the fire-ravaged Branch Davidian compound, searching for clues.
One of the 44 charred bodies retrieved from the compound has been identified, authorities said, but the identity is being withheld until the family is notified. Forensic specialists said there is a 90 percent chance of fully identifying the other bodies recovered so far.
Efforts to retrieve additional bodies were slowed while authorities sprayed for flies and arranged to clean up rotting food left when numbers of large cans of food exploded in the intense heat of the fire that swept through the compound April 19.
On Feb. 28, four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents were killed and 16 wounded in an attempt to serve a search warrant on cult leader David Koresh. Authorities believe 86 sect members, including Mr. Koresh and 17 children, died in the blaze during the closing hours of the cult's 51-day standoff with federal agents.
The violence of the deaths and the intensity of world scrutiny during the siege at Mount Carmel has been particularly trying for the people of Waco, said Dr. Winfred Moore, acting pastor at the city's First Baptist Church.
"This has been a grieving time for Waco and today, we're trying to put this behind us,' Dr. Moore said. "It's like we've been to a funeral and now, we're walking away from a filled grave, saddened by needing to get on with our lives.'
References to the Mount Carmel tragedy were woven through the sermon preached by Dr. Moore to the congregation that filled the 142-year-old church Sunday.
In the afternoon, Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Laureen Chernow said the Texas Rangers continued to gather evidence and remove debris from the charred ruins of the compound.
No efforts were made Sunday to remove four bodies found within the large concrete bunker that served as the base of the compound's three-story watchtower because the bunker, which also contains a substantial cache of ammunition, had to be sprayed for flies, Ms. Chernow said.
County health officials have also been called in to determine what health hazards exist at the compound due to rotting food from exploded cans, she said.
Sunday, there was an abrupt change in the practice of letting the Tarrant County medical examiner's office, which is conducting autopsies for McLennan County, give press briefings on the autopsy and indentification of the bodies retrieved from the compound. That information will now come from the county justices of the peace, who, by law, must hold an inquest investigation on any body found in their jurisdiction.
Sunday Justice of the Peace David Pareya said the Tarrant County medical examiner had positively identified one of the bodies retrieved from the compound through dental charts and fingerprints.
There are either fingerprints, dental charts or dental X-rays for the six autopsies performed so far, Justice Pareya said.
He would not discuss whether any of the bodies recovered has been identified as being Mr. Koresh.
Of the 44 bodies retrieved, six were found in the compound's chapel, nine were on top of the bunker and four were inside, and 25 were near the front door, Mr. Pareya said.
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