The Branch Davidians: Life Before And After The Famous Cult
Joann VaegaJoann Vaega lost her parents to the Branch Davidian cult — and the FBI’s fiery response to the cult’s behavior.
For 76 devoted cult members, life as a Branch Davidian ended with the Waco siege. On April 19, 1993, the FBI forcefully breached the compound’s walls after hearing nefarious claims about the group.
The siege had actually lasted for a couple months already, but the FBI’s tank and tear gas assault on April 19th caused a massive fire — and the deaths of dozens of those cult members.
But long before the fire, leader David Koresh had convinced his followers that he was a prophet chosen by God. In 1983, he had joined the Branch Davidians, a group that splintered off from the Seventh Day Adventist Church. And by 1992, he had completely taken over the group — preaching a brand of apocalyptic prophecy that predicted the group would one day be attacked by the U.S. government.
Joann Vaega was only six years old during the siege but remembers life inside the Branch Davidian cult as though it were yesterday. While the death of her parents amidst the fire remains most ingrained in her, she also clearly recalls Koresh’s glaring dive into madness.
“As I got older, it started getting a little darker,” she said. “It was a lot more fear… You just did not know what he had up his sleeve at any time of the day.”
The famous cult was often described as apocalyptic, and a place of sexual abuse. Girls as young as 11 were handed a plastic Star of David, which meant they had “the light” — and thus were ready to have sex with Koresh.
Fortunately, Vaega escaped that horrific fate. But her parents Margarida and Neil Vaega perished in the fiery aftermath of Koresh’s actions — shortly after convincing their daughter to leave the compound.
“My mom was really adamant about doing everything to get me out,” she said. “As quickly as she could, she packed what little I had and I said goodbye to my parents. I absolutely believe that my mom was the driving force in saving me.”
Members of the famous cult were being ordered to send their children out before the situation escalated, with Vaega’s parents fatefully agreeing. When Vaega heard helicopters approaching, she simply remembered that Koresh had foretold this would happen all along.
“After that, it was just a hail of gunfire. At some point I was walking around, [and] I saw a lot of dead bodies. I wasn’t scared. That’s what David said was going to happen. These people were gonna come and they were gonna kill us and we were all gonna die. To me, it wasn’t anything outside of the norm,” Vaega said.
FBI/Wikimedia CommonsA tank destroying the roof of the Mount Carmel compound’s gymnasium.
Vaega was one of 21 children who were safely released during the 51-day standoff. Sent to live with her half sister, she was later notified that her parents had been killed.
“I didn’t cry,” she recalled. “I wasn’t fazed at all because that’s exactly what my parents had told me my whole life would happen to the Branch Davidians.”
But adjusting to life after the cult obviously required major changes.
She said, “It was kind of scary, going from being spanked for everything you do to making mistakes as a kid and waiting for the ax to drop. Flushing toilets was a big deal, baths were a big deal, even running water in general. I had no idea what anything was. It was like starting completely over.”
In the years since the fiery end to the famous cult, Vaega has proudly raised children of her own while navigating the trauma. Though the siege showed a disturbing shift in militarized tactics against civilians — and her parents died as a result — Vaega is grateful that she had the experience.
“I can honestly say that if I didn’t go through these kinds of experiences, I wouldn’t be half of the mom I am today,” she said, “I wouldn’t be the wife that I am today, I wouldn’t be half the individual I am today. I can’t imagine my life [being] any different. I wouldn’t want to. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
