Few Threads Linked Followers Of Koresh

They came from as far away as England and Australia, some searching for the meaning of life, others for rock 'n' roll fame.

They were old and young, black and white, all with a shared vision that cut across social lines: mechanic, Harvard-educated lawyer, engineer, computer programmer, real estate salesman, theology student, social worker, musician.

There is no single thread to explain why people of different cultures, different countries, different generations sacrificed themselves and their children for the preaching of David Koresh, a high-school dropout who said he was a modern Jesus.

"They were looking for someone who had the answer, a belief system to help them make sense of the world," said Rachel Bernstein, coordinator of the Los Angeles Jewish Family Services' Cult Clinic.

Young, charismatic, with an a rock 'n' roll manner and an encyclopedic memory of the Bible, Koresh reeled in followers everywhere he went. And they, in turn, brought along others. A mother sold her restaurant and was joined by her daughter. Sometimes there were entire families.

An estimated 86 of them, plus Koresh, were in the prairie compound called Mount Carmel when it was devoured by fire after the FBI moved in last Monday. Only nine are known to have survived.

There were at least 18 Britons, nine Australians, three Canadians and an Israeli.

At least 15 found their way through Hawaii.

Six were over age 60, 30 between 20 and 40. And 17 were children, no more than 10 years old, many who never lived anywhere else.

Their bond, of course, was Koresh, whose ability to rattle off Bible passages and interpretation attracted members of the Seventh-day Adventists, a longtime target of Branch Davidians, who split off from the Adventists 50 years ago.

Another fertile ground was the 17,000-member Adventist community in England, where Koresh went in 1988, staging 17-hour Bible sessions at a home at Newbold College, an Adventist training school near Bracknell.

Hugh Dunton, a lecturer at Newbold, recalled, "People were mentally zapped at the end of the day and were prepared to take what he said at face value. He reminded me of Rasputin."

Many thought him a prophet.

Diana Henry was a 26-year-old psychology student when she fell under the sway of Koresh and moved from England to just outside Waco, Texas. Her zeal for this new prophet led her to recruit five family members.

Diana died in the fire, along with her mother, Zilla Henry, 55, a nurse from Manchester, and four siblings: Stephen, 26, Pauline, 24, Phillip, 22, and Vanessa, 19.

"I told my family, `You are on the road to destruction,' but they would not believe me," said her father, Samuel Henry.

One of the surviors was Livingstone Fagan. A 34-year-old Seventh-day Adventist pastor, he was defrocked for preaching Koresh-inspired heresy. He and his wife, Evette, sold their belongings to join Koresh with their children, Renea, 8, and Nahana, 4.

Fagan walked out of the Waco compound last month and is under arrest. His children were released.

Evette stayed and died.

Englishman Renos Avraam, 29, was another follower to survive. He and his girlfriend, Alison Bernadette Monbelly, 31, of Manchester, ran a computer business before joining the cult a year ago. She died in the fire.

Avraam's mother, Ifhegenia Avraam, said he "became convinced that Jesus was living in Waco and he must be one of his disciples. I thought it was just a bad phase he was going through."

And there is Teresa Nobrega, 48, who also brought her daughter, Natalie, 11, to Waco last April to await the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. They left behind her husband, Winston.

"I call him a con man, but they say he's Jesus," Winston Nobrega said.

Natalie was released from the compound and lived. Teresa stayed and died.

And still the list goes on.

There are the Australians, recruited with the help of Clive Doyle, an Australian printer.

Doyle survived the siege and fire.

Peter and Nicole Gent didn't. They were 24-year-old twins, the children of Bruce and Lisa Gent, Australian Adventists interested in music. Koresh won the parents over, even convincing them to let him sleep with Nicole when she was 19, telling them she was his gift from God.

Bruce and Lisa became disenchanted and returned home; their children stayed. Koresh reportedly fathered Nicole's two children: Dayland, 3, and Page, 1. Nicole and the two children died in the fire, along with her cult husband, Jeff Little, an American computer-science major. Peter died in the Feb. 28 shootout.

"They were convinced they would suffer some reprisal from God if they left," said their half-brother, Ian Manning, who once belonged to the cult.

And then there were those recruited in Hawaii.

In 1986, Koresh won a dozen followers at the Diamond Head Seventh-day Adventist Church - among them his top lieutenant, Steve Schneider, 43, the last cult member to talk to authorities before the fire.

Schneider was a University of Hawaii graduate and studied for the ministry at the Adventists' Andrews University in Michigan. He sold real estate on Oahu. He was a Ronald Reagan Republican, a mountain climber, a surfer.

A native of Green Bay, Wis., he married his high-school sweetheart, Judy, 41, who also became one of Koresh's wives and had a daughter with him, 2-year-old Mayanah. All three died.

Rick Ross, a Phoenix-based cult expert, said Schneider typified the good intentions of Koresh's followers.

"He wanted to believe in something greater than the materialistic values of society," Ross said. "He wanted more in his life. He wanted to live for ideals and principles. Koresh pretended that was what he believed in, too."

Another Hawaii recruit, Sherri Lynn Jewell, taught shorthand and secretarial courses. Originally from Battle Creek, Mich., she had become one of Koresh's wives and was accused of preparing her daughter, 12-year-old Kiri, to become another wife. Kiri was removed from the compound a year ago when her father won custody. Sherri stayed and died.

Douglas Wayne Martin, 42, a New York City native who became a top lieutenant, didn't seem to fit the Davidian mold.

A 1972 dean's list graduate of City College, Martin got his law degree from Harvard five years later.

He represented Koresh in negotiations with federal authorities. He was a law librarian at North Carolina Central University School of Law for eight years.

"If you would have told me 10 years ago that Douglas Wayne Martin would be associated with a group like that, it would have surprised, shocked and amazed me," said professor Fred Williams.

Federal agents say he was wearing a necklace of hand grenades when the shootout began.

Martin's wife, Sheila, 46, left the compound on March 21 with three of their children.

Two others, Sheila, 15, and Lisa, 13, were among those on the death list.

And still the list goes on - wives and husbands, sons and daughters, all caught up in a deadly momentum that began with hopes of a better days, of a life with purpose.