Mother Allowed to Leave Cult Compound

A Branch Davidian cult member whose husband was killed in a shootout with federal agents left the sect’s heavily armed compound Friday after telling authorities that she wanted to see her children.

Kathy Schroeder’s four children were released the previous week in the days following the Feb. 28 gun battles between cult members and federal agents.

Schroeder, 34, was the first person to leave the complex in a week. Three men who had been saying for two days that they want to leave the compound remained inside.

FBI special agent Dick Swensen said cult members said “it wasn’t time” to release Oliver Gyarfas, 19; Kevin Whitecliff, 32, and Brad Branch, 34.

Telephone discussions with the cult continued, and cult leader David Koresh talked with negotiators for a little more than an hour Thursday night, his first session since Tuesday, Swensen said.

Swensen said negotiators were told Schroeder wanted “to be reunited with her children.”

Schroeder’s children were among 21 youngsters released in intervals several days earlier. Two elderly women also have left the compound. Koresh claims that there are 89 adults and 17 children still inside.

The four children lived with Schroeder and her husband, Michael, at the compound outside Waco, according to court documents. Three of the children were from her previous marriage to Air Force Sgt. William Mabb, while a 3-year-old boy was from her marriage to Michael Schroeder, according to the documents. Michael Schroeder, 29, was killed Feb. 28 and his body was found in a wooded area 350 yards behind the compound, the FBI said. At least one other sect member and four federal agents also were killed.

Mabb, who is stationed at Ellsworth Air Force base in South Dakota, came from Guam last week to claim custody of his children under an emergency order.

“She’s aware that her husband has the three children,” Swensen said. “There is a fourth child not of that husband that she is anxious to come out and take care of.”

The state was awarded temporary custody of the other 18 children, including Kathy Schroeder’s fourth child, while requests from other relatives are evaluated.

Authorities declined to say where the woman was taken after leaving the compound.