Getty Bonnie Haldeman, mother of David Koresh, in 1993
David Koresh’s mother, Bonnie Sue Clark Haldeman, had a troubled early life. When she died, she was working as a nurse. In 2009, more than a decade after the siege in Waco, she was found stabbed to death in her sister’s home. Her sister was not ruled competent to stand trial. David Koresh is the subject of a new series on Netflix called Waco, which previously aired in 2018 on Paramount.
David’s Mother, Bonnie, Was Stabbed to Death By Her Sister
GettyBonnie Haldeman of Houston (R), mother of cult leader David Koresh and attorney Dick DeGuerin speaks with reporters 11 March 1993 at the Federal Courthouse.
In 2009, David Koresh’s mother, Bonnie Clark Haldeman, was found stabbed to death in her younger sister Beverly Clark’s home, the Daily Mail reported.
Bonnie was 64 when she died. Her body was found at Beverly’s home in Chandler, near Houston. Beverly and Bonnie were the only people in the house when it happened, and police were unsure of the motive.
Beverly and Bonnie’s niece, Hollie Helrigel, said that Beverly had a long history of mental illness since her teens, Athens Review reported. She said that Bonnie had gone to Beverly’s house that day to take her to the doctor.
Bonnie Was Working as a Pediatric Nurse When She Died
When Bonnie died, she was working as a pediatric licensed vocational nurse at Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, Texas.
She had found quite a bit of stability since the Branch Davidian siege and a tumultuous younger life. When David Koresh was born in 1959, Bonnie was only 14 and his father, Bobby, abandoned them. (Texas Monthly said she was 16 when she had David.)
Shortly after, Bonnie married a man who had just been released from prison, The Washington Post reported. The man was violent and abused Bonnie and baby David. Bonnie’s mother, Erline, eventually took David in. Five years later, Bonnie came back for her son after she was married to another man, Roy Haldeman.
In 2018, a Competency Hearing Was Held for Bonnie’s Sister
In 2018, a competency hearing was scheduled for Beverly Clark, who was charged in her sister’s stabbing death, Athens Review reported. The judge was scheduled to hear arguments about whether a competency trial could be held for Clark. She was found incompetent to stand trial in her sister’s death in 2009. Instead, Clark was transferred to a facility until she would be deemed competent. She has a competency hearing every few years.
Then in September 2018, attorneys agreed that Clark was still insane, Athens Daily Review reported.
The defense attorney said: “This family has lost two of their members — one of them to an irreversible mental illness and one of them as a result of that mental illness.” He said that Clark has schizophrenia.
Bonnie Published an Autobiography about the Branch Davidians Two Years Before She Died
In 2007, just two years before her death, Bonnie published an autobiography about the Branch Davidians and David Koresh.
She also spoke with Texas Monthly’s Pamela Colloff about her son before her death (and 15 years after he died.) She said he was very inquisitive as a child and curious, but he had a hard time in school. Teachers said he had a learning disability of some sort. He had lots of friends and wanted to be a rock star. She said his religious beliefs began forming when he fell in love with a girl named Linda who became pregnant.
She said she had visited the Branch Davidian compound a few times and really liked the people there.
She said that on the day the compound burned down, she had been working all night and caring for patients. She saw what was happening on TV and kept wishing that David or the kids might have gotten out.
She Buried David in an Unmarked Grave
After David Koresh died in the 1993 siege, his mother buried him in an unmarked grave on May 27, the LA Times reported. It was a small ceremony, attended only by four family members. They didn’t want any publicity. From the video above from 2016, it does appear that he later was given a marked grave next to his mother and his mother’s husband.
Bonnie said about the funeral: “I don’t think I will ever rest in my heart. I didn’t get to see the body, and I’m not even positive that is David there. Who knows?” Koresh had died of a single gunshot wound to the head.
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