30 years later, Waco siege still haunts and intrigues.

Thirty years ago, after a 51-day standoff, federal agents moved in on a religious cult’s compound in Waco, Texas. The siege culminated in a fiery spectacle that ended with the apparent deaths of more than 80 men, women, and children in what authorities said may have been a mass suicide. David Koresh, the self-styled messiah, and his Branch Davidians set their besieged compound afire after FBI agents had knocked holes in their flimsy wooden buildings with Army combat engineer vehicles and pumped tear gas into their living quarters for six hours in an attempt to end the conflict peacefully.