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"Waco expert's death 'suspicious"

by Sarah Foster (World News Digest, May 3, 2000)

The mysterious death of a key figure in the ongoing Waco congressional investigation may not have been from natural causes, according to attorney David T. Hardy, who fears that his friend Carlos Ghigliotti, owner of Infrared Technology, may have been the victim of foul play.
"It's highly suspicious," says Hardy, commenting on the circumstances surrounding the death of the infrared expert, whose badly decomposed body was discovered Friday at 1:30 p.m., seated at his desk in his laboratory-office in Laurel, Md. Ghigliotti had not been seen nor heard from for several weeks. The autopsy is being conducted by the medical examiner in Baltimore.
The Laurel Police Department is non-committal.
"So far, it's looks like natural causes," LPD spokesman Jim Collins told WorldNetDaily. "We're treating it like a homicide, as we do any unattended deaths -- but he was found in a locked room, and there's no evidence of a forced entry. We're waiting for the toxicology reports to show whether or not he could have been poisoned. That always takes time."
Ghigliotti, 42, a respected expert in the field of thermal imaging, had been retained by the House Government Reform Committee to analyze surveillance film footage taken by means of "Forward-Looking Infrared," or FLIR, during the siege and final inferno of Mt. Carmel, the Branch Davidian complex near Waco, Tex.
The FLIR footage, which was filmed by FBI aircraft circling two miles above the site, is critical to the case. Unlike ordinary film which records light, with images registering in shades of black and white, FLIR film registers heat, so flashes seen on it are not flashes of light, but -- experts say -- can show gun shots, even rounds fired by automatic weapons.
For seven years a debate has raged over claims that on April 19, 1993, government agents fired automatic weapons upon Davidians trying to escape as flames engulfed their home. To date, neither the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the FBI, nor any other government agency has admitted to having fired a single shot from the beginning of the siege to the final assault that resulted in the deaths of 17 children and 62 adults.
The findings of several congressional hearings, each of which has essentially exonerated the government of any deliberate wrongdoing, have done little to dispel public suspicions about the use of force at Waco. The House Government Reform Committee released a report on Aug. 2, 1996. The recent death of Ghigliotti -- who had uncovered additional evidence contradicting government protests of innocence -- is certain to fuel charges of duplicity and cover-up.
As soon as he learned of the death, Hardy -- who since 1995 has been conducting his own investigations into the Waco issue -- wrote a tribute to his friend which he titled, "Memorial to an Honest Man," and posted it on his own website that deals with Waco.
In his tribute, Hardy discussed several of Ghigliotti's observations and discoveries that he had uncovered -- such as what he thought of the recent re-creation designed to test the thesis that the FLIR footage showed powerful evidence of gunshots being poured into the complex.
"Pure junk," is what Ghigliotti thought about the re-creation tape, according to Hardy. "The aircraft wasn't even at the right altitude, they didn't have the right procedures to verify that the sensor was functioning comparable to the one of 4/19, etc.," Hardy wrote.
"The best thing that could be done with any resulting tape (and this is BEFORE the results were known) was to drop it in the waste can. Whether it showed gunshots or did not, it'd be useless for proving anything, whether for the Davidians or the FBI."
Davidians' water supply monitored
Two further examples:
"Carlos also told me, last month, that he'd seen FLIRs from nights before 4/19, and that it was apparent that the FLIR aircraft was being used to monitor the Davidians' water supply," Hardy wrote. "The water was stored in those big plastic tanks at the rear of the building, and the coolness of the water inside showed up as a darker area. It was apparent that the water supply was shrinking, and by 4/19 was almost gone. He had heard the aircraft crew talking about it, and noting that the level was going down. So, essentially, they knew that thirst would force an end to the siege within a few days of 4/19."
"Carlos also found indications that shots were being fired into the underground storm shelter after the fire began. On one of the regular media videotapes, you could see a long, bright flash going down into the pit, from in front of one of the armored vehicles. He said it was no sunlight flash, he'd imaged it on three different media tapes from slightly different angles. His best assessment was that it was the fuse on a pyrotechnic round. I saw this tape, also, with my own eyes. His view was that they were gassing the underground vault to pin Davidians in place during the fire."
In an exclusive interview with WorldNetDaily, Hardy said he first talked to Ghigliotti in 1996, by phone, but not until December 1998, during a trip to Washington, D.C., did the two men meet face to face. Hardy said he was most impressed with the office and laboratory of Infrared Technologies, which were two adjoining rooms on the third floor of an office building. In the first room were desks and worktables. The laboratory was in the second, "with some really impressive equipment -- sophisticated computers, four large monitors, Super VHS decks," Hardy recalled.
If the death was not of natural causes, what would be the motive? WorldNetDaily asked.
Hardy's answer: "I think he may have known too much. Carlos told me he had discovered things that were much, much worse than anything that had yet come out."
Forfeiture monies fund siege?
This past December, Hardy visited Infrared Technology a second time, and Ghigliotti showed him some of the work he was doing.
"Carlos wouldn't tell me everything," Hardy said, "but he did give me a 'little tidbit' as he called it. He told me the whole operation [at Waco] from the start of the siege to the end was funded out of the drug forfeiture monies that are supposed to be used only in the war on drugs.
"He said not only the ATF raid -- the whole siege, most of it the FBI funded out of the drug war monies. Now those are special funds. He told me he had a lot of documentation showing the flow of money - which explains the new uniforms and new equipment the agents had at the start of the raid.
"I don't know why they [the committee] put him onto this issue," Hardy continued, "but apparently he was working on it." He said Ghigliotti -- who was standing by his desk as he talked -- placed his hand on a "thick pile of manuals and memoranda" to indicate the documentation he had assembled on this most recent assignment. He told Hardy, "All the standards for when you're allowed to use that money are laid down in writing, and they [the government agencies] violated all of the standards to get at the money. And the committee knows it."
"So basically, Carlos really had them not only for attempted murder, perjury, and a few other things -- he also got them for embezzlement [of designated funds]," Hardy observed, adding he hoped the committee would continue to investigate that angle.
Hardy told WorldNetDaily he did not know what happened to the various documents Ghigliotti had compiled for his investigation into the funding of the raid and siege.
"The last I saw of them they were sitting on his desk in his office," he said.
Game's over
Hardy said he and Ghigliotti worked closely together, studying the FLIR tapes and watching for flashes of gunfire that no one had noticed -- then phoning to let the other know their discoveries.
"Oh, he had some hot stuff," Hardy recalled. "In fact, he told me in one of our last conversations -- I had spotted a flash on the FLIR by coincidence, which I hadn't seen before so I mentioned it to him, and he called me up later and said, 'Yeah, that's interesting. You found one that I saw -- another flash, and by comparing it to the regular media video (the media cameras were a mile or two away shooting at shallow angle) ... I found that at the same instant and place I can get an image of an FBI guy shouldering a weapon.'"
Hardy explained: "There were several media video tapes made through gigantic telephoto lenses, but from one, two or three miles away. Carlos could import video into his computers; he had actually invented a system himself for showing on one frame the regular video and the FLIR. And then if you can coordinate them by time, by seeing some event that shows up on both, you can play both images side-by-side. What he'd done was, he got to a point where watching them side-by-side you can see in regular video a side view of a man shouldering a weapon. And on the FLIR at the same position, a flash of a gunshot.
"When I heard that I just cried, OK. End of game. The game is over," said Hardy. "I told him, it's all over. What's the debate over whether these are gunshots, if you have a man shouldering a rifle at the same time a flash is seen?"
Hardy said he does not know where the tape is now.
Hardy also isn't certain he's seen the same tape, but he did see one it could have been when he visited Ghigliotti in December. In any case, the one he watched was highly incriminating, he said.
"He showed me a regular video image of an FBI guy shouldering a gun," said Hardy. "Now, I'm not sure it's the same image, but you could see this guy, he was shooting at shallow angle to the ground, so you see bushes and then some parked tanks. This is after the fire has begun. And you see FBI guys on the far side of the tanks. It's a blurry image, and I had seen it before and never made anything out of it. I mean it just looked like lousy video.
"Carlos asked if I had seen this before, and I said, 'Yeah.' And he said, 'I'll show you something I bet you didn't.' Carlos had a hell of an eye. He points to one of the men and says, 'Watch that man and tell me what he's doing.' And by focusing on one man I could see he takes a shooting stance, a stance of a man shouldering a rifle. You can't really see the rifle, but there's no question about the stance. Then he turns and realizes the media cameras can see him. You can't see the face, but you can see the dark helmet suddenly turn to all flesh color and you can see his shoulders turn toward you.
"Then there's about half a second where obviously what goes through his mind is, Oh, no! He ducks down behind the tank. The reaction is unmistakable. Oh, no! Duck. And he squats down in front of the tank. That may be the image he was talking about that he could link by time."
Hardy said he was in contact with Ghigliotti until March 18, and added that Ghigliotti considered his work with the House Government Reform Committee completed and had sent a preliminary report summarizing his findings.
Ghigliotti faxed Hardy the summary, and Hardy in turn provided it to WorldNetDaily.
The summary gives a breakdown of the final hour of the siege, from 11:16 a.m. to 12:11 p.m., complete with the number of gunshots fired by both sides. According to Ghigliotti, the Davidians did return fire, but only when the tanks penetrated the complex, which happened 34 times.
"I had promised to keep everything Carlos told me confidential," said Hardy. "But I feel I'm released from that promise."

"Testimony in Mount Carmel land dispute begins, reviews Davidian church history"

by Tommy Witherspoon ("Waco Tribune-Herald", May 3, 2000)

Jurors in the Mount Carmel land dispute lawsuit heard about 30 years worth of condensed Branch Davidians history Tuesday.
At stake is 77 acres east of Waco known as Mount Carmel, the former home of religious cult leader David Koresh and his followers.
But before Koresh made Waco synonymous with the 1993 Branch Davidian tragedy, Ben Roden was president of the church. He and his wife, Lois Roden, bought the land called Mount Carmel in 1973.
That's were the parties in the lawsuit began tracking Davidian history as testimony opened on Tuesday in Waco's 74th State District Court. About a dozen Koresh followers and three others are trying to prove to the jury that they are the rightful trustees of the Branch Davidian church and, therefore, should get clear title to the property.
"In spite of statements and protestations to the contrary, this is really a very simple case," said Houston attorney Percy Isgitt, who represents the Koresh followers. "Everyone believes this property belongs to the church. The question is, who are the trustees of the church?"
Others claiming title to the land are Amo Bishop Roden, former common-law wife of ex-Branch Davidian leader George Roden; Thomas Drake, a former George Roden bodyguard who has aligned his pleadings with Amo Roden; and Douglas Mitchell, who lived on the land before Koresh took control.
Mitchell and Amo Roden both claim that they have received divine messages that they are the rightful owners of the land. Mitchell, Roden and Drake are representing themselves in the lawsuit, and each has asserted a claim to the land.
In opening statements, Isgitt told jurors that after Ben Roden's death in 1978, Lois Roden and her son, George Roden, became embroiled in a power struggle over control of the Branch Davidians. The group won an injunction against her son in 1979, preventing him from acting as a church officer.
"That was a permanent injunction and it is still in place today," Isgitt said.
Lois Roden died in 1986, and despite the court order, George Roden wrested control of the church and drove away many of its membership, he said. Koresh, formerly known as Vernon Wayne Howell, and many of the Branch Davidians moved to Palestine, Texas, before trying to take back the property in 1987 during a gunbattle with Roden in which Roden was wounded.
In May 1988, Roden was held in contempt of court and jailed. Koresh and his followers were acquitted in the shoot-out and moved back to Mount Carmel while Roden was in jail, Isgitt told jurors.
After Koresh and 75 of his followers were killed in the April 19, 1993, fire at Mount Carmel, Clive Doyle and the others appointed trustees of the church. They have maintained the property, planted trees in memory of those who died, rebuilt a chapel on the property and held regular church meetings, Isgitt said.
Roden told jurors in opening statements that she can prove George Roden was president in 1987 when she was appointed a trustee of the church. George Roden died in a mental hospital in 1998.
"I will show that there are important theological differences in our church and Koresh's church," Roden said. "So different, in fact, that there was not one church, but two."
Drake agreed, arguing that Koresh established a "splinter movement" from the original church, thereby waiving his rights as part of the true church.
Mitchell told jurors that Koresh changed the name of the Branch Davidian association and violated church bylaws.
In opening testimony, Koresh follower Clive Doyle, who escaped the April 1993 fire, told jurors he has been a Branch Davidian church member since 1964, when he was living in Melbourne, Australia.
He said he has lived "off and on" in Waco since 1966 as a member of the church.
Doyle said the president of the church is selected by God, according to church bylaws. He said the "original church" has not existed since Lois Roden took over as president.
"When David Koresh came along, there was another advancement in truth," Doyle said.
The trial will resume this morning.

"Items in dead man's home, office subject of court motion in Davidian case"

by Mark England ("Waco Tribune-Herald" May 3, 2000)

Special Counsel John Danforth asked a Waco judge on Tuesday to order the preservation of Mount Carmel-related evidence that might be in the home or office of an infrared expert found dead last week.
Autopsy results are still pending in the death of Carlos Ghigliotti, whose decomposed body was found Friday in his Laurel, Md., office, outside Washington, D.C.
Danforth, appointed by U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate the FBI's actions during the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidians, asked U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. to preserve "all documents, videotapes, audiotapes, notes, diagrams, digital recordings, etc." of Ghigliotti's that relate to Mount Carmel.
Smith was also asked by Danforth to impound computer hardware and software belonging to Ghigliotti that deals with the analysis or enhancement of the Forward-Looking Infrared (FLIR) videotape taken by the FBI at Mount Carmel on April 19, 1993. That was the day the government's siege of the Davidians ended in a fire that led to the deaths of David Koresh and 75 followers.
Danforth's motion concurs with one filed by Houston attorney Mike Caddell, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by surviving Davidians against the government. Caddell had planned to retain Ghigliotti to testify on his analysis of the FBI's infrared video.
Ghigliotti told the The Washington Post last year that he believed gunshots are visible on the FLIR.
His death has led to a buzz on the Internet that it might be related to Ghigliotti's work for the House Committee on Government Reform.
A committee source told the Tribune-Herald that Ghigliotti was released after speaking to the media.
However, Arizona attorney David Hardy, who successfully sued the federal government to obtain materials related to what happened at Mount Carmel, said Ghigliotti reported in March that he was going to quit because he was being pressured to work more quickly.
Hardy said he understood Ghigliotti was preparing a final report to turn over to the House committee.
Hardy called Ghigliotti's death "suspicious."
"The guy was 42 years old," Hardy said. "He was in good health. Heart attacks or strokes are not unknown at that age, but they're pretty uncommon. I'm extremely suspicious. But I don't have evidence one way or the other."
Laurel Police Department spokesman Jim Collins said Tuesday that police are still awaiting Ghigliotti's autopsy and toxicology results.
"At this time, there is no evidence to indicate foul play," Collins said.
Hardy said Ghigliotti called him last year seeking access to evidence he had collected. The two met when Hardy twice visited Ghigliotti's office to view his analysis of the FBI's FLIR tape.
"Laurel is within the outer suburbs of Washington, D.C.," Hardy said, "but it's pretty much a small town. I don't know if I'd care to be walking around the streets there at midnight, but it wasn't the inner-city."
Hardy said that Ghigliotti showed him, to his satisfaction, examples of where people are visible in the FBI's FLIR tape.
A British company, Vector Data Research, recently reported to Judge Smith that its preliminary analysis of the same tape showed no evidence of shooters or gunfire.
"In one instance, near the gym wreckage, there was no doubt it was a human being," Hardy said. "He moved from one pile of wreckage to another. You could make out his gait."
Hardy said Ghigliotti had a copy of the original analog FLIR tape taken at Mount Carmel. According to Hardy, many investigators received copies of a digitized master copy made by the FBI. The digital copy compressed the images and threw out some details, Ghigliotti told him, Hardy said.
Ghigliotti's death will hurt the case of those who believe gunshots were fired at the Davidians, Hardy said.
"My gut reaction is that with him alive, it was all over," Hardy said. "The FBI fired gunshots. He could prove it. Without him, it becomes debatable."

"Danforth asks U.S. to collect Waco-related material from home of infared expert found dead"

by William H. Freivogel ("St. Louis Post-Dispatch," May 3, 2000)

Special counsel John C. Danforth has asked the U.S. Marshals Service to collect the computer hardware and software used by Carlos Ghigliotti to analyze infrared tapes of the Waco incident in 1993. Ghigliotti, an infrared expert, was found dead last week in his home in Laurel, Md.
Danforth said he agreed with the emergency request made by an attorney for the Branch Davidians, calling on the marshals to collect all Waco-related documents from Ghigliotti's home. Danforth said that in addition to all "documents, videotapes, audiotapes, notes, diagrams, digital records etc." of Waco, the marshals also should remove computer equipment used in the "analysis, enhancement or exploitation" of infrared tapes.
The Justice Department also agreed to the Branch Davidians' request. The Branch Davidians' main trial attorney, Mike Caddell, wants U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. to order the marshals to bring the Waco-related materials to the courthouse for safekeeping.
Ghigliotti told a House committee last fall that flashes on the infrared tapes of the FBI assault at Waco were from gunfire. After that, he had a falling out with the committee. But Caddell was about to hire Ghigliotti to fill in for his principal infrared expert, Edward Allard, who had a stroke in March.
Smith announced last month that a court-supervised simulation of the events at Waco tentatively had concluded that the flashes on the infrared tape were from the sun, not gunfire. Still, the issue of gunfire is expected to surface in this summer's civil trial in which the Branch Davidians seek to blame the government for the death of the about 80 people at the complex.
There was no sign of a break-in or a struggle at Ghigliotti's home, which he also used as the office for his Infrared Technologies Corp. Police said Ghigliotti's body was badly decomposed. They are investigating.
Supporters of the Branch Davidians have broadcast messages on the Internet in recent days, expressing the fear that Ghigliotti's death could cover up evidence of wrongdoing by the government. Lawyers and investigators connected with the Waco case say Danforth is trying to make sure that he has investigated all serious allegations of wrongdoing.

"Key Waco Witness Dies"

by Amy Worden (APBnews, May 2, 2000)

LAUREL, Md. (May 2) -- Attorneys representing surviving Branch Davidians in their wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. government have asked a federal judge to impound all materials related to the Waco siege from the office and home of an expert witness found dead here last week.
Police found the decomposing body of Carlos Ghigliotti, a 42-year-old infrared-technology expert, in his Washington-area office Friday. The building's managers had asked police to investigate after not seeing him for several weeks.
Police said there was no evidence of a break-in, struggle or any other foul play.
"We are investigating it as an unintended death, that is, a deceased person with no immediately apparent cause of death," said Lt. Fred Carmen of the Laurel Police Department.
Trial scheduled for June
Officials with the medical examiner's office in Baltimore said the autopsy was not yet complete. Carmen said the results could be in as early as next week.
Attorneys for the Branch Davidians filed an emergency motion Monday asking U.S. District Judge Walter Smith to impound any Waco-related material, saying they wanted to ensure "that third parties will not lose, damage or destroy (innocently or intentionally) irreplaceable work by Mr. Ghigliotti."
At issue in the trial, which is scheduled to begin June 9, is whether the FBI prevented Branch Davidians from fleeing the burning compound by shooting at them as tanks battered the walls, sending tear gas inside.
Ghigliotti was hired last year as an independent expert by the House Government Reform Committee to analyze controversial videotapes of the 1993 raid showing unidentified flashes inside the Branch Davidian compound.
Ghigliotti's conclusion that the flashes were bursts from government agents' weapons supported the plaintiffs' contention that the Branch Davidians were fired upon during the raid.
Officials: No shots were fired
But the government and other experts, including a British firm that is to release its report next week, say that the flashes came from other sources, and that no shots were fired during the raid that killed more than 80 members of the religious sect.
Ghigliotti's analysis of the government's infrared aerial images provided what one lawyer said was a "breakthrough" in the Branch Davidians' case, according to David Hardy, a Tucson, Ariz.-based consultant for the plaintiffs.
Setback for feds
Hardy said Branch Davidian attorney Michael Cardell was planning to hire Ghigliotti as his new infrared technology expert after the first one suffered a stroke in March.
Hardy said Ghigliotti's death hurts the plaintiffs' case.
"His death is quite damaging," Hardy said. "He had not, as far as I know, submitted a final report, only his preliminary report that does not give all the details. Now new experts are going to have to reconstruct his work based on his outline and what's in his office. So much of that work was his eye, without him telling you what was there."

"Branch Davidians' lawyer asks judge to impound work of deceased expert"

by Lee Hancock ("The Dallas Morning News," May 2, 2000)

The lead lawyer in the Branch Davidians' wrongful death lawsuit asked a federal judge Monday to impound all information relating to the 1993 siege of the sect's compound from a Washington-area office where an infrared expert was found dead last week.
Mike Caddell of Houston said he sought emergency intervention from the court in Waco to ensure that all significant information was preserved from the Laurel, Md., office and home of Carlos Ghigliotti.
Police were still investigating the cause of Mr. Ghigliotti's death Monday. An official with the Maryland medical examiner's office in Baltimore, where an autopsy was performed over the weekend, said the inquiry remained pending Monday afternoon.
Police found Mr. Ghigliotti's decomposed body in his office on Friday after being called by a building manager, who had become concerned that the 42-year-old infrared analyst had not been seen for several weeks.
Mr. Ghigliotti gained attention last fall after being hired by the House Government Reform Committee to review an FBI infrared videotape taken on the final day of the Branch Davidian siege.
He told The Washington Post that he had determined that repeated flashes on the video came from government gunfire - an assessment that mirrored the analysis of two retired Defense Department experts the sect's lawyers hired.
Government officials have said no one on their side fired any shots on April 19, 1993, the day that a federal tear-gas assault ended in a fire that destroyed the compound. More than 80 sect members were killed.
British infrared experts retained by the federal court in Waco and the office of special counsel John C. Danforth to conduct a field test to help resolve the issue recently told U.S. District Judge Walter Smith that they believed none of the flashes on the video came from gunfire.
Judge Smith told both sides in the case that the British firm, Vector Data Research, would submit its final report on May 8 and would provide "conclusive evidence" linking each flash to a specific cause, such as sunlight reflecting off broken glass.
Some other experts, including those retained to help defend the government, had previously said that the flashes on the video were caused by falling debris, sunlight reflecting off objects on the ground or the movement of FBI tanks that were injecting tear gas into the compound that day.
But Mr. Caddell and other lawyers representing surviving Branch Davidians and families of those who died have questioned Vector's conclusions, particularly the finding that no people were visible on the infrared video until well after the sect's compound began burning.
Mr. Caddell and another lawyer, David T. Hardy of Tucson, Ariz., said Mr. Ghigliotti had recently shown each of them repeated examples of what he said were images of people visible in the vicinity of some of the unexplained flashes that appeared on the film in the hour before the fire.
Mr. Caddell wrote Mr. Danforth's office on April 17 and asked investigators to interview Mr. Ghigliotti, saying that the analyst had shown him one particularly compelling image on the video in which the hatch of an FBI armored vehicle "clearly opens, and it appears someone emerges from that tank."
Mr. Caddell's letter stated that image appeared as the compound began burning and only seconds before a series of flashes appeared near the same armored vehicle.
"I have been trying to reach him for the last few days, but he is apparently out of town," the April 17 letter stated. "In any event, his work is by far the most impressive I have seen in terms of analyzing the April 19 . . . [videotape], and I do not think you can fully appreciate his work unless you visit his lab and spend several hours with him reviewing key points."
Mr. Caddell also told the court last month that he planned to hire Mr. Ghigliotti to replace his principal infrared expert, who recently suffered a stroke.
"Mr. Ghigliotti's work product on this issue is extremely important to plaintiffs and to the court's analysis and conclusions," Mr. Caddell's Monday motion stated.
"Accordingly, plaintiffs seek an order from the court preserving the completeness and integrity of that work product. Without such an order, plaintiffs have no assurances that third parties will not lose, damage or destroy (innocently or intentionally) irreplaceable work product by Mr. Ghigliotti."

"Police Probe Death of Waco Expert"

(Associated Press, April 29, 2000)

WASHINGTON (AP) - Police said Saturday they are investigating the death of an expert hired by a congressional committee who alleged last October that shots were fired in the Waco siege.
There was no sign of a break-in or struggle at the firm of Infrared Technology outside Washington where the badly decomposed body of Carlos Ghigliotti, 42, was found Friday afternoon, Laurel police said in a news release. Ghigliotti had not been seen for several weeks.
The office of the chief medical examiner for the state of Maryland was performing an autopsy in Baltimore. The autopsy wasn't expected to be completed until Monday.
Ghigliotti, a thermal imaging analyst hired by the House Government Reform Committee to review tape of the siege, said he determined the FBI fired shots on April 19, 1993. The FBI has explained the light bursts on infrared footage as reflections of sun rays on shards of glass or other debris that littered the scene.
``I conclude this based on the groundview videotapes taken from several different angles simultaneously and based on the overhead thermal tape,'' Ghigliotti told The Washington Post last October. ``The gunfire from the ground is there, without a doubt.'' Ghigliotti said the tapes also confirm the Davidians fired repeatedly at FBI agents during the assault, which ended when flames raced through the compound. About 80 Branch Davidians perished that day, some from the fire, others from gunshot wounds.
Mark Corallo, a spokesman for the congressional committee chaired by Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., said Saturday that police found the business card of a committee investigator in Ghigliotti's office. Corallo said Ghigliotti's work for the committee ended some time ago.

"Body of expert who probed Waco found in Maryland"

(Reuter, April 29, 2000)

LAUREL, Md., April 29 (Reuters) - Police on Saturday were investigating the death of a scientific expert who helped a congressional committee probe the 1993 Waco siege, authorities said.
The body of Carlos Ghigliotti, 42, was found by police on Friday at his firm, Infrared Technology, in Laurel, Maryland, outside Washington D.C., police said.
Police said it appeared Ghigliotti, an analyst hired by the House GovernmentReform Committee, had been dead for several weeks. An autopsy would be conducted in Baltimore, they said.
Ghigliotti, an expert in thermal imaging and videotape, studied a tape of the April 1993 Branch Davidian siege that ended with the deaths of about 80 people in a fire at the group's compound in Waco, Texas.
He concluded last fall that the FBI fired shots in the direction of the compound on the final day of the 51-day standoff, a conclusion disputed by the law enforcement agency. Ghigliotti also found that the Davidians fired on the FBI.
His work for the committee ended some time ago.


Waco, FBI and the Branch Davidians: Updates

CESNUR reproduces or quotes documents from the media and different sources on a number of religious issues. Unless otherwise indicated, the opinions expressed are those of the document's author(s), not of CESNUR or its directors

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