Ruth Riddle
{{Short description|Canadian Branch Davidian (born 1964)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
Ruth Ottman Riddle (born 10 March 1964{{Cite web |last1=Scruggs |first1=Richard |last2=Zipperstein |first2=Steven |last3=Lyon |first3=Robert |last4=Gonzalez |first4=Victor |last5=Cousins |first5=Herbert |last6=Beverly |first6=Roderick |date=8 October 1993 |title=Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas: Family and other Outside Contacts |url=https://www.justice.gov/archives/publications/waco/report-deputy-attorney-general-events-waco-texas-family-and-other-outside-contacts |access-date=25 August 2022 |website=www.justice.gov |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Wessinger |first=Catherine |date=November 2009 |title=Deaths in the Fire at the Branch Davidians' Mount Carmel: Who Bears Responsibility? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/nr.2009.13.2.25 |journal=Nova Religio |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=25–60 |doi=10.1525/nr.2009.13.2.25 |jstor=10.1525/nr.2009.13.2.25|url-access=subscription }}) is a Canadian Branch Davidian and survivor of the Waco siege. Riddle was raised in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.{{Cite web|url=https://upi.com/Archives/1994/02/26/Davidians-At-A-Glance/9698762238800/|title=Davidians At A Glance|last=Cardwell|first=Cary|date=26 February 1994|website=United Press International|access-date=22 June 2023}} She was born as Ruth Ellen Ottman.{{Cite news |date=20 April 1993 |title=Nine Known to Survive Blaze; 4 are in Hospital, 5 are in Jail|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch}} Riddle was one of nine survivors of the 19 April 1993 fire that destroyed the Mount Carmel Center and most of its occupants. She carried with her after leaving the compound a copy of David Koresh's final incomplete manuscript which after creating he agreed to leave. It was reprinted in James D. Tabor and Eugene V. Gallagher's book Why Waco?: Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America.{{Cite journal |last=Wessinger |first=Catherine |date=October 1997 |title=Review Essay: Understanding the Branch Davidian Tragedy |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/nr.1997.1.1.122 |journal=Nova Religio |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=122–38 |doi=10.1525/nr.1997.1.1.122 |jstor=10.1525/nr.1997.1.1.122 |url-access=subscription }} She was married to another Branch Davidian, James Loyle Riddle, who died in the 19 April 1993 fire.{{Cite web |last=England |first=Mark |date=29 April 1993 |title=Name of 3rd cult fire victim released; total dead in doubt |url=https://wacotrib.com/news/branch_davidians/name-of-3rd-cult-fire-victim-released-total-dead-in-doubt/article_2e4fa675-fb41-50c3-ab7b-444fd155be28.html |access-date=25 August 2022 |website=Waco-Tribune Herald|language=en}} Her niece, Misty Dawn Ferguson, survived the fire as well.{{Cite news |last=Ganey |first=Terry |date=29 June 2000 |title=Rubble blocked exit, Waco survivor testifies|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch}} She was formerly of Tweed, Ontario.{{Cite news |date=17 June 1994 |title=Waco cult members won't beg for leniency |work=Hamilton Spectator}} However, other sources indicate she is from Oshawa, Ontario.{{Cite news |last=Cornwell |first=Ruppert |date=28 February 1994 |title=Jury finds cultists not guilty of murder: Canadian among 4 of 11 to go free |work=Vancouver Sun}}
Waco siege and survival
File:Waco Siege – Riddle Image No. 4 – Agents rescue Riddle.jpg
{{Further information|Waco siege}}
During the Waco siege, Koresh announced that he would surrender to the FBI after making a manuscript of his interpretation of the seven seals in the Book of Revelation. Ruth Riddle typed out an incomplete manuscript on a battery-powered word processor just before the 19 April 1993 fire.{{Cite journal |last=Kelley |first=Dean M. |date=May 1995 |title=Waco: A Massacre and its Aftermath |url=https://www.firstthings.com/article/1995/05/waco-a-massacre-and-its-aftermath |journal=First Things |access-date=25 August 2022}}{{Cite news |last1=Beck |first1=Melinda |last2=Carroll |first2=Ginny |last3=Liu |first3=Melinda |last4=Annin |first4=Peter |date=11 October 1993 |title=The Book of Koresh |work=Newsweek}}
File:Waco Siege – Riddle Image No. 5 – Agent tends to Riddle behind Bradley IFV.jpg
Riddle reportedly jumped from a second-story window to the ground on 19 April 1993 after the fire started, but returned to the Mount Carmel Center. An FBI agent, James McGee, left his Bradley Combat Engineer Vehicle and asked her where the children of the Branch Davidians were, but Riddle provided no answer. McGee carried Riddle out of the compound soon after their interaction.{{Cite web |last=Bryce |first=Robert |date=21 July 2000 |title=Naked City: The Ghosts of Waco |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2000-07-21/77999/ |access-date=25 August 2022 |website=www.austinchronicle.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Lichtblau |first=Eric |date=14 July 2000 |title=Agent Says He Tried to Rescue Davidians |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jul-14-mn-53015-story.html |access-date=25 August 2022 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} She sustained burn injuries to her feet and a broken ankle.{{Cite web |date=22 April 1993 |title=Survivor leaves hospital |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1993/04/22/survivor-leaves-hospital/ |access-date=25 August 2022 |website=Tampa Bay Times |language=en}} The Tampa Bay Times reported however that she fell to the ground outside the compound, not inside.{{Cite web |date=27 April 1993 |title=A tale of terror, but the truth? |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1993/04/27/a-tale-of-terror-but-the-truth/ |access-date=25 August 2022 |website=Tampa Bay Times |language=en}} Catherine Wessinger, a religion scholar who has conducted oral histories with various Branch Davidians, argues that an exhibit in the 2000 civil case against the federal government demonstrates that she did not re-enter the building after jumping through the window, likely because she broke her ankle and could not walk on it. A lawyer for the Branch Davidians, Dick DeGuerin, told the New York Times that she laid outside the compound after jumping because her feet were burned from the heated tin roof of the compound.{{Cite news |date=26 April 1993 |title=Light Moments In Rose Garden |work=The New York Times}}
Life after the siege
On 26 April 1993, U.S. magistrate Dennis Green released Ruth Riddle, with her sister-in-law Rita Fay Riddle and David Thibodeau, from police custody to a Salvation Army halfway house in Waco, Texas, and under a US$25,000 unsecured bond.{{Cite web |last=Houston Chronicle |date=26 April 1993 |title=Cult Set Fire, Arson Probe Determines |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1993-04-27-9304270599-story.html |access-date=25 August 2022 |website=Orlando Sentinel}}{{Cite news |last=S. |first=Lee |date=27 April 1993 |title=Craddock ordered to remain in jail |work=Herald Sun}} She was being held as a material witness.{{Cite news |last=Hinds |first=Michael deCourcy |date=27 April 1993 |title=Arson Investigators Say Cult Members Started Fire |work=The New York Times}}
On 26 February 1994, Riddle's charges were either dropped or she was found not guilty.{{Cite news |date=14 July 1994 |title=Cult case judge complains of pressure for leniency |work=The Scotsman}} On 28 February 1994, Riddle was facing deportation to Canada, but U.S. federal judge, Walter Scott Smith, ordered her to be put back into the U.S. Marshal's custody in order to reinstate weapons charges brought up against her with other Branch Davidians.{{Cite news |last=AP Reuters |date=1 March 1994 |title=Koresh follower in legal limbo |work=Toronto Star}}{{Cite news |last=AP-CP |date=9 March 1994 |title=Davidians – Trial |work=The Canadian Press}}{{Cite news |last=Shannon |first=Kelley |date=28 February 1994 |title=Judge Orders Davidian Back into Marshals' Custody |agency=Associated Press}} Despite being found not guilty of murder charges and had weapons charges thrown out since a U.S. judge did not find them relevant in her case, she was at threat of deportation since she was in the United States illegally, according to the Toronto Star.{{Cite news |last=CP-AP |date=27 February 1994 |title=Waco cult members acquitted of murder charges but five guilty of manslaughter in death of agents |work=Toronto Star}}
On 17 June 1994, Riddle and seven other Branch Davidians, including Livingstone Fagan, were sentenced on their roles in the 28 February 1993 shootout. Riddle received the mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a US$5,000 fine.{{Cite news |last=Shannon |first=Kelley |date=18 June 1994 |title=5 Cult Members get 40 Years in Prison Three Davidians got from 5 to 20 Years for their Roles in the Siege. Four U.S. Agents Died |work=Philadelphia Inquirer}} According to the Toronto Star, the jury foreperson Sara Bain said that the jury never intended to give Riddle any prison time, in part because the jury and judge believed that she was easily manipulated.{{Cite news |last=Reuter |date=18 June 1994 |title=8 Branch Davidians to be jailed Canadian gets mandatory 5 years |work=Toronto Star}} Along with Livingstone Fagan, she did not appeal her conviction.{{Cite news |date=4 January 1996 |title=Branch Davidians appeal prison sentences |work=United Press International}}
In December 1997, she was deported to Canada.{{Cite journal |last=Wittmer |first=Matthew D. |date=November 2009 |title=Traces of the Mount Carmel Community: Documentation and Access |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/nr.2009.13.2.95 |journal=Nova Religio |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=95–113 |doi=10.1525/nr.2009.13.2.95 |jstor=10.1525/nr.2009.13.2.95 |url-access=subscription }}{{Cite news |last=Trickey |first=Mike |date=3 February 1998 |title=Five years after Waco, Koresh still felt: Legacy includes conspiracy theories, militias, land claims and wounded religious group |work=Montreal Gazette}}
References
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{{Branch Davidians}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riddle, Ruth}}
Category:Canadian people imprisoned in the United States
Category:People convicted of illegal possession of weapons
Category:People deported from the United States
Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government