 The series reported that leader Vernon Howell, later known as David Koresh, had turned the group into a cult, engaged in polygamy, abused children living in the compound, and was amassing an arsenal of weapons.The "Tribune-Herald" had been reporting on a number of issues about the compound in the months before the series.Federal authorities asked managing editor Barbara Elmore to hold off on the series, but she refused, and the first of seven parts was published on February 27, 1993.