Victoria "Vicki" Weaver (1949-22 August 1992) was the wife of Randy Weaver and the mother of Samuel Weaver. A Christian fundamentalist and white separatist, she was murdered by federal agents during the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff.
Biography[]
Victoria Weaver was born in 1949 to a Community of Christ Mormon family, and she married US Army Green Berets soldier Randy Weaver, living with him in rural Iowa. She became a Christian fundamentalist who was convinced that an apocalypse was coming, and she converted her husband to her faith; the two of them took their children with them to a remote cabin in Naples, Idaho (30 miles from the Canadian border), leaving behind Iowa in order to escape corrupt civilization, a view that would later be vindicated. Vicki raised the children without television or other "graven images", and she homeschooled them. She and her husband also attended Aryan Nations gatherings with the goal of making friends. Although they disagreed on both religious matters as well as their white supremacist views, they still maintained amicable relations. In 1992, a federal agent planted in the Aryan Nations convinced Randy Weaver to produce sawed off shotguns for the group in a case of entrapment. He initially refused, but gave in under the insistence of the planted agent. This later resulted In his arrest where he put up his home as bail. After posting bail, he was ordered to show up in court, however, due to an error in his court papers, he didn't show up for the court date in question.
After not showing up in court, federal agents were sent to "apprehend" him and his family on 21 August. They killed the family dog when it alerted the family to their presence, and they killed the family's 14-year-old son Samuel Weaver by shooting him in the back, while we was trying to escape the agents attacking their compound, after he had shot at the agents out of fear. The next day, federal agents fired on Randy Weaver as he walked to the shed where he kept his son's body, and Vicki and the others ran out to check on Randy. As they prepared to head back into the cabin on the porch, an FBI sniper shot and murdered Vicki, by shooting her in the head, while she was holding her 10 month old son. For days, the agents were unaware that Vicki was dead, and used a bullhorn to call out for Vicki to send her children to have pancakes with the agents. The family believed this to be taunts, hardening Randy's resolve for the next eight days of the siege. Randy ultimately surrendered and served 18 months in prison for his initial contempt of court. The other charges were dropped, as it was obvious to the jury during court proceedings, that the federal agencies and US Marshals had been the main culprits behind the siege and had used excessive force to an extreme degree. Despite the scandal, no federal agent, save one, would face justice for either the entrapment or the murder of either Samuel or Vicki. The agent in question was convicted of evidence tampering, after it came out that he had destroyed evidence which showed the complete extend of FBI's conduct, during the siege.
In 1995, Randy was awarded $3.1 million in damages for Sam and Vicki's deaths.