Were you involved in this? Fischer asked. "I was very angry," Caffey said of the murders. The Campaign to Sabotage Texass Public Schools. Less than 24 hours after the murders, Waid, Johnson, Charlie, and Erin were all in custody. And then I decided, no, theres been enough bloodshed. As he was bleeding from his gunshot wounds, Caffey said he tried to get through the bedroom door and all he could see were flames and black smoke. Along the way, he had fallen into a creek, where he had almost drowned, but he had kept moving, staggering toward Gastons house as the fire behind him grew more intense. I couldnt have got up if Id wanted to. A mountain biker is mauled by a mountain lion, and a hotel receptionist goes into fight mode to survive a brutal attack by a man posing as a guest. But Erinwhose jubilant singing often brought parishioners to their feetturned in a listless, halfhearted performance. As a juvenile, Erin could not be taken directly to the sheriffs office for questioning, and so she appeared that afternoon before a justice of the peace. Then, all of a sudden, I started thinking, the children, the children.. On the night of March 1st, 2008, in a quiet, rural Texan community, Terry Caffeys wife, Penny, and their two young sons, Bubba and Tyler, were brutally murdered by their 16-year-old daughters boyfriend, Charlie Wilkinson, and his friend Charles Waid. Our bathroom was the only place to get out. "But that hope would be short-lived because just within a half an hour of finding out she was alive, my sister came to me and told me [Erin] had been arrested and had been charged with murder.". Worst of all, as far as Erin was concerned, Charlies weekly visits to the house were suspended. Matthew Caffey was the son of the late Penny Caffey,and Terry Caffey, his father.He was thirteen years old at the time of his death. Her parents decided to take to the internet to learn more about this bad-news boyfriend. In school, she brought up the subject once or twice a day; during a lunch break in mid-February, a junior overheard her tell Charlie that killing her parents was the only way they could be together. At the outset, Charlie muttered, Im in a lot of trouble. Almon informed Charlie that he had been identified by a victim who had survived the attack and asked him to tell them exactly what had happened the previous night. Sanders pulled her squad car into a parking lot, and the Dailys followed. The mugshot of Erin Caffey, taken after she orchestrated the murder of her own family. He began searching the back bedroom where Charlie had been found. She insists to her father that she tried to run away from Wilkinson the night of the murder, but was forced to wait in the car. Several kids had already seen her sitting on a picnic table behind the church, kissing the boy while he eased his hand up her shirt. Bring on the Shiplap? Terry fell into deep depression and planned to kill himself, but God intervened. Mr Caffey was recovering in hospital from multiple gunshot wounds having just watched his 13-year-old son Matthew get shot to death and his wife Penny almost decapitated, when police paid him a visit. Faith was the cornerstone of the Caffeys lives. An instant later the teen opened fire, killing Terry's wife, his two sons, and wounding him 12 times, before setting the house ablaze. This was not the most brutal or cold-blooded case I had ever prosecuted, she told me. The ambulance was about to pull away from Tommy Gastons house when sheriffs investigator Richard Almon, who had hurried to the scene, climbed inside. The . Her accomplices were her boyfriend Charlie Wilkinson, 18, his pal Charles Waid, 20, and Waids girlfriend Bobbi Johnson, 18. He considered suicide several times. You can read more about Terrys experience in his book. At the suggestion of Detective Almon, she was interviewed in the hospitals trauma room by Shanna Sanders, the young, personable chief of police for the Rains Independent School District who was on a first-name basis with most of the high schools students. They attended Bible study on Wednesday nights and church every Sunday and set aside several hours each week to rehearse gospel songswith Penny playing piano, Bubba on guitar and harmonica, and Erin singing vocals. We were going to get married.. Meanwhile, Wilkinson claimed that he had offered for him and Caffey to simply run away together, but Caffey insisted on the murders instead. He had met Erin at the Sonic a few weeks before the start of his senior year, having just returned home from boot camp at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, with his Texas National Guard unit. Erin Caffey started dating Charlie Wilkinson. Later that day, when the bodies of the two Caffey boys were pulled from the rubble, one firefighter, overcome with emotion, fell to his knees. He and his new wife also adopted three children. Penny noticed the ring on Erins finger a few days later at a church function and ordered her to give it back. Most folks around Alba and Emory, the nearby county seat, knew the family; Penny played piano at Miracle Faith Baptist Church, and her husband, Terry, was a home health aide and lay preacher. Filled with lovesick rage, she ordered her boyfriend and his buddy to carry out her revenge. He now travels the country preaching what he has become good at, forgiveness. Charlieits Kurt, Fischer said. The twenty-year-old needed money, and Charlie had promised him $2,000 if he would help him kill the Caffeyscash that Erin had told Charlie he would find in a lockbox inside the house. The daughter and her boyfriend (both minors at the time) killed her mother and her brother. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. You know them family pictures that they print in movies and stuff? he said. I want us to walk away, arm in arm, and never look back," Caffey said. The Slaughter Of The Caffey Family Unearthed A Dark Love Affair, Serena Booth: Erin Caffey, Charlie Wilkinson Had Time To Change Their Minds, Terry Caffey's Shock At Learning The Murders Were Erin's Fault. I got drunk last night and passed out.. Charlie Wilkinson shot my family.. Perhaps the most surreal moment of our interview came when she sang Amazing Grace, pitch-perfect. She and Terry hoped that the individual instruction might benefit Erin, who had been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and lagged behind her classmates. This page is in NO way shape or form representative of Terry Caffey or his brand.This page is based on factual information gathered about his. Their detailed accounts of the night were consistent with Charlies. Given the complexity that four capital murder cases posed for a small, rural county, the Texas attorney generals office was asked to assist the Rains County district attorney in bringing the four defendants to trial. Almon clambered out of the ambulance and shared what he had learned with chief deputy Kurt Fischer. Wilkinsons Myspace page was littered with sexual references and talk of drinking alcohol. From left are Matthew, Terry, Tyler, Penny and Erin. Despite all hed been through, he still believed in the forgiveness that his faith had taught him. Then I had something to live for, I had some hope, so I began to fight, he said. He has since released a book called Terror by Night and is now happily remarried. I feel like for the most part I believe her, he replied. How Florence ButtNot Her SonLaunched the H-E-B Empire. Her father, who now visits her in prison, will be in his 80s by the time she gets out. Detective Almon, a plainspoken Navy veteran with a blunt, intense manner, led the interrogation, while Texas Ranger John Vance assisted. The only survivors were 16-year-old Erin Caffey and her father, Terry Caffey, who was shot multiple times before the two intruders set the house on fire. According to Charlie, the girls had stayed behind in the car while he and Waid went inside. Above their driveway hung a polished cedar plank with the inscription: The CaffeysJoshua 24:15. The verse, which Terry had committed to memory, was a reminder that they had chosen a righteous path: If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve . The chief deputy brought her into the living room, where Matthew Waid and his girlfriend sat on the couch. Erin was cute and petite, with blue-gray eyes and a flirtatious smile, and she thrived on attention. Terry Caffey was married to Julie C. (Lemoine) Caffey on September 7, 1976 in Lubbock County, Texas and they separated on August 17, 1983 in Gaines County. Pulling the blanket back, he shone his flashlight inside. A girl was sitting with her back to the wall, in a fetal position. He says he wanted to die until he found out that his daughter was alive. 02:08:53. For an instant, he thought he had found a doll. However, he still visits Erin in prison in Greenville, according to ABC News. Due to the town's small size, the family was well-known in the community, specifically for their faith. There were no warning signs, no history of trouble. Where am I?, Erins pastor, Todd McGahee, once joked that if he had five more of her, he could fill his church on Sundays. That same month, Erin Caffey started talking about killing her parents in front of friends. A teenager whom Fischer did not recognize groggily came to the door; he was unsure if Charlie had spent the night or not, but he agreed to let the officers in. Sergeant Vance had interviewed the boy whom Erin was caught kissing at Miracle Faith, and he had told the Texas Ranger that Erin had spoken to him about her desire to have them killedseveral months before she had started dating Charlie. Erin Caffey today, seven years after the event that left her mother and brothers dead and her father gravely wounded on March 1, 2018, at the family's home in Alba. It wasnt easy at first in fact, he contemplated suicide briefly, according to Texas Monthly. In December that year, Erin asked her parents to return to public school and, after they agreed, she and Wilkinson became inseparable, according to Texas Monthly. "The house is exploding, it's totally engulfed, and I'm forced back in the bedroom," Caffey said. They left the room, and then Charlie came back and cut Pennys throat to make sure she was dead. They shoot and murder Terry and Penny Caffey, the parents, in their bed. Erin Caffey And Charlie Wilkinson's Dangerous Relationship She needed to explain to him why prosecutors were asking the court to certify Erin as an adult. "The hardest thing [was] to hear that. Four suspects have been arrested and charged with the murders of the Caffey family. Now, one year later, Terry is remarried, the adoptive father of two young sons, and working to rebuild his relationship with his 17-year-old daughter, who is currently serving two life sentences in a Texas state penitentiary for her involvement in the crimes. With the scars still visible on his face, Terry Caffey talks Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, at his home in Gilmer. Case 170: The Caffey Family 34,744 views Mar 27, 2021 734 Dislike Share Save Casefile Presents 54.3K subscribers DESCRIPTION On February 29 2008, intruders stormed the Caffey family home in. In Erin Caffeys case you know you are looking at evil. Penny was withdrawn for most of February, and she declined to go on a womens church retreat, saying that she needed to spend more time with her family. She was instantly taken with him, and Charlie too seemed to be infatuated. At 3:00 a.m. on March 1, 2008, Terry Caffey awoke to find his daughter's boyfriend standing in his bedroom with a gun. At 3:00 a.m. on March 1, 2008, Terry Caffey awoke to find his daughter's boyfriend standing in his bedroom with a gun. When we pulled away from the house, she was happier than a kid on Christmas morning., One afternoon this spring, I visited Charlie at the Polunsky Unit, in Livingston, the imposing, maximum-security prison that is best known for housing death row. The family labrador guards the property of Terry and Penny Caffey. Before entering the property, Wilkinson warned Caffey that he had to kill her younger brothers so that there would be no witnesses left. Prosecutors believe Erin plotted the crime, but her father can't bring himself to believe that. Charlie dropped by the Sonic every afternoon during Erins half-hour break, and at night, he was a frequent guest at the Caffeys house. Caffey, then 16, organised the brutal slaying of her entire family at their home in Alba, Texas, USA, in the early hours of March 1, 2008. And she said, Why are you asking me this? When the gun jammed, Waid broke out a samurai-style sword and finished Penny off with it, nearly severing her head, according to Texas Monthly. WHAT'S POPULAR TODAY. But the other three all immediately said she was the ringleader. Caffey was born on July 27, 1991 to Terry Caffey and Penny Caffey. I was just angry. Speaking publicly for the first time, Erin . An instant later the teen opened fire, killing Terry's wife, his two sons, and wounding him 12 times, before setting the house ablaze. She has since published several books and her writing interests include culture and true crime, on which she has a book due out in 2022. Boys often came to Miracle Faith just to see her, and several of them credited her with bringing them closer to Jesus. He was good-looking in an unassuming kind of way, with sandy hair and light-blue eyes, and he nearly always wore Wranglers, black cowboy boots, and an oversized black Western hat. "It was so loud and it's even hard to describe. - Published on February 4, 2014. Youre not going to see that boy no more, Terry told her. She had woken up in a house full of smoke, she said. "I found out that Tyler, 8-year-old little Tyler, was hiding upstairs in the closet and the two boys [the killers], Charlie and Charles, took turns stabbing him to death," Caffey said. At that point, the church-going teen began to slip up in school. Erin, she stammered. I dont care, she reportedly said, just do what you gotta do.. Erins parents believed she appeared to have accepted their decision. Erin Caffey with her boyfriend, Charlie Wilkinson. Terrifying video footage has emerged of the moment a gunman killed a homeless man in an execution-style attack in the USA. In a timid, childlike voice that Sanders had to strain to hear, Erin spoke haltingly, offering few details. The Caffey childrenwho had been homeschooled for three yearswere shy and well mannered, though sixteen-year-old Erin was the least reserved. A US school student read out loud sexually explicit passages from a library book as he raged against its content at a school board meeting. Wilkinson was a somewhat rough-and-tumble, outdoors type, and when he first ran into Erin at her part-time job serving at Sonic, roller skates and all, sparks flew. 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