Now that she has pled out and the specter of a capital murder trial is gone, their conversations are no longer restricted, and Terry is free to ask his daughter whatever he wants to know. It was Fischer, calling to inform Sanders that Erin had been implicated in the Caffey murders and she needed to be placed under arrest. She and Terry hoped that the individual instruction might benefit Erin, who had been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and lagged behind her classmates. Erins desire to have her parents killed did not appear to be motivated by any mistreatment or trauma; her court-mandated psychological evaluation failed to point to any evidence of abuse in the Caffey home. Caffey and three co-defendants are all accused of killing her mother Penny Caffey and her brothers Matthew and Tyler Caffey, before setting the family's house on fire in Emory. His gut was right. For the many people who puzzled over his loyalty, there were many others, in the pews of Miracle Faith and elsewhere, who understood it as the scriptural imperative of unconditional love. He has, thus far, chosen to accept the story line she has provided him: She was planning on running away that night, but then she changed her mind. I wanted them to have the chance to find remorse, he explained. Caffey was the sole survivor of the March 1, 2008, attack, ostensibly planned by. Yes, Erin assured him, blinking back tears. How Florence ButtNot Her SonLaunched the H-E-B Empire. 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. I had passed out a second time and when I woke up the room was on fire. This is totally inappropriate, he told the boy, who shrugged. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. Charlie Wilkinson was his daughters boyfriend, Caffey told the detective, and he and his wife had recently demanded that Erin stop seeing him. Erin, now 24, is the subject of a new ITV documentary called "Killer Women . A freelance writer from the UK, Danielle Tinning studied media & communications at the University of Cumbria before beginning her career at a small publishing house in 2013. Gaston, a genial man with a head of white hair, was the Caffeys closest neighbor, and he looked relieved to see the sheriffs deputy at his door. Bubba used to witness to whoever would listen, and Erin cried tears of joy when she sang her Sunday church solosso much so that sometimes she had to stop, mid-verse, to collect herself. At nine oclock, the Caffeys made sure that Charlie was headed for the doorbut after he said goodbye, Erin usually called him and talked to him until her ten oclock phone curfew. Slowly, though, he began to parcel out information. As they had driven away from the burning house, he said, Erin had cried out, Holy shit, that was awesome!. Were you involved in this? Fischer asked. ERIN Caffey was just 16 years old when she organised for her family to be killed. I'm still here. Johnson, who had recently played a minor role in the Rains High School production of Oklahoma!, seemed to be in high spirits. Password recovery. ABC's new TV series, "Final Witness," recreates the 2008 tragedy Wednesday at 10 p.m. But to say shes not what she seems is the understatement of the century. Dr. Phil continues his exclusive jailhouse interview with Erin Caffey, who is serving two life sentences plus 25 years in prison for her part in the murders of her mother and two younger brothers, and attempted murder of her father, in 2008, when she was 16. This was a vulnerable 16-year-old girl with a controlling, psychopathic guy.. Charlie crept into Terry and Pennys first-floor bedroom and fired at them until his gun jammed. 28 - Apr. In November they each pleaded guilty to three counts of capital murder. The brief account, put down in her girlish handwriting, echoed what she had told Chief Sanders: There had been smoke and strangers with swords, and she could not remember much else. Dickerson radioed his dispatcher to mobilize the countys volunteer fire departments and sped down the road to Tommy Gastons house, where the 911 call had originated. But why? Erin Caffey's father Terry was shot several times in the attack, but survived. The Caffey is a church-going family in Texas. "And even though she didn't actually come in and commit the crime, she knows her responsibility that she could have stopped it and she didn't.". We were still going to be able to convict her of capital murder., The phone records corroborated a pivotal point in Charlies account of the murders. I showed him the statement that a friend of hers had given to investigators about how Erin had wanted them to be killed. 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. She was very smart. Charlie, who had narrated the nights events with stoic detachment, broke down as he recounted how Waid had then come upstairs and stabbed eight-year-old Tyler. "About 3:00 in the morning, Penny and I would be awoken to the sound of our door knob hitting our dryer in the laundry room, which was next to our bedroom," Terry tells The 700 Club. As Fischer continued down the hall, he saw that a blanket covered the empty door frame of one bedroom. But the other three all immediately said she was the ringleader. It was a question that preoccupied him more than his doubts about her innocence. Terry and his wife, Penny, had three children together, 16-year-old Erin, 13-year-old Matthew, and 8-year-old Tyler. Caffey said he has talked to his daughter about what happened the night of the murders and he said Erin is "very remorseful," but claims she did not initially plot to kill her family. The phone records really did it for me, she said. Youre Erin Caffey? chief deputy Fischer asked the girl again. Penny informed her daughter that she was grounded. They then took turns stabbing him like a rag doll; they stabbed him to death. 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. - Published on February 4, 2014. Whats the holdup? Erin Caffey's. Charlie hung his head and was quiet. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Youre not going to see that boy no more, Terry told her. An instant later the teen opened fire, killing Terry's wife, his two sons, and wounding him 12 times, before setting the house ablaze. 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. Although it was a cold night, the 41-year-old was wearing a T-shirt, pajama bottoms, no shoes, and a single wet sock. The pair then headed upstairs to where Tyler and Matthew were hiding. As they hurried down the gravel road away from the Caffeys home, the teenagers could see that the house was ablaze. But that hope would be short-lived because just within 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.. It wasnt easy at first in fact, he contemplated suicide briefly, according to Texas Monthly. Again I heard Bubba cry out, no Charlie, no; then I heard more shots and fell back onto the floor. A lot of guys flirted with her, and she would just blush and smile and duck her head down and skate inside and tell me, That guy wanted my number! And Id say, Did you tell him that your mom would be answering the phone?. On March 1, 2008, most of the deeply religious Caffey family, of Emory, Texas, was slaughtered in the dead of night with .22 caliber bullets and swords before their humble, cabin-style home was burned to the ground. Here, the Caffey family is shown in an undated photo. Where am I?, Erins pastor, Todd McGahee, once joked that if he had five more of her, he could fill his church on Sundays. He says he wanted to die until he found out that his daughter was alive. Though she was unsure how she had gotten to the trailer, she said, she did remember trying to call her friend Charlie and being unable to reach him. An avid hunter, he spent much of his time fishing and tracking wild hogs through the brush, and like most of his friends, he was proficient with a firearm. Terry drew particular sustenance from a passage in Romans, chapter 12: Bless them which persecute you, a principle that, in the end, informed his wish that his familys killers be spared the death penalty. Assistant attorney general Lisa Tanner, a seasoned prosecutor who has sent four men to death row in her eighteen years as a trial lawyer, was assigned to the case. I want people to draw goodness from all this. They brought along Waids girlfriend, a bubbly high school senior named Bobbi Johnson, whose silver Dodge Neon they were driving. If you love me, youll do it. (Explaining her own inability to put the brakes on the plan, Johnson said, I just wanted to go home, but Charlie said it was too late, that I was already involved. Tommy and Helen called 911 and I was taken to the hospital. Erin Caffey consequently hatched a murderous plot with Charlie Wilkinson and his friend Charles Waid. Nationwide News Pty Ltd 2023. And it was Erin who had insisted that her brothers be killed, according to both Johnson and Waid. Her belief was that it was the only way she could be with Wilkinson. He had been shot five times: once in the head, twice near his right shoulder, and two more times in the back. Patricia Sharpe writes a regular restaurant column, Pats Pick, for Texas Monthly. For Halloween, she dressed up as a fifties carhop, coasting around the Sonic in a homemade pink-and-white poodle skirt with a pink scarf knotted at her neck. A slight, pretty blonde, she was known for her beautiful singing voice, which she showcased in soaring gospel solos at Miracle Faith on Sundays. They entered through the front door, which Erin had left open. Then I had something to live for, I had some hope, so I began to fight, he said. They all gave similar accounts, with Erin serving as the driving force behind the killings. (Tyler, the youngest, preferred to play outdoors.) Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. I had never seen such a sight. Later that night, he told the detective, Waid dropped him and Erin off at the trailer, where they had sex. Does your company belong on our site? I remember trying to raise myself up but I couldnt feel the right side of my body. Charlie talked about Erin twenty-four-seven. Though the Caffeys would not allow Charlie to take Erin out alone, the two teenagers still managed to spend much of their time together. "I knew that's not what I wanted to do. At the Sonic on Emorys main drag, she was the only carhop who delivered her orders wearing roller skates, and most afternoons, her admirers parked on whichever side of the drive-in she was waiting on. 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. Boys often came to Miracle Faith just to see her, and several of them credited her with bringing them closer to Jesus. He was frank about the horror of what he had done and made no excuses for himself. I was angry at these two young men, the other lady that drove the getaway car. She told the police she had been kidnapped. I mean, can you imagine someone standing over you and shooting when youre sound asleep and now youre being attacked in your bed?. I hope that God forgives me, Charlie added. Less than 24 hours after the murders, Waid, Johnson, Charlie, and Erin were all in custody. She had woken up in a house full of smoke, she said. He only wanted to run away with Erin, he told a buddy. A password will be e-mailed to you. Too much has been lost already, it seems, for him to give that up as well. Sanders pulled her squad car into a parking lot, and the Dailys followed. Terror by Night: The True Story of the Brutal Texas Murder That Destroyed a Family, Restored One Mans Faith, and Shocked a Nation. A girl was sitting with her back to the wall, in a fetal position. The law states that we can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this site. 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. It was the only way they could be together, she seemed to believe. And then I decided, no, theres been enough bloodshed. Some cookies are placed by third party services that appear on our pages. Erin Caffey was convicted of three counts of capital murder and will not be eligible for parole until she is 59 years old. WHAT'S POPULAR TODAY. After months of pushing me and convincing me and all this, I got to thinking that maybe all I was was just a tool. He had not spoken to her since the morning of the crime, and he is barred from communicating with her ever again; he will forever have to wonder if she wanted her parents dead so that she could be with him or simply so that she could be free of her familys control. Tommy Gaston, the neighbor, said Monday that Terry Caffey was improving and should recover. Knowing that he will never be able to walk his daughter down the aisle reduces him to tears. My first impression of her was that she seemed gentle and unthreatening, as befits someone who came from a loving, stable home, had never been in trouble and sang in the church choir every Sunday with her mum, dad and two younger brothers. The murders shocked the nation especially when the police revealed that Erin Caffey was the mastermind behind the entire massacre. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Terry L. Caffey. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Four suspects have been arrested and charged with the murders of the Caffey family. Finally, they turned back toward the Caffey home and parked down the road. 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. 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. What I knew of Charlie, he seemed like a nice boy, said Pastor McGahee. Terry and his daughter Erin were the only members of the family to survive, but in the days after the tragedy Erin was arrested and charged with being the mastermind behind the murders. If you live in relative isolation with a disapproving family you might find it difficult to explore life and express yourself. I made it about halfway and just wanted to die. Spent shell casings lay scattered across the carpet, and next to the mattress sat a box of ammunition. A few days earlier wed found out what kind of character Charlie really was, with the drinking and the sex, and told her to break it off. Faith was the cornerstone of the Caffeys lives. I dont care, she reportedly said, just do what you gotta do.. A similar case happened in Italy a few years back. Charles Dickerson was the only officer on duty on March 1, 2008, when the call came into the Rains County sheriffs office just after four-thirty in the morning that there had been a shooting at the Caffey residence. A week before the end of February, Terry Caffey went to visit his father, Clarence, who, unfortunately, passed away due to what was reported as natural causes. I'm here. There was nothing left but the subfloor and the metal roof. Then they used their pocket lighters to set fire to furniture and clothes and bedsheets. Terry Caffey has forgiven his daughter, Erin, who was just 16-years-old when she plotted to murder her family after her parents told her she couldn't see her boyfriend anymore Determined not. Terry Caffey, who survived the murder attempt, visits the graves of his wife and two young sons. With Erin and Bobbi nearby, the two Charlies break into the house in the middle of the night, March 1, 2008. Dickerson headed east along U.S. 69 and turned down the road that led through the woods to the Caffeys house, following the crooked path as it rambled beneath pine canopies and over dry creeks, past a neighbors hand-lettered sign that read, Acknowledge thine iniquityJeremiah 3:13. Daybreak was still a few hours off, and the road beyond the glare of his headlights was pitch-black. Erin Caffey Sheriffs deputy Serena Booth sat in. "When nothing in life makes sense, God is good all the time. 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. His mother had moved to Del Rio after his parents divorced, and he saw her only once or twice a year. I dont know whats wrong with her head, he said. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? 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 . . In a timid, childlike voice that Sanders had to strain to hear, Erin spoke haltingly, offering few details. Her 13-year-old brother, Matthew, was shot in the head. We didnt see any of this coming.. Erin Caffey, 16, and her father Terry Caffey . I wanted to find these guys; I wanted to strangle them. Terry's account of the murders, Terror by Night, was recently released and was co-authored by James Pence. He pushed the hair aside to get a better look and watched, dumbfounded, as two eyes opened. The judge agreed. They met at a sonic fast food joint where Erin was working as a waitress. Today Terry lives in a tidy brick house in Wills Point, about thirty miles southwest of Alba, just down the road from the cemetery where Penny and the boys are buried. MurderpediaThe Caffey family, with Erin on the far right. If at any time she would have said, Well, were not going to do it after all, it never would have happened.. At a bend where the trees thinned out, he spotted a murky orange glow in the distance. Authorities immediately tracked down Wilkinson and brought him in for questioning. Charlie Wilkinson was not the most polished guy to take an interest in Erin. If Erin and her brothers built a bonfire in the backyard after supper, as they often did, he lingered by her side. I heard footsteps going up the stairs and I began to panic. Yet Tanner had no doubt that Erin had masterminded the crime. The pair met while Caffey was working part-time as a waitress at a Sonic fast-food joint, and the relationship got serious pretty quickly. Its over, Terry told her. Not only did Caffey forgive them all, including his daughter, but he asked them to be spared from the death penalty when the case went to trial. But the teenage Christian ended up masterminding the evil murder of her own family after she was barred by her parents from dating a boy they thought unsuitable. Charlie was playing basketball outside the fellowship hall that afternoon, and Terry pulled him aside. "The house is exploding, it's totally engulfed, and I'm forced back in the bedroom," Caffey said. When I leave, it will be when Im ready and when Gods ready for me to leave. Some nights it was pitch-black by the time I got home, and I had to work up the courage to get out of the car. Youre promising yourself to my daughter? Erin, the daughter of God-fearing. I decided I would not become a bitter old man. 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. He handed the gun to Waid, who fixed the .22 and fired two more shots. He recognized his voice, according to Killer Couples.. During a Valentines Day dinner that was hosted by her youth group, she stood idly by, too preoccupied to even fill water glasses. But Erin was insistent. Her voice faltered, and her cousin, who did not have her natural talent, outshone her. All times AEDT (GMT +11). At the same time, he said, Erin was given ample opportunity to call off the plan. And yet, after Terry had seen every last piece of evidence, he continued to visit Erin and never wavered in his support, standing beside his daughter at each court appearance holding her hand. 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