We were going to get married.. According to Charlie, Johnson did not know what the boys plans were but had insisted on coming with them. I told him about her and Charlie having sex afterwards, which was by far the hardest thing to have to tell him. And I was blown out of bed," he said. Prosecutors initially sought the death penalty against Wilkinson and Waid, but Terry Caffey stepped in and requested otherwise. Charlie, who turned eighteen that month, wanted to be with Erin, and he promised to do whatever it took to make her happy. They fired a bullet in his 13-year-old son Matthew's face and stabbed 8-year-old Tyler to death in . When the police asked the neighbor where Terry was bleeding from, he replied, where isnt he bleeding from?. Jos R. Ralat is Texas Monthlys taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. Caffey, you can go home now, Terry told me when I visited him this spring. Youre breaking up with him today. While the suspects were being questioned in the sheriffs office in Emory, Erins grandparents were driving her to the hospital in Tyler, escorted by Chief Sanders and Deputy Booth. Her accomplices were her boyfriend Charlie Wilkinson, 18, his pal Charles Waid, 20, and Waids girlfriend Bobbi Johnson, 18. It is the loudest sound you can ever imagine. 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. My heart tells me there have been enough deaths, Terry wrote in a letter to the Rains County district attorney, Robert Vititow, this past fall. Erin Caffey, 16, is an American teenage girl sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in Texas for her role in the deaths of her mother and two young brothers. I made it about halfway and just wanted to die. Although it was a cold night, the 41-year-old was wearing a T-shirt, pajama bottoms, no shoes, and a single wet sock. He hesitated, and Fischer thought he might reach for the gun. The days and weeks that followed, the grief, I cannot put it into words. I was going to lay down and shoot myself right there on the spot where I lost my family. 16 year old Erin Caffey made her first appearance before a Rains County Judge Monday. He crawled the length of four football fields to find help after being shot five times. Analytics cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously. It was agreed that Charlie would kill Erins parents, and Waid would take care of the two boys so no witnesses would be left behind. "I have met people that have gone through a lot less than what I have and they've grown into bitter, angry people, and that's not who I am, and I saw myself becoming that," Caffey said. But the other three all immediately said she was the ringleader. Terry fell into deep depression and planned to kill himself, but God intervened. 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. 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. 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. Less than 24 hours after authorities responded to the murders in the Caffey home, all four suspects were in police custody, and they were all talking. It was an awful thing to have to do, to lay out to a man that his daughter wanted him dead and was responsible for the deaths of the rest of his family, Tanner said. The mugshot of Erin Caffey, taken after she orchestrated the murder of her own family. 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. In the living room, he found a camouflage-colored purse with a drivers license inside it belonging to Erin Caffey. He now travels the country preaching what he has become good at, forgiveness. 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. Before the conclusion of the interview, he added a detail to the story that Charlie had left out. 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. Click to reveal. She and Terry hoped that the individual instruction might benefit Erin, who had been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and lagged behind her classmates. Killing them will not bring my family back. He asked that Charlie Wilkinson and Charles Waid receive sentences of life in prison without parole. "Then I had something to live for, I had some hope, so I began to fight," he said. This was a vulnerable 16-year-old girl with a controlling, psychopathic guy.. 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. Less than 24 hours after authorities responded, the Caffey home was a smoldering pile and all four suspects were in custody and talking. He said authorities later told him it took him about an hour to crawl the length of four football fields that night, but he had seen a killer's face and it was someone he knew. Wilkinson and Waid both told police the same story: the murders were all her idea. Spent shell casings lay scattered across the carpet, and next to the mattress sat a box of ammunition. Authorities immediately tracked down Wilkinson and brought him in for questioning. If I want to heal and move on, I must find some forgiveness in my heart, and that has been the hardest thing I have ever had to do because you took so much from me.. Why are you doing this?. "I was very angry," Caffey said of the murders. I wanted to find these guys; I wanted to strangle them. Finally, they turned back toward the Caffey home and parked down the road. As time went on I began to realise that my grief and anger would destroy me. Near the closet, he lifted up a blanket that was piled on the floor and noticed a shock of blond hair. Erin Caffey has two brothers that are Mathew 13 years old and Tyler 8 years old. The website cannot function properly without these cookies. I showed him the statement that a friend of hers had given to investigators about how Erin had wanted them to be killed. When Erin came home that afternoon, her father and mother were waiting for her in the living room. When I was at their house, that was what the family was like. Almon clambered out of the ambulance and shared what he had learned with chief deputy Kurt Fischer. When Sanders asked if she had anything else to say, Erin whispered, Theyre coming after me.. He could see Charlie lying on a mattress, awake, wearing only blue jeans. At school, where she enrolled as a freshman, she and Charlie were inseparable; they ate lunch together and walked down the hall hand in hand, and sometimes they slipped away to Erins pickup to fool around. "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. 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. I mean, its over now. To their surprise, she did not protest. ERIN Caffey was just 16 years old when she organised for her family to be killed. He was totally in love with her and considered her his soul mate, Dion Kipp Jr., a friend of Charlies, later told investigators. She carried out her plans on March 1, 2008. He fell to the floor and did not move again. I was suicidal. Dickerson realized that he was looking at the Caffey home. Caffey is serving a minimum of 42 years and wont be eligible for parole until shes 59. Terry, who shares a warm relationship with his stepsons, says that, like Job, he has been doubly blessed for never faltering in his faith in God. Then, in early February, Penny overheard Erin giggling one night past her phone curfewErin had sneaked her cell phone into her room to call Charlie. This is a picture of Terry & SONJA - his 2nd wife. Since the tragic loss of his first wife, Penny, and their sons, Matthew and Tyler, he has gone into full-time ministry, speaking and reaching out to others who have suffered unspeakable tragedy and sharing his personal message of God's faithfulness. Come back, and Ill keep the dog quiet., Tanner sat down with Terry Caffey and showed him the phone records this past June. They also had two sons: Matthew, known as Bubba, who was in the seventh grade, and Tyler, a fourth-grader. The pair then headed upstairs to where Tyler and Matthew were hiding. Her homeschooling had begun when she was thirteen, after the family had moved to Alba from Celeste, a small town about an hours drive away. Despite all hed been through, he still believed in the forgiveness that his faith had taught him. 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. One night not long afterward, Charlie pulled his car over on a country road, knelt on the pavement, and presented Erin with his grandmothers engagement ring. If he cant show me any respect, how does he treat our daughter?. She glanced apprehensively around the trailer. Finally I collapsed on their porch. ", "I am sound asleep in my bed and just immediately the gunshots went off," he said. 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. His gut was right. Youre promising yourself to my daughter? Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. Testimony from Wilkinson and Waid clearly laid the blame with her. Her father, who now visits her in prison, will be in his 80s by the time she gets out. In her flower-print pajamas, with her blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, she seemed sweet and guileless. 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. The murders shocked the nation especially when the police revealed that Erin Caffey was the mastermind behind the entire massacre. As late as two days before the murders, he gloomily admitted to the same friend that he wished he could just get her pregnant so the Caffeys would have no choice but to accept him. Perhaps the most surreal moment of our interview came when she sang Amazing Grace, pitch-perfect. CBN.com - March 1, 2008 is a date that will be emblazoned in Terry Caffey's memory forever. I ended up buying me a used RV, and I moved it back up on my land. Charlie Wilkinson was not the most polished guy to take an interest in Erin. I know theres no such thing as perfect, but in my book, they were, said Tommy Gaston, who was a frequent guest in their home and played in a gospel band with Penny. Terry's account of the murders, Terror by Night, was recently released and was co-authored by James Pence. Admirably, Terry Caffey has forgiven his daughter and the others for their involvement in the murders of his family. I dont know why she wanted it done, why it had to be like that, but she was a very nice person. Weeks after the killings, when he was being held at the county jail on $1.5 million bond, he had been devastated to learn from his defense attorney that Erin had, in fact, asked a previous boyfriend to kill her parents too. In an exclusive interview with KLTV 7, Waid's estranged wife talked about her disbelief in what her husband may have done. With Erin and Bobbi nearby, the two Charlies break into the house in the middle of the night, March 1, 2008. The Caffeys were also heavily involved with their local church, and this merged with their passion for music. At that point, the church-going teen began to slip up in school. Due to the town's small size, the family was well-known in the community, specifically for their faith. 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. You always will.. This might just hold water if it were not for a previous boyfriend, Michael Washburn, revealing that Erin had said to him too that she wanted her family dead. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! At a bend where the trees thinned out, he spotted a murky orange glow in the distance. I remember trying to raise myself up but I couldnt feel the right side of my body. The only motive appears to be that a few days before the murder spree, Penny and Terry told their daughter she could no longer see Wilkinson. An instant later the teen opened fire, killing Terry's wife, his two sons, and wounding him 12 times, before setting the house ablaze. Erin Caffey is a young American citizen who was convicted of murder in 2008. Erin had invited him over to her house before and considered him to be her boyfriend. His dad worked at a paper mill outside Dallas. Erin Caffey is currently. Caffey said his wife had been shot first. He visits his daughter in prison every few months. He . I want to get Erin. From left are Matthew, Terry, Tyler, Penny and Erin. I'm still here. Charlie told the detective that when they first drove up, the Caffeys dog had barked so much that they decided to leave, but Erin called him on his cell phone afterward and promised to keep the dog quiet when he returned. Hurry up. They then took turns stabbing him like a rag doll; they stabbed him to death. Terrys father had died of a heart attack on February 21, and though none of the Caffeys had been close to him, they performed Amazing Grace in his honor. 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. For more information about Terry Caffey, visit his website: http://www.terrycaffey.com, 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. All the lights were out in the rundown blue single-wide when Fischer and sheriffs deputy Ed Emig pulled up outside. She could get him to do whatever she wanted. None of the four involved were drunk or had taken drugs on the night of the murders. 02:08:53. Director Sally Howell Stars Terry Caffey Anne Hjelle Debi Nicholls See production, box office & company info 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. And so with Waid behind the wheel of the Neon, they went back to the Caffeys house. That Saturday I got home at midnight, I came in from a 14 hour shift and I was tired. Terry Caffey. From 11:46 p.m. until 12:48 a.m. that night, Erin called him six times from inside the Caffey house, Tanner said, reading from the case file. So two or three days I pondered on this. 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. Tommy and Helen called 911 and I was taken to the hospital. Four suspects have been arrested and charged with the murders of the Caffey family. I want them, in this lifetime, to have a chance for remorse and to come to a place of repentance for what they have done. The officers put Charlie in the back of the squad car, where he stared out the window in silence as they drove through the woods toward Emory in the predawn gloom. His daughter looked fragile and anxious in her orange prison jumpsuit, and at the end of every visit, he made sure to tell her that he loved her. Almon learned that Erins toxicology testshe had been screened for Rohypnol, GHB, and other drugs that can cause memory losshad come back negative. I grabbed the mattress, the cover, anything I could to pull myself up. I had passed out a second time and when I woke up the room was on fire. However, the relationship didnt bode well with her parents, with Terry Caffey noting that he had reservations about Wilkinson from the start. 28 - Apr. Webbs boysBlake, who is seventeen, and Tanner, who is ninebear a passing resemblance to Bubba and Tyler. Terry began allowing them to go out for dinner every now and then, with the assurance that Charlie would have Erin home no later than nine-thirty. The seven-part series, which combines documentary and drama elements, focuses on a different real-life murder each week from the victim's point of view.Each episode includes interviews with the victim's family and friends, real witnesses, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers, as well as . But why? I got drunk last night and passed out.. 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. 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. That turned me around and got me thinking that God might have a plan for me. Terry has remarried since the murders and has one more biological child. Often they went to a friends house where they could be alone, and after Christmas, they had sex for the first time. I didnt find mucha Hot Wheels car; a broken ceramic cup; a horseshoe-shaped belt buckle that the kids gave me for Christmas. He considered suicide several times. And it was Erin who had insisted that her brothers be killed, according to both Johnson and Waid. Erins parents believed she appeared to have accepted their decision. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers. If I could just get to my neighbours, Tommy and Helen, they would make everything alright. Why did he have to die? Yet Charlie said he thought he had also stabbed Tyler at least once. 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. She cried one time when we were in my truck and I ran over a squirrel; shes tenderhearted. She was so sheltered, said her co-worker. Waid was a few years older than Charlie, and Charlie and his buddies sometimes drank at his place and stayed the night. But Erin was insistent. Erin stood wide-eyed in her pajamas, bewildered, as she surveyed the room. I found out later they had come in with samurai swords and found Tyler in the closet. 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 stepped in, however, still believing in the forgiveness his faith taught him, and asked prosecutors to take the death penalty off the table, according to Killer Couples., All four eventually pleaded guilty. I remember the nurse coming in and saying, Mr. 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. For an instant, he thought he had found a doll. He has since released a book called Terror by Night and is now happily remarried. Two guys broke into the Caffey house in Alba, Texas, on March 1, 2008, and went on a brutal killing spree, killing the mother, the two young children, and themselves. I hope that God forgives me, Charlie added. He continued to visit her at the county jail, but what disturbed him most, at the end of a year of counseling, was the realization that he could no more explain why she had wanted her family killed than on the day he had first met her. Let me see your hands.. He thought for a moment before answering my question, and I studied his face behind the Plexiglas. January 22, 2022 . Inside, Wilkinson fired away with a .22 pistol in Terry and Penny's room. Charlie lived in the country with his father, his stepmother, a stepbrother, a stepsister, and a half-sister. Terry started dating Sonja 4months after the horrific murders of his entire family & they were married just 7 months after the tragedy. Can you tell me what happened? Fischer asked. "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.". The Caffey childrenwho had been homeschooled for three yearswere shy and well mannered, though sixteen-year-old Erin was the least reserved. Fischer had already informed the couple that the Caffey family was dead. Her voice faltered, and her cousin, who did not have her natural talent, outshone her. The tragic fate of the Caffey family was set in motion five months before they were killed, when Erin Caffey began dating 18-year-old Charlie Wilkinson. 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