Mimi Swartz is a staff writer based in Houston. Caffey is serving a minimum of 42 years and wont be eligible for parole until shes 59. Then, that fall, an incident at the junior high had upset Terry and Penny: A girl who had been showing interest in Erin had kissed her in the hallway. "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.". Her father Terry was shot five times and left for dead as the house was torched to the ground. 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. 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. But the most gruesome is saved for last. Google Universal Analytics long-time unique user tracking identifier. When authorities tracked down Wilkinson and brought him in for questioning, they also found Erin in the trailer where he was staying. Erin Caffey with her boyfriend, Charlie Wilkinson. Theyre all gone, Caffey told the sheriffs deputy, his voice breaking. I wanted to find these guys; I wanted to strangle them. Preference cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in. Due to the town's small size, the family was well-known in the community, specifically for their faith. Why did he have to die? Yet Charlie said he thought he had also stabbed Tyler at least once. If Charlie was startled by the news that he had left behind an eyewitness, he did not give himself away. terry caffey today remarried. Terry found the visits agonizing, but he felt compelled to be in the presence of his only living child. Today, he is remarried and visits with his daughter, Erin Caffey, in prison. "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. She seemed happy, he remembered. And it was Erin who had insisted that her brothers be killed, according to both Johnson and Waid. Password recovery. When Caffey broke her phone curfew in February 2008, the Caffeys insisted that she end the relationship. 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. 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. I don't care just do what you gotta do, she allegedly said, according to Killer Couples.. I joined the Army to do whatever needed to be done without thinking. As for her parents, he said, I intended to kill them because I thought I was in love.. She had him around her finger, pretty much, said a girl who was a senior at the time. We thought it was just puppy love.. Teenager Erin Caffey was 16 when she had her mother and two younger brothers killed in their Texas home. The pastors wife, Rebecca McGahee, was deeply troubled by her demeanor later that month, when she sang at her grandfathers funeral. Erin had invited him over to her house before and considered him to be her boyfriend. . I remember when I heard that, I just couldn't believe that's how they did [it], and it goes back to that guilt and I felt I should have been able to save them and I couldn't.". He had no ill words for the people he had so viciously attacked. Now nineteen, he looked impossibly young for someone who will never step beyond the guard towers and concertina wire again. Waid, who held out the longest, finally confessed under Almons relentless questioning. I dont think Im going to make it, Caffey sputtered, straining to catch his breath. Family. When the police asked the neighbor where Terry was bleeding from, he replied, where isnt he bleeding from?. As he drove nearer, he could see that a house was on fire. Erin came from a conservative and protective family. Ive got so many questions, and I dont want to hit her with them all at once, he said. Let me see your hands.. The website cannot function properly without these cookies. Twice a week, Terry made the trip to Greenville to see his daughter. He planned to go on active duty after graduation. You could not have paid her to say anything negative about her parents, he said. Their mother, Penny Carrey, played the piano at church. Chrissy Lampkin Age, Height, Husband, Net Worth, C. Who is India Love? Authorities immediately tracked down Wilkinson and brought him in for questioning. 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. Then, all of a sudden, I started thinking, the children, the children.. All of them played instruments, and Erin used to sing so passionately during services that she would sometimes break down in tears, according to Texas Monthly. They entered through the front door, which Erin had left open. I do forgive her, he said. There were just things about him that didnt sit right with me, he later said. Somebody brought me a Bible and told me to read the book of Job. Terry's account of the murders, Terror by Night, was recently released and was co-authored by James Pence. . The father, Terry, was a pastor. Does your company belong on our site? She spoke with tears in her eyesGod will save me. I was suicidal. There was so much blood that Dickerson could not tell where he had been shot. This is the true story of the brutal Texas murder that destroyed a family, restored one man's faith, and shocked a nation At 3:00 a.m. on March 1st, 2008, Terry Caffey awoke to find his daughter's boyfriend standing in his bedroom with a gun. Upon visiting his burned-out property, Terry noticed a . 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. Four suspects have been arrested and charged with the murders of the Caffey family. 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. Terry Caffey, who survived the murder attempt, visits the graves of his wife and two young sons. She informed them that she had been instructed to arrest their granddaughter in connection with the Caffey murders and requested that Erin step out of the car. Murderpedia Juan Ignacio Blanco MALE murderers index by country index by name ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ FEMALE murderers index by country index by name When Sanders asked if she had anything else to say, Erin whispered, Theyre coming after me.. One was shot in the face and the second was killed with a sword, according to Texas Monthly. 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. He could see Charlie lying on a mattress, awake, wearing only blue jeans. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! It was like she was seeing the world for the first time. One day at a church fellowship meeting, Miracle Faiths new youth director came upon Erin making out with a teenage boy. I believe he would have spared their life so I wrote letters and protested at the headquarters of the attorney generals office, asking them to spare the boys lives. I was going to lay down and shoot myself right there on the spot where I lost my family. 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. "I knew that's not what I wanted to do. Less than 24 hours after authorities responded, the Caffey home was a smoldering pile and all four suspects were in custody and talking. Fischer recognized her from her drivers license photo. Her 13-year-old brother, Matthew, was shot in the head. The old-timey ones with the white fence? It's time to forgive. In the living room, he found a camouflage-colored purse with a drivers license inside it belonging to Erin Caffey. She seemed confused, repeatedly telling the officers that she was fourteen years old. Then they shoot younger brother Matthew, only 13, in the head. Leave them blank to get signed up. His wife Penny and their two young sons, 13-year-old Matthew, whom everyone called Bubba, and 8-year-old Tyler, did not. Erin, she stammered. Her voice faltered, and her cousin, who did not have her natural talent, outshone her. For all other types of cookies we need your permission. I bought me a nine-millimeter pistol and I slept with it beside me.. The mugshot of Erin Caffey, taken after she orchestrated the murder of her own family. I dont think she actually thought he would go through with it. You know them family pictures that they print in movies and stuff? he said. 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. Too much has been lost already, it seems, for him to give that up as well. 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. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? The heart-breaking moment a father realised his own daughter had killed his entire family has been revealed, due to a new documentary with Piers Morgan. Then, Erin broke her phone curfew and in February 2008, they put their foot down and told Erin that she needed to break up with Wilkinson. He did not care for Charlie, and he was not happy about how much time the high school senior was spending with his daughter. Finally, they turned back toward the Caffey home and parked down the road. 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. I had it made.. Johnson, who is serving a forty-year sentence, recalled how Charlie had repeatedly asked Erin to consider running away as the group had driven around before the murders. Whats going on? Charlie said. They had nearly decapitated her. But the other three all immediately said she was the ringleader. The daughter and her boyfriend (both minors at the time) killed her mother and her brother. 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. 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. Then I heard Bubba cry out, Charlie why are you doing this? So thats who I had just seen Charlie, Erins boyfriend. Erins car keys and phone were taken away, and for weeks, her parents drove her to and from school. Boys often came to Miracle Faith just to see her, and several of them credited her with bringing them closer to Jesus. Erin Caffey And Charlie Wilkinson's Dangerous Relationship The judge agreed. Erin, now 24, is the subject of a new ITV documentary called "Killer Women . Her belief was that it was the only way she could be with Wilkinson. Well, Id read the story countless times before, but I read it again and it was almost like I was there with Job. Erin Caffey, 16, and her father Terry Caffey . Terry L Caffey of Gaines County, Texas was born c. 1956. The murders shocked the nation especially when the police revealed that Erin Caffey was the mastermind behind the entire massacre. Rural family, deeply Christian, homeschooling, parents interfering in 16-year-old daughter's dating life. Parents Terry and Penny Caffey had three children: one daughter, 16-year-old Erin, and two sons, 13-year-old Matthew (or "Bubba") and 8-year-old Tyler. 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. Terry Caffey has maintained a relationship with his daughter, even after the massacre. Terry Caffey Net Worth 2023, Age, Height, Relationships, Married, Dating, Family, Wiki Biography. She needed to explain to him why prosecutors were asking the court to certify Erin as an adult. All I heard was the word home. I thought, I dont have a home. MurderpediaThe Caffey family, with Erin on the far right. She was taken to the juvenile detention center in Greenville, where she was held on charges of capital murder. 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. 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. As his home burned around him, Terry awoke and made the unimaginable decision to crawl out a window for help. Wilkinson and Waid then looted the house for valuables as Wilkinson had promised Waid $2,000 for his help. Erin and her brothers had initially enrolled in their new public schools; she started the eighth grade at Rains Junior High, and Bubba and Tyler attended Rains Elementary. Recover your password In December Erin asked her parents if she could return to public school. The family lived in a cabin in rural Alba, TX, with a population of just under 500 people. They left the room, and then Charlie came back and cut Pennys throat to make sure she was dead. Meanwhile, Wilkinson claimed that he had offered for him and Caffey to simply run away together, but Caffey insisted on the murders instead. Then I had something to live for, I had some hope, so I began to fight, he said. I felt someone kick me in the foot and heard heavy breathing. Yet despite her effect on boys, she struck people as hopelessly naive. All the lights were out in the rundown blue single-wide when Fischer and sheriffs deputy Ed Emig pulled up outside. The days and weeks that followed, the grief, I cannot put it into words. Around one-thirty the next morning, he told Almon, he and a friend had gone to the Caffey home. "The house is exploding, it's totally engulfed, and I'm forced back in the bedroom," Caffey said. It's time to enjoy life again. He began searching the back bedroom where Charlie had been found. 11yo reads from porn book at school meeting, Teens bizarre excuse for bashing teacher, Homeless man executed in broad daylight. You want us to do what now? Booth asked, incredulous. 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 . I remember trying to raise myself up but I couldnt feel the right side of my body. I didnt find mucha Hot Wheels car; a broken ceramic cup; a horseshoe-shaped belt buckle that the kids gave me for Christmas. She asked for something, she got it., At Miracle Faith, people sensed that something was wrong in the Caffey home. For a moment, Fischer heard only dead silence on the other end of the line. I want to go. Rebecca sensed that something was spiritually wrong with the girl. They were shocked and asked me why. As they hurried down the gravel road away from the Caffeys home, the teenagers could see that the house was ablaze. I showed him photos of the suitcase that Erin had packed and the burned-out lockbox that was open to the combination that she had given Charlie. Yet Tanner had no doubt that Erin had masterminded the crime. There was nothing he could do for his family at that point. On the night of March 1st, 2008, in a quiet, rural Texan community, Terry Caffey's wife, Penny, and their two young sons, Bubba and Tyler, were brutally murdered by their 16-year-old daughter's boyfriend, Charlie Wilkinson, and his friend Charles Waid. 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. Photograph by O. Rufus Lovett I. Charles Dickerson was the only officer on duty on March 1,. Instant vibe, he said, snapping his fingers. "The hardest thing [was] to hear that. But Caffey said God showed him another way to deal with his grief. As time went on I began to realise that my grief and anger would destroy me. Caffey, you can go home now, Terry told me when I visited him this spring. WHAT'S POPULAR TODAY. Her father, the man who she tried to have killed, is the only person who still visits her. In Erin Caffeys case you know you are looking at evil. They drove down back roads for a while to blow off steam. It was an isolated existence for an otherwise social girl whose life was largely circumscribed to Miracle Faith and her parents house, six miles from town. Why did a small-town girl have her family brutally murdered? He led Charlie outside in handcuffs and sat him on the porch; he read the teenager his Miranda rights and told him that he was being taken in for questioning. Terry Caffey, his wife Penny, and their children, Tyler, Matthew 'Bubba' and Erin (Family Handout/ABC ) A Texas man who is the only survivor of a cold-blooded home invasion that left his wife. Terry started dating Sonja 4months after the horrific murders of his entire family & they were married just 7 months after the tragedy. I dont know, she mumbled. 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. 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. When Erin turned sixteen, in July 2007, she got her drivers license and an old Chevy pickup and started working at the Sonic. Later that night, he told the detective, Waid dropped him and Erin off at the trailer, where they had sex. Then, they discovered Erin Caffey in the trailer where he was living, and she appeared to be in a state of shock. Charlie Wilkinson, I want to say to you today, I forgive you. He now travels the country preaching what he has become good at, forgiveness. A teaching assistant who was brutally bashed by a 122kg student has denied her attackers claims that she sparked the classroom assault. The Forgiveness Project is unaffiliated to any religion or religious entity, and owns the intellectual property rights for all images and text on this website, which should not be reproduced in any shape or form without express permission. Her accomplices were her boyfriend Charlie Wilkinson,. It took him an hour to crawl to his nearest neighbors house where the authorities were called. The cabin appeared to have been burning for some time; the structure was engulfed in flames, and the metal roof had begun to buckle under its own weight. She had wanted to break things off with Charlie for a while, she tearfully confessed, but had not been sure how. After learning about Erin Caffey, read about another teen murderer, Zachary Davis, who bludgeoned his mother to death and tried to set his brother on fire. Accounts differ as to who, exactly, was the mastermind behind it, but Terry Caffey rebuffs the notion that it was his daughters idea. Investigators at the Caffey house after the fire. Terry maintained a relationship with his daughter for years after the massacre. They were perfect. When I visited the subject of his role in Tylers murder, he grew quiet and studied his hands, his eyes slowly filling with tears. Tanner was in the difficult position of briefing the victim of a crime who also happened to be the parent of the perpetrator. The police had arrested Erin for plotting the murders of her family. And so Erin accepted a plea dealtwo life sentences to be served concurrently, plus an additional 25 yearswhich ensures that with good behavior she will be eligible for parole when she is 59 years old. Terry fell . I was just angry. He feels that God has restored what the enemy had stolen. When I came round I heard commotion and two voices. His dad worked at a paper mill outside Dallas. Google Universal Analytics short-time unique user tracking identifier. Many questions, and much more ; I wanted to do whatever needed to to. Charlie was startled by the news that he had so viciously attacked to explain to him why were. Cup ; a broken ceramic cup ; a horseshoe-shaped belt buckle that the kids gave for. A minimum of 42 years and wont be eligible for parole until shes 59 and stuff drove back! 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