Erin Caffey

**** The exact location of this crime seemed to be rather confusing. Some information stated that a few years before the crime the family had moved from Alba Texas to Celeste Texas to be closer to their church. Other information stated the crime occurred in Emory Texas. However, it seemed that even more claimed it still to have occurred in Alba. I have chosen to stick with Alba for two reasons. One it is in Rains County, the county in which the prosecutions took place, although in fairness Emory is located there also, while Celeste Texas is in Hunt County. Secondly, the Findagrave website lists the place of death for the Caffey's as being in Alba while their burial occurred elsewhere.****

It is not like I keep my blogging or my obsession with true crimes a secret from my family. I often bounce things off my husband and talk about the cases I have researched. He also helps me sometimes when I have questions about guns or things like that. When it comes to my grown son who lives with us however, I do not talk about cases as often with him. I saw a television series on this case though and announced to him that if he ever attempted to kill me not to expect forgiveness. Of course I received a very puzzled looked from him.

The episode that I watched stated that people look at Terry Caffey in one of two ways. Some look at him as a wonderful and overly forgiving man and others look at him as delusional and unable to accept reality. I have to say that I am somewhere in the middle of those two opinions. I cannot imagine what Terry Caffey has had to go through in the last ten years. And, I admit that he is a very forgiving man considering the fact that it is very evident that his then sixteen year old daughter was behind the attack on his family that killed his wife and two sons. The attack also saw Terry suffer from five gunshot wounds and a very long recovery. But, in the same respect, whether it is because it was simply what he had to do mentally to get through it all or not, I do agree that he has yet accepted reality of the situation.

On the night of March 1, 2008 Terry, his wife Penny and their two son's, Matthew and Tyler were apparently in their Alba Texas home sleeping. Unbeknownst to them sixteen year old Erin Caffey was sitting in a vehicle outside the family home with friend, Bobbi Johnson. Erin's boyfriend, Charlie Wilkinson and his friend Charles Waid (he was also the boyfriend of Bobbi Johnson) entered the unlocked home and the terror began. Wilkinson had gone into the parents' bedroom where he opened fire. First he had hit Terry Caffey. He then moved on to Penny but the gun apparently jammed. He then grabbed what was described as a Samurai Sword and began stabbing the thirty-seven year old mother of three. He continued until she was nearly decapitated.

While this was going on, thirteen year old Matthew and eight year old Tyler woke up from their beds upstairs. They began screaming from the top of the stairs. At this point Charles Waid shot Matthew in the head, killing him. Tyler, who had ran to hide in a closet, was found and stabbed with the same sword that had killed his mother. Authorities believe that it was Wilkinson who committed the latter murder but he has alleged, or at least at one time, that he only attacked Terry and Penny.

As the duo left the home they set a fire. By some form of miracle, Terry, who had been shot five times, crawled through the home and out to a neighbor's home. It was then that a 911 call was made and when authorities arrived Terry was able to tell them that his attacker was none other than Charlie Wilkinson, who he considered to be the former boyfriend of his daughter, Erin.

The hunt was on, not just for Wilkinson but for Erin too. Initially they had no idea where she was or what had occurred. While the fire was being extinguished and the crime scene being gone through Terry would be rushed to the hospital where he would survive his wounds. He would soon learn however that the horror of the situation was not over. Authorities would inform him that while his wife and two sons had been murdered prior to the fire, but that although they had found his daughter alive, they also knew that she was involved in the attack. A video was made of this exchange and initially Terry told investigators that he did not want the details just yet, but asked “how” involved she had been. The investigators had to admit she played a significant role.

When authorities first found Erin she was seemingly hiding in the home where they found Charlie Wilkinson. She would initially tell investigators that she had been drugged and kidnapped from her home. However, that story quickly fell apart when Wilkinson, Waid and Johnson were interviewed. Most investigators would admit that taking the word of co-conspirators is not exactly hard evidence, nor can they solely rely on their words. When people admit committing crimes they rarely tell the full story, nor is everything they say the truth. Even during confessions people tend to try to lessen their own culpability. However, in this case the investigators would say that Wilkinson, Waid and Johnson told almost the exact same story and yet not so exact that it seemed rehearsed. All three would claim that not only had Erin Caffey been the driving force behind the murders of her family but she had made the claim that her mother was physically abusive to her.

To be fair there seemed to be no evidence of physical abuse in the home. Erin had been raised in a strict, religious home. The family were members of the very conservative Miracle Faith Baptist Church and Terry was studying to be a minister. It was said that Erin had attended public school until the middle of her eighth grade year. It appears Terry and Penny abruptly pulled their children from public school when it was alleged that a girl at school had attempted to kiss Erin. At that point Penny began homeschooling the children using a bible-based curriculum. But, it would also be this incident from her eighth grade year that Terry would later use as a sort of an excuse for his daughters behavior. He would say that the “bisexual culture” had “confused” her “before she finally veered off into the premarital relationship that turned deadly.”

Some credence to the story that Erin had at least stated that she was being abused at home was found in the mother of one of Charles Wilkinson's friends. She would claim that at some point her son had been out with Wilkinson and when they were late she contacted her son who told her they were at the police station because Wilkinson was reporting that Erin had claimed her mother had abused her. The friend's mother stated she later talked to Wilkinson about this and that she had pointed out to him that he had never seen any marks on Erin and that the only evidence he had that this occurred was Erin's words. I never found anything that showed that there were ever any reports made against either Penny or Terry for abuse. But, again, in fairness, that does not mean that Wilkinson did not go to the police, nor does it mean that Erin had not made the claims. He could have easily truly gone to the police but they did not take the claims of a high school teenager seriously and did not make an official report.

During the investigation the investigators found their way to a former boyfriend of Erin's named Michael Washburn. He would claim that like Erin's relationship with Wilkinson, her parents had made he and Erin split up. He also claimed that Erin had stated to him on more than one occasion that she wanted her family murdered.

In the months leading up to the murders it appears things were in fact tense in the Caffey home when it concerned Erin and her relationship with Wilkinson. In early 2008 Wilkinson had given Erin a ring that had once belonged to his grandmother. While it was not an official proposal, to the two teenagers that was exactly what it meant. When Penny and Terry found out they were upset and decided that they would dictate when and how much the couple saw of each other. Their solution was that Wilkinson could see Erin, once a week, in their home and under their eye. In February the couple grounded Erin, as well as took away her keys and cell phone because she had contact with Wilkinson apparently without their permission or outside the time they had permitted. This was a direct violation of their rules, and they were not going to stand for it. It appears that it was soon after this that Erin began pushing more for the murders of her family.

Prosecutors had to decide if they were going to seek the death penalty against Wilkinson and Waid. It was said that initially Terry Caffey had wanted this to be imposed but that later he changed his mind and asked that the prosecutor did not ask for the death penalty against the two boys. He is often given praise and credit for his ability to “forgive” and not seek the ultimate justice against those who had murdered his family. I would like to say that I feel the same way towards his decision but I have to admit that I do not. I want to think that deep down Terry Caffey knows that his daughter was the mastermind in this crime and that she manipulated the others into murdering her family and that it was that knowledge that led him know the death penalty was maybe not the right course of action here. And, maybe that really was the reason, however, to this day it does not seem that Terry Caffey can bring himself to say that was his reasoning.

There were no trials in this case. In November of 2008 both Wilkinson and Waid pleaded guilty and were given sentences of life without parole. Bobbi Johnson would also plead guilty and get a sentence of forty years. She is eligible for parole after twenty years, in 2028. Erin would also plead guilty and in January of 2009 would be given a sentence of forty years to life. She is eligible for parole in the year 2038.

I found these pleas interesting, especially those of Wilkinson and Waid. They were ages eighteen and nineteen at the time of the crime so while they were still teenagers they were not considered minors which did make them eligible for the death penalty. It is not unusual to see someone to offer a plea to murder and get a sentence of life without parole, but almost always that is a case when the death penalty is being sought and the plea takes death off the table. In this case it was said that death was not an option, and would not have been had they taken the case to trial. Their plea deal did not get them anything better than they would have gotten in a trial. The sentences in which they received would have been the maximum they could have received had they gone to trial. It just seems strange to me that neither of them had a defense attorney willing to fight for them to have a lower sentence considering the circumstances. Now, do not take this as me saying I do not think they necessarily deserved what they were given, just that I think a good attorney could have gotten them less time considering their age, their lack of criminal history and the clear understanding that they had been in a sense manipulated into committing the crimes based on false allegations made by Erin.

While I never found anything in my research or on the television show in which I watch in which Terry Caffey openly stated that he was actively seeking or making efforts to get his daughter released from prison, there were statements made that this was his goal. What I did see was a father who despite all of the evidence continues to put as little blame on his daughter as possible. He talked of the “psychopath” she had gotten involved with when he spoke of Wilkinson; he spoke of how the “bisexual culture” had “confused” her; he spoke of the “monsters” who took his family. But, let's be clear when he talked about the monsters he was not including everyone, just the two boys, which in fairness they were the ones to carry out the crime. The host of the television show I watched asked him straight out if he truly believed Erin was not as culpable as authorities alleged or if that was what he needed to believe in order to move forward. I did not feel as if he gave a very straight answer. Do not get me wrong in feeling that I have no sympathy for Terry Caffey because I absolutely do. This man lost his entire family in the blink of an eye. One day he was a married man with four growing children, and the next his wife and two sons were dead, he had received devastating wounds and his only remaining child was in jail charged with being the motivation behind the crime. Erin was and is all he has left of that family. None of us can say what we would do for certain in that situation. However, I feel as if I could have more respect for him if he just stood up and said “Yes, she did it; yes, she pushed those boys; yes, she is guilty. But, she is my daughter and I love her and I will continue to be there for her.” And maybe in the process tell people he could not give a rat's you know what as far as their thinking. But he does not do that. He, like a criminal in a confession, lessens her culpability. Maybe he blames the “bisexual culture” because he knows he cannot fully blame Wilkinson when another former boyfriend testified she was talking of killing her family before Wilkinson was even in the picture. I think he would receive much more sympathy and respect if he just admitted that his daughter was the driving force here. But, in the same respect, as the host of the television show suggested, maybe that is how he has to look at things to accept them. Terry visits his daughter regularly in prison.

I suppose in some way it should not be surprising that Terry does not seem to fully grasp the role his daughter played in the murder of his family and his own attempted murder because Erin comes off in much of the same manner. She dances around the fact of whether she was the driving force or “mastermind” behind the crime as the prosecutors allege. In fact, she attempts to put that on Wilkinson and says that although she knew “his” plans she did not take it seriously. She blames much of it on her age and “bad choices” which is a legitimate take on things but only to a certain point. She admits that she had the ability to prevent the murders and that because of her actions her mother and brothers are dead, but she seems to do so reluctantly. When you are sixteen and think you are in love you do make bad choices that seem so logical in the moment. You get older and realize that they were not logical most of the time and that is okay to acknowledge that, as she does, but while it may be a reason, in my opinion it should not be used as an excuse. And yet, this is how Erin seems to “explain” things away. I am unsure that I heard her in her interview express true remorse or say she was sorry for her actions. Funny enough she did say that she realizes she had it good at home as her parents “did not” beat her, have addictions or seemingly struggle financially. I felt as if the host, who was interviewing her, had a chance early on to say “But, several witnesses claim that you did say you were being beaten.” Then again he was only given one hour with her and I suppose you do not want to call a liar out early on to prevent hostilities.

No, I do not think if one of my children went to the extent that this girl did to procure and solicit my death that I would be visiting them in prison, especially if they showed no remorse.