Erin, she stammered. Fischer had already informed the couple that the Caffey family was dead. Despite all hed been through, he still believed in the forgiveness that his faith had taught him. Leave them blank to get signed up. According to Charlie, the girls had stayed behind in the car while he and Waid went inside. Were me and your mom good parents? he asked her as they sat on opposite sides of the Plexiglas divider. Ive got so many questions, and I dont want to hit her with them all at once, he said. Google Universal Analytics long-time unique user tracking identifier. He had never been arrested, and at school, he had no serious disciplinary problemsbut he was hotheaded, and other students knew it was easy to get a rise out of him. I dont know, she mumbled. Its over, Terry told her. Sanders and Booth would later reflect on the fact that Erin had not smelled like smoke, and Sanders regretted that she had turned away to give Erin some privacy when her maternal grandmother, Virginia Daily, had come to tell her that her father had, miraculously, survived the attack. Near the closet, he lifted up a blanket that was piled on the floor and noticed a shock of blond hair. Her father, who now visits her in prison, will be in his 80s by the time she gets out. Just a few days after the murders, Terry Caffey would make the eight-hour round trip to a prison to see the person who planned the family murder and had wanted him dead too. Charlie was playing basketball outside the fellowship hall that afternoon, and Terry pulled him aside. Terry Caffey was shot five times, escaped a house fire, but his family didn't. When I came round I heard commotion and two voices. He had stumbled and crawled five hundred yards from his home, where he had been left for dead, to Gastonsa journey that had taken him nearly an hour, all told. MurderpediaThe Caffey family, with Erin on the far right. He now travels the country preaching what he has become good at, forgiveness. - Published on February 4, 2014. I was angry at these two young men, the other lady that drove the getaway car. Perhaps the most surreal moment of our interview came when she sang Amazing Grace, pitch-perfect. . He fell to the floor and did not move again. 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. Terry was rushed into emergency surgery, after which he was stable enough to talk. There was so much blood that Dickerson could not tell where he had been shot. Terry fell into deep depression and planned to kill himself, but God intervened. Wilkinson even gave her a promise ring that had belonged to his grandmother and was open about his desire to marry her. At daybreak, the fire was still smoldering. I grabbed the mattress, the cover, anything I could to pull myself up. I'm here. There were no warning signs, no history of trouble. Erin Caffey Deputy Emig went inside to get Charlie a shirt and his cowboy boots. They drove down back roads for a while to blow off steam. I consent to the use of following cookies: Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. That turned me around and got me thinking that God might have a plan for me. Shortly after that he worked up the nerve to ask her out. Furious with her parents, Erin told her aunt that she planned on running away to be with Charlie when she turned seventeen. I want us to walk away, arm in arm, and never look back," Caffey said. I told them that killing these boys will not bring my family back. You want us to do what now? Booth asked, incredulous. How Florence ButtNot Her SonLaunched the H-E-B Empire. This Week In History News, Mar. Terry Caffey miraculously gained consciousness as the fire engulfed the house and crawled out of a window. Once you love somebody, you cant quit, Charlie said. So two or three days I pondered on this. 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 . Charlie might strike his desk or storm out of the classroom when he was provoked, but he usually walked away from a fight. He visits his daughter in prison every few months. She couldnt have asked for a better mom or dad. During the many hours in which they made polite conversation, he ventured only once to ask her a question of substance. Terry maintained a relationship with his daughter for years after the massacre. 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. Somebody brought me a Bible and told me to read the book of Job. I dont like that boy, Terry used to tell Penny. You know them family pictures that they print in movies and stuff? he said. If I could just get to my neighbours, Tommy and Helen, they would make everything alright. He says he wanted to die until he found out that his daughter was alive. I'm still here. That comported completely with what Charlie told us, which was that she kept calling and saying, Where are yall? Bring on the Shiplap? 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. 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. 1969-1976. You know, I was voted when we went to youth camp Most Fun Loving Person, she said. In the living room, he found a camouflage-colored purse with a drivers license inside it belonging to Erin Caffey. . She was disoriented, and Fisher thought that she appeared to be under the influence of some kind of drug. It reportedly wasnt easy for him at first, and Erin Caffey still denies her role in the planning of the murder. 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. Sanders passed the phone to Booth. Fischer recognized her from her drivers license photo. Now, one year later, Terry is remarried, the adoptive father of two young sons, and working to rebuild his. 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. "I remember rising up from my hospital bed and just screaming out, 'no it can't be, no it's not Erin, not Erin,'" Caffey said. 11yo reads from porn book at school meeting, Teens bizarre excuse for bashing teacher, Homeless man executed in broad daylight. When she spoke to Lewis, Erin insisted that Charlie had a volatile temper; he had killed her family after she had broken up with him and then framed her. Now nineteen, he looked impossibly young for someone who will never step beyond the guard towers and concertina wire again. Erin Caffeys brothers eight-year-old Tyler and 13-year-old Matthew played the guitar and the harmonica, respectively. And then in walks this tiny, meek, blond-headed girl who couldnt fight her way out of a wet paper sack. The judge informed Erin of her rights and asked if she would be willing to speak with investigators. When Erin came home that afternoon, her father and mother were waiting for her in the living room. 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. Terry Caffey lives in Wills Point, Texas, with his wife, Sonja, and their two sons, Blake and Tanner. Director Sally Howell Stars Terry Caffey Anne Hjelle Debi Nicholls See production, box office & company info Terry and Penny had met at a revival meeting in Garland when she was 21 and he was 24, and their strong Baptist faith had always bound them together. 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. He handed the gun to Waid, who fixed the .22 and fired two more shots. Fischer walked from room to room, stepping over piles of dirty clothes and empty beer cans as he went, startling Waid and his girlfriend from their sleep. 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. ", "I am sound asleep in my bed and just immediately the gunshots went off," he said. 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. Caffey, you can go home now, Terry told me when I visited him this spring. 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. From then on, the Caffeys limited Erins time with Charlie to once a week, in their home, under their watch. 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 . Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! he was a student at Rains Middle School. Terry and Penny worked as ministers at a conservative Baptist Church in Celeste, Texas. The Caffey Family. 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. How did you get here? Fischer asked her. But the most gruesome is saved for last. Knowing everything he knew, I asked him, did he still love her? January 22, 2022 . Tom Ford. Erin Caffey And Charlie Wilkinson's Dangerous Relationship Forgiveness took months with me praying continuously even when I still had rage towards God. Investigators at the Caffey house after the fire. They all gave similar accounts, with Erin serving as the driving force behind the killings. 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. 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. Terry has forgiven his daughter. Twice a week, Terry made the trip to Greenville to see his daughter. I wanted to find these guys; I wanted to strangle them. ERIN Caffey was just 16 years old when she organised for her family to be killed. It was Fischer, calling to inform Sanders that Erin had been implicated in the Caffey murders and she needed to be placed under arrest. I found out later they had come in with samurai swords and found Tyler in the closet. Volunteer firefighters had struggled for several hours to put out the flames, but the house had burned down to its foundation. 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. 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. She was very smart. Charlie also began attending church at Miracle Faith. I never heard another sound after that until 3am when our bedroom door flew open. Terry Caffey and Penny Caffey were husband and wife. 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. Fischer drew his gun and commanded her to show him her hands, but she just stared at him. 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. 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. And wife now travels the country preaching what he has become good at, forgiveness fischer had already the... Visits her in prison every few months Helen, they would make everything.... 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