Erin Caffey’s Motive Revelaed: Sixteen Year Old Orchestrates Murder of Entire Family

The Caffey Family Background

[The Caffey Family From Left to Right: Mathew, Terry, Pamela, Tyler, Erin]

Sixteen-year-old, Erin Caffey seemed to have the perfect life. The eldest of three with two younger brothers, Mathew (nicknamed Bubba) 13 years old and Tyler 8 years old, Erin was a great role model to her younger siblings.

Having great role models for herself in her doting parents, Terry (41) and Penny (37) Caffey, Erin seemed to be on the right track, talented at playing the piano with a beautiful singing voice, her parents did their best to keep her and her brothers sheltered; opting to home school them at a young age.

Erin began home schooling at the tender age of thirteen, following an incident at public school where a girl tried to kiss her. The act of bisexuality followed the families move from Celeste to Alba, Texas where the family opted to move to be closer to Miracle Faith, a Baptist church where Penny and Terry both worked as ministers.

The Caffeys reacted to “the kiss” by pulling their daughter and sons out of public school halfway through the academic year and beginning a bible-based curriculum at home; with Penny as the conductor of the educational plans.

While on the outside Erin Caffey may have seemed like a sweet, southern belle, the Emory, Texas native had a much more sinister side that her family (and future victims) were about to become brutally aware of.

Erin Caffey had begun dating Charlie Wilkinson (18 years old) in November of 2007 and her parents immediately noticed a shift in the young vocalist’s interests.

Erin’s father Terry, and the only surviving victim states,

“Early on I had reservations about the young man. There were just things that didn’t sit right with me about him.”

He was correct in his initial analysis of the slightly older teen that his daughter had become so smitten over.

Hailing from a broken home and raised by a father not quite as doting as Erin’s (to say the least) Charlie Wilkinson had a reputation for being a hothead, though sporting no previous run ins with the law nor any disciplinary acts at school, Charlie’s reputation as a hothead seemed to be nothing more than just that, a reputation.

Erin met Charlie in the Fall of 2007 when her parents allowed her to get a part time job at a local Sonic fast food chain in town. Erin’s co-workers recall the teenager being so sheltered that she appeared to be seeing the outside world for the first time pending her first few shifts at the Sonic in town.

While being sheltered is no excuse for the gruesome act that occurred it is easy to see how someone so sheltered could be impressionable, especially given her tender age.

Erin Caffey has since admitted in a publicized interview with Piers Morgan that when her parents finally barred her from seeing her lover, she and Wilkinson would often talk about killing her family referring to the act as “Fubar”.

Stating that whenever they got angry at her parents, they would say things like,

“Man, I wish I could just fubar.”

Which Piers Morgan clarifies again meant to kill her family.

On March 2,2008 Charlie Wilkinson(18), Erin Caffey (16), a buddy of Wilkinson Charles Waid(20) and Waid’s girlfriend Bobbi Johnson (18) put operation “fubar” into action in the early morning hours around four am.

Operation Fubar

Rains County Sheriff officials received a report of possible gunshots and a house fire at the address of none other than the Caffey residence. Inside they found that the house had been set ablaze following a brutal slaying.

Erin’s younger brothers were found to have been stabbed with a samurai sword as well as Erin’s mother Penny. Tyler and Penny were also found to have been shot multiple times.

Terry Caffey, despite suffering multiple gunshot wounds managed to crawl out of the house and to a neighbor’s house for help. The assailants had shot him first, perhaps hoping that in killing Mr. Caffey first they would remove any threat as Penny and the boys would be no match against two young men yielding a samurai sword and a firearm.

Whatever their thoughts were in that moment Terry defied all odds and made it to a neighbor’s house despite being life threateningly injured. When asked who had shot him and his family, he was able to immediately identify one person for sure…

Erin Caffey’s eighteen-year-old boyfriend, Charlie Wilkinson.

At first authority officials believed Erin Caffey to have been kidnapped. With Terry in the hospital, Penny, Tyler and Mathew succumbing to their injuries, Erin Caffey seemed to be the only family member missing in the rubble of the house that had been set ablaze by the teens seemingly to cover up their malicious act.

Their attempt at covering up the crime scene was thwarted as Terry had survived the attack and was able to recount for officials just what had happened that fateful morning.

Coupled with evidence from the charred crime scene and a positive identification from Terry Caffey Rains County Deputy’s headed to the trailer that Charlie Wilkinson lived in with his family to bring him in on charges of Capital Murder and to try to locate Erin Caffey the missing family member in the heinous mystery.

Unbeknownst to officials upon search of the trailer they would find Erin Caffey hidden in a messy room.

An officer on scene recalls the moment when Erin Caffey’s presence was discovered in the disastrous trailer.

He remembers grabbing what he believed to be a blonde wig. However, when he pulled on it the face of Erin Caffey appeared.

Pending interrogation of the individuals alleged to have been involved, Erin was still considered a missing person, so she was not immediately treated as a suspect. It was not until police interviewed Charlie Wilkinson did they learn of Erin’s involvement and the involvement of Charles Waid and Bobbie Johnson.

Believing none of the victims had survived, Charlie at first tried to deny any involvement in the killings and at first denied even having any knowledge that the slaying and arson had occurred. It wasn’t until Charlie learned that Terry Caffey had survived the attack and positively identified him as one of the attackers did he admit his involvement and implicate Charles, Bobbi, and Erin in the killings.

According to Charlie Wilkinson, at the assistance of Erin Caffey, he and Charles Waid entered the Caffey residence at around four AM while Erin Caffey and Waid’s girlfriend Bobbi Johnson waited in the car.

Upon entry into the home Wilkinson admitted to his involvement in the stabbing and shooting deaths of the young boys and Penny Caffey as well as the attempted murder of Terry Caffey. He claimed that the attack was a result of claims that Erin had made that she was being abused by her parents.

Waid, Wilkinson, and Johnson all stated that the attack stemmed from the claims of abuse made by Caffey as well as the fact that her parents had barred her from seeing Charlie Wilkinson and demanded that she end the relationship.

Terry Caffey recalls the days before the slayings differently, stating that his daughter had begun to return to her normal self again and that she had told both he and Penny that she understood their decision to force her to end the relationship.

To date Erin denies the claims of abuse, stating in an interview with Piers Morgan:

“When I look back on it now, this was all just stupid. I mean, for what? They weren’t beating me; they weren’t starving me to death. I had it made.”

Erin now attests the senseless murders to “bad choices” and in the same interview states:

“I was shocked, angry and hurt, this was the guy [Wilkinson] I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with, and he loved me,” Erin tells Piers Morgan. “We were going to get married.”

Erin Caffey’s reference of marriage stems from the fact that Charlie Wilkinson at some point in their relationship gave her his grandmothers wedding ring in a pseudo engagement, that her parents, and certainly her father, never gave consent to.

The Sentencing:

How long did Erin Caffey and her co-defendants get?

In October 2008, Charlie Wilkinson and Charles Waid were each sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Three months later, Bobbi Johnson and Erin Caffey both pleaded guilty to murder. Johnson was sentenced to two 40-year sentences to be served concurrently.

in 2009 Erin was given two consecutive life sentences, plus 25 years she will not be eligible for parole until she serves at least 40 years of her sentence; at which point a parole board will decide whether or not Erin is suited for life outside on parole or whether she will remain in prison.

What about the surviving victim?

In a strange change of events, Terry Caffey , the only surviving victim of the brutal slayings, has forgiven his daughter for orchestrating the death of his two young sons (13 and 7) and his wife (37) and visits his daughter regularly in the Correctional facility she is currently housed in.

He attests the murders to Charlie Wilkinson and his influence over his daughter, stating that he does not believe Erin Caffey planned or influenced the attacks, placing all the blame on Charlie Wilkinson and Charles Waid.

I’ll let you decide.

What do you think?

Is Erin Caffey a murderer or simply an impressionable teen caught up in young love with the wrong young man?