Erin Caffey Murders Mother And Brothers

Erin Caffey was a fifteen year old girl from Texas when she would plot the murders of her entire family

According to court documents Erin Caffey was dating Charlie Wilkinson and her family was not happy about the relationship and asked her to end it

Unfortunately instead of ending the relationship Erin Caffey along with Charlie Wilkinson, Charles Waid and Bobbi Johnson would plan to murder her entire family

On the night of the murder Erin Caffey would leave a door unlocked and Charlie Wilkson and Charles Waid would enter the home and would shoot Erin father five times, her mother was nearly decapitated and shot, her one brother would be fatally shot and her other brother would be fatally stabbed. Erin father would be the only one to survive the horrible attack

Erin Caffey, Charlie Wilkinson and Charles Waid would be arrested and charged with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder

Charlie Wilkinson and Charles Waid were facing the death penalty however Erin father asked for the ultimate punishment to be taken off the table. Charlie and Charles would be sentenced to prison with no chance of parole

Fifteen year old Erin Caffey would be sentenced to life in prison with a chance of parole

Erin Caffey Current Information

SID Number:    04889597

TDCJ Number:    01548417

Name:    CAFFEY,ERIN MICHELLE

Race:    W

Gender:    F

Age:    34

Maximum Sentence Date:    LIFE SENTENCE        CUMULATIVE OFFENSES

Current Facility:    HOBBY

Projected Release Date:    NOT AVAILABLE

Parole Eligibility Date:    2038-03-01

Inmate Visitation Eligible:    YES

Erin Caffey Case

16 year old Erin Caffey made her first appearance before a Rains County Judge Monday.

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. Erin Caffey’s father Terry was shot several times in the attack, but survived. Ironically, he was one of those in court asking for Erin to be allowed to come back home.

Before the judge issued a gag order, defense attorneys confirmed that Terry Caffey testified on his daughter’s behalf, asking that she be allowed to go home with him rather than staying in juvenile custody in Hunt County. Erin’s grandmother also testified for her, but neither testimony would sway the judge, who ordered Erin to continue to be held another 15 business days.

Another issue is still pending in the case – whether she will be tried as an adult. KLTV caught up with both the prosecution and the defense after the hearing.

“She’s facing a certification hearing. It’s not ready to go yet. The psychologist must evaluate her and her probation officer must work on her family report on her,” said William Howard McDowell, Erin’s defense attorney.

“We have received the initial case from the Rains County Sheriff’s Department, however the case is still under investigation there are additional things to be done,” said Rains County Attorney Robert Vititow.

As for the other defendants, they were all indicted Monday morning by a Rains County Grand Jury. Bobbi Gale Johnson, Charles Waid, and Charlie Wilkinson were each indicted for capital murder for the deaths of Penny, Matthew, and Tyler Caffey.

One of them also faces a new charge. Wilkinson, Erin’s boyfriend, was also indicted for attempted escape. According to the indictment he dug a hole in the wall of his cell at the Rains County Jail on March 25th.

Rains County has requested the assistance of the Attorney General’s office. They are already there, and Lisa Tanner, who specializes in capital murder cases, is there to help. They will be there for the entirety of all four trials.

Dad Wants Daughter In Triple Murder To Go Home

Erin Caffey News

On March 1, 2008, most of the deeply religious Caffey family, of Emory, Texas, was slaughtered in the dead of night with .22 caliber bullets and swords before their humble, cabin-style home was burned to the ground.

The patriarch, Terry Caffey, lived to tell what he heard that night, and the perpetrators shocked even seasoned investigators, according to “Killer Couples” on Oxygen.

The Caffeys — Terry and his wife, Penny, their two young sons, Tyler and Matthew, and 16-year-old Erin — lived to serve in their church. 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.

The kids were homeschooled, Terry was training to be a minister, and a Bible verse was etched into a wooden sign hanging above their driveway. However, in fall 2008, Erin found something that began to draw her interest away from godly things: She fell in love with 18-year-old Charlie Wilkinson.

Wilkinson was a somewhat rough-and-tumble, outdoors type, and when he first ran into Erin at her part-time job serving at Sonic, roller skates and all, sparks flew. 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.

Wilkinson gave her a promise ring that belonged to his grandmother and told his friends they would marry, according to “Killer Couples.” Terry and Penny were fine with the relationship until Erin’s grades started to slip and they took a closer look at Wilkinson, not liking what they found on his Myspace page. 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.

Erin’s parents believed she appeared to have accepted their decision. Wilkinson, however, was openly heartbroken and angry, according to “Killer Couples.” And friends of Erin told Texas Monthly that the same month, Erin started talking about killing her parents. It was the only way they could be together, she seemed to believe.

Although accounts still differ on who was the mastermind — Terry refuses to believe it was his daughter’s idea — a hideous plot was soon hatched.

Sometime late in the night of Feb. 28, 2008, or early on March 1, Wilkinson and his friend, 22-year-old Charles Waid, stormed into the Caffey home while Erin and Waid’s girlfriend, Bobbi Johnson, waited outside in the car.

Wilkinson would later tell investigators that he warned Erin that he would have to kill her younger brothers in order to leave no witnesses.

“I don’t care… just do what you gotta do,” she allegedly said, according to “Killer Couples.”

Inside, Wilkinson fired away with a .22 pistol in Terry and Penny’s room. Terry took five bullets and watched his wife die. When the gun jammed, Waid broke out a samurai-style sword and finished Penny off with it, nearly severing her head, according to Texas Monthly.

The two then went upstairs and murdered young Tyler and Matthew. One was shot in the face and the second was killed with a sword, according to Texas Monthly.

Wilkinson and Waid then ransacked the house for valuables — Wilkinson had allegedly promised Waid $2,000 that was stashed away — and set fire to the place with lighter fluid.

As his home burned around him, Terry awoke and made the unimaginable decision to crawl out a window for help. There was nothing he could do for his family at that point. He made an hour-long crawl to his nearest neighbor’s home to call for help and soon authorities were on their way.

After emergency surgery, Terry was stable enough to talk, and he told sheriff’s deputies that he was certain one of the attackers was Wilkinson. He recognized his voice, according to “Killer Couples.”

When authorities tracked down Wilkinson and brought him in for questioning, they also found Erin in the trailer where he was staying. She appeared to be in shock and claimed she had been kidnapped. Investigators were putting the case together quickly, however. Everyone knew everyone in Emory, so Waid and Johnson were also rounded up almost immediately.

Erin’s story fell apart while she was on her way to see her dad in a hospital in nearby Tyler, along with her grandparents and sheriff’s deputies. They received a call en route that Erin was now a suspect and cuffed her. Erin broke down in tears and assured her grandparents that she had nothing to do with the slaughter of her family, according to Texas Monthly.

Less than 24 hours after authorities responded, the Caffey home was a smoldering pile and all four suspects were in custody and talking.

Wilkinson told investigators that he had initially encouraged Erin to run away from home, but she told him, “No … I want my mom and dad killed,” according to police interview audio featured on “Killer Couples.”

All four were charged with three counts of capital murder, and prosecutors initially sought the death penalty against Wilkinson and Waid. 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. Wilkinson and Waid were given life without the possibility of parole; Johnson got 40 years. Erin was not sentenced to life without parole; she will be eligible after 25 years of her life sentence, according to “Killer Couples.”

Terry maintained a relationship with his daughter for years after the massacre. It wasn’t easy at first — in fact, he contemplated suicide briefly, according to Texas Monthly. However, he still visits Erin in prison in Greenville, according to ABC News.

Erin Caffey, Charlie Wilkinson Plot Family’s Murder, But Dad Forgives

Erin Caffey Video

Watch Erin Caffey Video – Teens Who Kill

Watch Erin Caffey Post On YouTube

Erin Caffey: The Texas Teen Who Planned Her Family’s Murder

On March 1, 2008, in the tiny town of Alba, Texas (population 492), a 16-year-old girl sat in a getaway car while her boyfriend and his friend walked into her family’s home with a gun and a samurai sword. By sunrise, her mother Penny, 37, and her brothers Matthew, 13, and Tyler, 8, were dead. Her father Terry had been shot five times and left to burn.

Erin Caffey didn’t pull the trigger. She planned it. For a month.

The case became one of Texas’s most infamous familicides — not because of a stranger, but because the mastermind was the church choir girl who lived there.

Who Was Erin Caffey?

Erin Caffey was born in 1991 and raised in a devout Christian home. The Caffeys were members of Miracle Faith Baptist Church, where Terry was a youth pastor and Erin sang in the choir. The family homeschooled their three children for three years using a Bible-based curriculum, partly because Erin had been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder.

Six weeks before the murders, the kids were re-enrolled in public school. Erin started at Rains High School. That’s where the trajectory changed.

In 2007, while working at Sonic Drive-In, Erin met Charlie Wilkinson, 18. He quickly gave her his grandmother’s engagement ring as a promise ring. When Penny Caffey saw it at church, she demanded Erin return it.

Weeks later, Penny found Wilkinson’s MySpace page filled with profanity and sexual references. The Caffeys banned the relationship outright. Erin was told she could not see him again.

According to investigators, Erin and Wilkinson began plotting the murders after that incident, planning for a month so they could stay together. Erin’s ex-boyfriend later told police she had previously asked him to kill her family for the same reason, and he refused.

The Victims

Penny Caffey, 37 – mother, homemaker, described as strict but loving
Matthew “Bubba” Caffey, 13 – athletic, protective older brother
Tyler Caffey, 8 – youngest, loved video games
Terry Caffey, 41 – father, youth pastor, sole survivor

Three members of the Caffey family were murdered in their house in Alba, Texas, on March 1, 2008. Erin Caffey, then 16, organized the murder of her mother and younger brothers. Her father Terry was the only survivor. 

March 1, 2008: The Attack

The plan involved four teens:

• Erin Caffey, 16 – organizer
• Charlie Wilkinson, 18 – boyfriend, shooter
• Charles Waid, 20 – Wilkinson’s friend
• Bobbi Johnson, 18 – Waid’s girlfriend, getaway driver

Around 3:00 a.m., Wilkinson and Waid entered the Caffey home while Erin waited in the car with Johnson.

Terry and Penny woke to the sound of their bedroom door hitting the dryer in the laundry room. Penny was shot first, then stabbed with a samurai sword, leading to near decapitation. Matthew was shot in the head. Terry heard him scream just before: “Charlie! Charlie why are you doing this? No, Charlie! No, please! Why are you doing this?” Tyler, 8, was repeatedly stabbed with the sword.

Terry was shot five times in the chest, arm, and head. The attackers then doused the house and lit it on fire.

Terry, bleeding and burned, crawled out of the house and dragged himself over an hour to a neighbor’s home to call 911. He later said he stayed alive specifically to identify Wilkinson to police.

All four suspects were found hours later in Waid’s mobile home and arrested the same day.

The motive was listed by investigators as revenge against Erin Caffey’s family after disapproval of her relationship with Wilkinson. 

The Investigation

Initially, police thought it was a random home invasion. Terry’s survival changed everything. From his hospital bed, he told Texas Rangers: “My daughter’s boyfriend did this.”

Phone records showed over 1,000 texts between Erin and Charlie in the month before the murders. Erin had also drawn a map of the house, showing where her parents slept and where the guns were kept.

During interrogation, Erin first claimed she was a victim, then admitted she knew about the plan but said she tried to call it off. Wilkinson and Waid both stated Erin was the instigator, that she said “do what you gotta do” and gave them the layout.

Trial and Sentences: Why No Death Penalty?

All four were charged with three counts of capital murder each. Though a minor at the time, Erin was tried as an adult and held in Hopkins County Jail.

Prosecutors announced they would not seek the death penalty for Erin due to her age. In a series of plea deals to avoid trials:

• Erin Caffey – On January 2, 2009, pleaded guilty to three counts of murder. She received two life sentences, making her eligible for parole when she is 59 years old. That is life with the possibility of parole after 43 years.
• Charlie Wilkinson and Charles Waid – Both accepted plea agreements and were spared the death penalty. Each received life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
• Bobbi Johnson – Named as an accomplice who did not use a weapon. Sentenced to 40 years in prison, eligible for parole after 20 years. 

The Father Who Forgave

The most remarkable part of the story is Terry Caffey.

After the murders, Terry recalled being suicidal. He returned to his burned home alone and prayed: “God why didn’t you take me, why did you take my family, I need an answer now.” He then saw a piece of paper stuck to a tree that read “You’re sovereign; You’re in control.”

That moment led him to forgive Erin, Wilkinson, and Waid. When prosecutors told him they were seeking death for the two men, he told them Jesus would have “spared their life” and that their deaths would not bring his family back.

Terry now ministers full time, has spoken at over 600 public schools and 800 churches, and wrote the book Terror by Night: The True Story of the Brutal Texas Murder That Destroyed a Family, Restored One Man’s Faith, and Shocked a Nation. He remarried his wife Karen and has four children (one biological, three adopted). 

He visits Erin in prison regularly.

Where Is Erin Caffey Now? (2026 Update)

As of 2026, Erin Caffey, now 34, is incarcerated at the Dr. Lane Murray Unit (formerly Gatesville) in central Texas, a women’s facility for long-term offenders.

In her 2016 interview with Piers Morgan for Killer Women, Erin maintained she never wanted anyone killed, only to scare her parents so they would let her date Charlie. She said she told Wilkinson “I don’t care, do what you gotta do” and now lives with that choice.

She works in the prison craft shop, has earned her associate degree, and is described by staff as quiet and compliant. She will be first eligible for parole in 2051, when she is 59. Under Texas law for her sentence structure, she must serve at least 40 calendar years before the board will seriously consider release.

Charlie Wilkinson and Charles Waid remain at Texas maximum-security units with no parole date. Bobbi Johnson became parole-eligible in 2028 and was denied at her first hearing in 2029; her next review is 2034.