| Caffey family murders | |
|---|---|
| Location | Alba, Texas, U.S. |
| Date | March 1, 2008 |
Attack type | Familicide (Fratricide & Matricide), mass murder, child murder, arson |
| Deaths | 3 [a] |
| Injured | 1 [b] |
| Perpetrator |
|
| Verdict | All four pleaded guilty |
| Convictions | Capital murder [d] |
| Motive | Revenge against Erin Caffey's family's after disapproval of her and Charlie Wilkinson's relationship |
| Sentence |
|
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, Penny Caffey, and younger brothers Matthew and Tyler. Her father Terry was the only survivor; he escaped to safety after being shot five times. The murders were committed by Erin's then-boyfriend Charlie Wilkinson and his friend Charles Waid, with Waid's girlfriend Bobbi Johnson acting as a getaway driver. [1] [2] Erin and Wilkinson planned the murder for a month, after Erin's parents' disapproval of their relationship. [3] The crime gained notoriety for its violent nature, with one of Erin's brothers being stabbed repeatedly and her mother almost decapitated.
The Caffey family were devout Christians and part of the Miracle Faith Baptist Church, where Erin was in the church choir and Terry was a youth pastor. [4] They lived in Alba, Texas, a rural community with a population of 492 at the time. [5] The Caffey children had been homeschooled for three years, and were taught a Bible-based curriculum. Erin was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, a reason for the homeschooling. They had been re-enrolled at public schools six weeks prior to the murders, with Erin going to Rains High School. [3]
Erin met 18-year-old Charlie Wilkinson while working at fast-food chain Sonic in 2007, with the pair quickly forming a romantic relationship. [5] [6] Wilkinson lived with his father and step-mother, seeing his biological mother once or twice a year. Wilkinson had given Erin his grandmother's engagement ring as a promise ring; Penny demanded she give it back after noticing it during a church function. [5] Weeks prior to the murders, Erin was told that she was not allowed to see Wilkinson after Penny discovered his MySpace page, which had references to profanity and sex. [7] Erin and Wilkinson began planning the murders after this incident so they could stay together, reportedly planning the crime for a month. [3] Erin also told a former boyfriend that she wanted her family dead. [1]
In the morning hours of March 1, 2008, Wilkinson and Waid entered the Caffey family house, while Erin waited outside in a car with Johnson. At around 3:00 a.m., Penny and Terry Caffey woke up to sounds of the bedroom door hitting the dryer in the laundry room, which was next to the bedroom. [7] Penny Caffey was the first to be shot, and was stabbed with a samurai sword leading to near decapitation. [8] [9] Matthew was shot in the head; just before being shot, his father Terry heard him screaming "Charlie! Charlie why are you doing this? No Charlie! No please why are you doing this?" Tyler was repeatedly stabbed with the sword by Wilkinson and Waid. Terry was shot five times and left to die. Following the crime, the house was lit on fire. Terry, the only survivor, crawled out of the burning house and to a neighbor's house, which took over an hour. [7] He was motivated to live in order to identify Wilkinson to the police. [9] From there, 911 was called and authorities came to the scene.
All four suspects were found in a mobile home owned by Waid, and apprehended on the same day as the killings. [5] [10]
Waid, Wilkinson, Johnson and Caffey were charged with three counts of capital murder each, [11] with prosecutors stating they did not plan to seek the death penalty for Erin. [12] The defendants had their bonds set at $1.5 million each. [10] Though a minor at the time of the killing, Erin was tried as an adult and held in Hopkins County Jail. On January 2, 2009, she received two life sentences for her role after accepting a plea deal, making her eligible for parole when she is 59 years old. [12]
Wilkinson and Waid were spared the death penalty after accepting a plea agreement, receiving life sentences without the possibility of parole. [13] Johnson was named as an accomplice who did not use a weapon and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. She will be eligible for parole after serving 20 years. [12]
Waid has since expressed remorse for the crime. [14] Terry Caffey recalled being suicidal following the incident. [15] He cites God as the reason for being able to reconcile with the event and forgive those involved. [14] After Terry returned to his former home alone for the first time since the crime, he looked to the sky and said, "God why didn’t you take me, why did you take my family, I need an answer now, not next week, not next month, I need an answer today". He then saw a piece of paper stuck to a tree with the words "You’re sovereign; You’re in control", which motivated him to forgive his daughter for the crime. When told prosecutors were seeking the death penalty for Wilkinson and Waid, he proclaimed that Jesus would have "spared their life" and told prosecutors that their deaths would not bring his family back. [15] Caffey now ministers full time and has visited 600 public schools and 800 churches to share his story. He has since remarried and has four children with his wife Karen. [14]
The crime was featured in American crime drama television series Final Witness in 2012. [16] [17] In 2020, the crime was the premise of the sixth episode in Season 13 of Snapped: Killer Couples . [6] In 2016, Erin was interviewed by English journalist Piers Morgan for television documentary series Killer Women with Piers Morgan . [18] Terry has written a book on the events, titled Terror by Night: The True Story of the Brutal Texas Murder That Destroyed a Family, Restored One Man’s Faith, and Shocked a Nation. [19] In 2014, the story was featured on the American talk show Dr. Phil , with Terry appearing as a guest. [20]
On October 26, 2001, twenty-five-year-old nursing assistant Chante Jawan Mallard murdered 37-year-old Gregory Glenn Biggs, a homeless man, with her automobile, in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. The force of the crash lodged Biggs into the windshield. Mallard then drove home and left the man lodged in the windshield of her car, parked in her garage. He died two to three days later, according to police. Mallard was convicted and sentenced to 50 years imprisonment for murder, but will be eligible for parole in 2027.
Mark David Chapman is an American man who murdered English musician John Lennon in New York City on December 8, 1980. As Lennon walked into the archway of The Dakota, his apartment building on the Upper West Side, Chapman fired five shots at the musician from a few yards away with a Charter Arms Undercover .38 Special revolver. Lennon was hit four times from the back. He was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital and pronounced dead on arrival. Chapman remained at the scene following the shooting and made no attempt to flee or resist arrest.
Leslie Louise Van Houten is an American convicted murderer and former member of the Manson Family. During her time with Manson's group, she was known by aliases such as Louella Alexandria, Leslie Marie Sankston, Linda Sue Owens and Lulu.
The Manson Family was a commune, gang, and cult led by criminal Charles Manson that was active in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The group at its peak consisted of approximately 100 followers, who lived an unconventional lifestyle, frequently using psychoactive drugs, including amphetamine and hallucinogens such as LSD. Most were young women from middle-class backgrounds, many of whom were attracted by hippie counterculture and communal living, and then radicalized by Manson's teachings. The group murdered at least 9 people, though they may have killed as many as 24.
Charles Denton "Tex" Watson is an American murderer who was a central member of the "Manson Family" led by Charles Manson. On August 9, 1969, Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins murdered pregnant actress Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger, and Steven Parent at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles. The next night, Watson traveled to Los Feliz, Los Angeles, and participated in the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Watson was convicted of murder in 1971 and sentenced to death. As a result of a 1972 California Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality in the state of the death penalty, he avoided execution but has remained incarcerated ever since.
Matricide is the act of killing one's own mother.
Incorruptible is an American comic book series written by Mark Waid and published by Boom! Studios. The series follows former supervillain Max Damage in his quest to become a superhero. The book is a spin-off of another Waid comic, Irredeemable, which follows the transformation of a superhero into a supervillain. Incorruptible #1 was published on December 16, 2009, and the series ended in May 2012, after thirty issues. Marcio Takara is the longest-serving artist on the series, having provided art for sixteen issues since Incorruptible #11 in October 2010. The series concluded alongside Irredeemable in May 2012.
Paul Charles Denyer is an Australian serial killer currently serving three consecutive sentences of life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 30 years for the murders of three young women in Melbourne, in 1993. Denyer became known in the media as the Frankston Serial Killer as his crimes occurred in the neighbouring suburbs of Frankston.
The Kentucky Fried Chicken murders were an armed robbery and mass murder which took place at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Kilgore, Texas, in 1983. For over two decades, it was unsolved.
Antron Singleton, better known by his stage name Big Lurch, is an American rapper, poet and convicted murderer. He is serving a life sentence for murdering 21-year-old roommate Tynisha Ysais and eating parts of her body in April 2002. He was a member of the group Cosmic Slop Shop.
Three members of the Richardson family were murdered in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada in April 2006. The murders were planned and committed by the family's 12-year-old daughter Jasmine Richardson and her 23-year-old boyfriend Jeremy Steinke, now going by the name Jackson May. Richardson and Steinke were each convicted on three counts of first-degree murder. Richardson, who had turned 13 before being convicted, is thought to be the youngest person in Canada ever convicted of multiple first-degree murder counts. Her 10-year sentence was completed on May 6, 2016.
Deadly Women is an American true crime documentary television series produced by Beyond International Group and airing on the Investigation Discovery (ID) network.
Terry Anthony Blair was an American serial killer who was convicted of killing seven women of various ages in Kansas City, Missouri, although investigators believed that there were additional unidentified victims.
Freddie Lee Glenn is an American spree killer and rapist. Along with his accomplice, Michael Corbett, Glenn was responsible for up to five deaths in and around Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1975. Glenn and Corbett were found guilty of murdering three people. Glenn's most notable victim of the crime was Karen Grammer, the younger sister of actor Kelsey Grammer.
The history of violence against LGBTQ people in the United States is made up of assaults on gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender individuals, legal responses to such violence, and hate crime statistics in the United States of America. The people who are the targets of such violence are believed to violate heteronormative standards and they are also believed to contravene perceived protocols of gender and sexual roles. People who are perceived to be LGBTQ may also be targeted for violence. Violence can also occur between couples who are of the same sex, with statistics showing that violence among female same-sex couples is more common than it is among couples of the opposite sex, but male same-sex violence is less common.
Rick and Suzanna Wamsley were murdered on December 11, 2003 in their home in Mansfield, Texas, as part of a conspiracy involving their son Andrew and two others.
The Tate–LaBianca murders were a series of murders perpetrated by members of the Manson Family during August 9–10, 1969, in Los Angeles, California, United States, under the direction of Tex Watson and Charles Manson. The perpetrators killed five people on the night of August 8–9: pregnant actress Sharon Tate and her companions Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger and Wojciech Frykowski, along with Steven Parent. The following evening, the Family murdered supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, at their home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.
Killer Women with Piers Morgan is a British television documentary series, broadcast on ITV and consisting of interviews by Piers Morgan with convicted American women murderers. The first series, of two episodes, was broadcast in May 2016, and the second series began its run in June 2017.
Robert Charles Ladd was an American serial killer who was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering a woman in Tyler, Texas, in 1996, after being paroled for a 1978 triple murder in Dallas. He was executed for the latter crime in 2015, a controversial decision due to his alleged mental disability.
