Erin Caffey is a 29-year-old woman, currently serving jail time alongside her (ex)boyfriend and his friend, for the first-degree murder of three victims. She is from Rains County in Texas, USA.
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Erin Caffey’s Wiki
Family and Background
Erin Caffey was the firstborn in a family of five. She had a younger brother, Matthew, who died at 13, and Tyler, who lost his life at 8. Her mother was Penny Caffey, and her father is Terry Caffey. The family lived in Alba, Texas.
Erin’s family was Christian, and her parents ensured that the family was duly involved in church. It seemed that they loved music–her youngest brother, Tyler, played the guitar, Matthew was excellent with the harmonica, her mother was a pianist, and Erin was a vocalist.
Events Leading to the Murder
Five months before the incident that would leave the nation in utter shock, 16-year-old Erin met her then-boyfriend, Charlie Wilkinson, who was just three years older. They began dating, and the news of their relationship was not received well by the family. Terry and his wife openly disapproved of the relationship, and her dad later stated that it was because something about Charlie didn’t sit right with him.
It was a long five months of dealing with Erin’s open rebellion. She didn’t want to go to church or vocalize anymore, and her parents were getting worried about it. They had to keep an eye on her and everything she did. Eventually, they dismissed the matter, assuming that things would take their course and the relationship would be over soon. Things were about to take a turn for the worse.
A week before the end of February, Terry Caffey went to visit his father, Clarence, who, unfortunately, passed away due to what was reported as natural causes. He was engulfed in grief. After the burial, Terry said that they saw disturbing sexual and alcohol abuse content on Erin’s boyfriend’s Myspace page. They talked with Erin, trying to persuade her that she was not doing the right things.
The Night of the Murder
Two days after the confrontation, the family settled in for the night. Mr. Caffey came in late from work, warmed up his food, ate it, and then went to sleep. That would be the last night he would see his family alive.
At around 2 a.m., Erin’s boyfriend drove to the family’s house with two of his friends. Erin hurried out in her pajamas and got in the car, while Charlie and his friend Charles burst into the house. Terry heard the noise and thought that it was his children having nightmares upstairs. To his horror, the two men burst into his bedroom and started raining bullets all over him and his wife. He reported that they also had a sword, which they drove through Mrs. Caffey’s neck.
Terry thought of his children, but he couldn’t get up. He had been shot very many times and could not move. He was semi-conscious when the youth left the room and headed upstairs to the boys’ bedroom. He could hear Matthew beg for his life and scream with agony as the bullets riddled his body. Tyler tried to hide in the closet, but they stabbed him severally with the sword. He lost consciousness.
When he woke up, they were gone, and the house was on fire. His wife was dead beside him. He crawled out and made it to the neighbor, who called the police and ambulance.
Arrest and Sentencing
Erin had gone back to her boyfriend’s place and hidden in his brother’s trailer. She was arrested on her way to the hospital to see her father later in the day, along with her boyfriend and his friend. In the trial, they both pleaded guilty. Terry lobbied for the courts to drop the death penalty, and she was sentenced to two consecutive lifetimes plus twenty-five years in prison. She would only be eligible for a parole hearing after serving at least forty years of her sentence.
When her father asked her about the murder, she said that she had known about it but had been forced to stay in the car while her boyfriend killed her family. She said that it had been her boyfriend’s idea and that he had tried to pin it on her.
