Police: Teen Lovers Plotted Triple Murder

Investigators Say Texas Couple Separated By Her Family Spent A Month Planning Massacre

(AP)  A high school couple forced to break up spent weeks plotting what became a bloody spree of gunfire and stabbings in the girl's home, leaving her mother and two brothers dead and her father wounded, according to police reports released Monday.

The graphic narrative of the ambush - which includes the 16-year-old daughter allegedly having sex with her boyfriend after he helped kill her family - brought fresh anguish to this remote East Texas town still reeling from the Saturday massacre.

At the heart of the criminal complaints from the Rains County Sheriff's Department is Charlie James Wilkinson, 19, allegedly telling investigators his girlfriend wanted her parents dead because they forbade their relationship.

"Wilkinson stated that he and (the girl) were in love and the only way they could be together is to kill the parents," the complaints stated.

From there, the detailed reports allege Wilkinson offered a friend $2,000 to join the plot, say Penny and Terry Caffey were shot repeatedly in their beds and 13-year-old Mathew Caffey received a fatal bullet near his head.

His brother, 8-year-old Tyler, was killed after allegedly being stabbed with a sword, according to the complaints. Terry Caffey, the father, was the lone survivor of the attack.

The family's daughter, whose name is being withheld because of her age, is charged with three counts of capital murder and is being held on $1.5 million bond. According to police reports, she waited in a car with classmate Bobbi Gale Johnson, 18, down the road while the killings took place.

Johnson, Wilkinson and Charles Allen Waid, 20, are also charged with three counts of capital murder. They are being held on $1.5 million bond at Rains County jail; the Caffeys' daughter is at a juvenile detention facility in neighboring Hunt County.

A Rains County jailer said Monday there was no indication the suspects had attorneys. Family members of the suspects did not return messages or could not be immediately found for comment.

At Rains High School, students returned to campus Monday with three of their classmates - the Caffeys' daughter, Wilkinson and Johnson - notably absent.

"These were students who had not been in trouble a great deal," Rains school Superintendent David Seago said. "Maybe some tardies and absences, but that's it."

Terry Caffey remains at East Texas Medical Center in nearby Tyler. The hospital would not release his condition but Tommy Gaston, his neighbor and close friend, said Monday that Caffey's health was improving.

Authorities say despite being shot five times, Terry Caffey crawled 300 yards through a wooded pasture to reach Gaston's front door for help. Behind him was a bloody trail and his burning house; the affidavits state that Waid and Wilkinson set fire to furniture and laundry before leaving.

"I can't describe it," Gaston said Monday. "It just hurts."

Authorities also released the nearly 3½-minute 911 call Gaston made after Caffey crawled to his home. Gaston tells a dispatcher that Caffey is bleeding and awake but that he doesn't know where he was shot.

"Where's he bleeding from?" the dispatcher asks.

"He's bloody all over."

"He's bloody all over?"

"Yes."

According to the complaint, the four suspects met Friday night to hatch a plan. Wilkinson allegedly told investigators that he and his girlfriend talked about killing her parents for about a month. He said the Caffeys decided they could no longer see each other and took away their daughter's cell phone.

"Waid stated that (they) met last night ... and it was decided to just walk in there and take care of business," the report reads.

The fire was started to cover the crimes, the complaint states. Waid and Wilkinson allegedly took cash and jewelry before calling the girls to drive back toward the house and pick them up.

Afterward, "Wilkinson stated that he and (the girl) had sex and slept," investigators wrote.

Seago, the school superintendent, said the Caffeys' daughter had enrolled in the school just six weeks earlier. Classmates and Emory residents have said she previously had been homeschooled.

The Caffeys lived in Alba, a neighboring town even smaller than Emory and about 60 miles northeast of Dallas. The family's house was one of only three on a pine-canopied, gravel road a few miles off the main two-lane highway running through the county.

The area is so secluded that surrounding neighbors only reported faintly hearing what sound liked thunder early Saturday, and few saw the blaze. By late Monday, the Caffeys' black Labrador remained near the rubble - far from the food and water onlookers have left under the yellow police tape cordoning off the property.

[ely77]

To all the people who are commenting on guns at were used during these murders, you are forgetting that a sword was used to kill the 13 yr old boy. When people are mentally ill enough to think that the ways of murder will get them to have solice in their lives, nothing will stop them. People can use most anything as a weapon, not just guns.

[azmka]

This is so hard to imagine. Families destroyed!
Even the poor dog is a victim. Poor thing sitting at the rubble that use to be his home. I hope at least the dog will be well cared for.

What were these kids thinking? Well, all we have to do is kill your family and live happily ever after and no one will ask any questions. sure...

[wolfgirl38]

thats right they should dig the graves and burry the ones they killed.and they should never be aloud to get out on parole.and either get a death setences or spend the rest of their lifes in prison.it just make me sick to think they could kill the ones who gave them life in this world.

[healthylife-2009]

Isn''t there anyone aware of the fact that when you desensitize your culture to violence, whether via entertainment, right to know and right to know NOW journalism, or by stupid court decisions (GA - Nichols) you are asking your society to bring the violence into your home, school, government facility or fast food eatery via the back door, at the hands of the mentally unstable? We have found the enemy, and the enemy is us. Let''s get on track to a better tomorrow, and stop the bickering about right wing or left wing. Let''s just figure there is no left wing. Just a right and a wrong, and perhaps common sense will prevail.

[healthylife-2009]

Isn''t there anyone aware of the fact that when you desensitize your culture to violence, whether via entertainment, right to know and right to know NOW journalism, or by stupid court decisions (GA - Nichols) you are asking your society to bring the violence into your home, school, government facility or fast food eatery via the back door, at the hands of the mentally unstable? We have found the enemy, and the enemy is us. Let''s get on track to a better tomorrow, and stop the bickering about right wing or left wing. Let''s just figure there is no left wing. Just a right and a wrong, and perhaps common sense will prevail.

[b-easy63]

Just like boys who do this type of thing--the girl should be tried as an Adult--because if she is indeed guilty--she should never get out of prison.

[sandy19731]

Apparently they didn''t think their cunning plan all the way through. I don''t think they''ll be seeing much of each other now. Oh well, maybe at the trial. Of course, they''ll have to testify against each other so I''m sure that will endear them to each other. What a pair of losers!

My sympathies to the father I hope he receives the help he will need to cope with this impossible situation.

[whth2odude]

Typical right wing convulsion chad55555. First this family was together not ripped apart, The kid was home schooled by religious parents and movies can also expand your mind and there is no telling what she has been watching.

[linfinster]

This story is very elemental. The parents got between a man and his stuff and the girl got him whipped up. It won''''t be the first time people have died and will die on the kitty cat gallows.

Posted by facts6 at 04:23 PM : Mar 04, 2008

Ummm, no MAN would EVER murder. They aren''t men .. they are COWARDS! Scum. Wasted pieces of flesh.

[excoachken]

O.K. Chad5555: A little history lesson for you. Hitler never "told the people they would be safer without guns." He simply nationalized all the guns and even made more to carry out his tyranny. It has nothing to do with having a rational approach to the war weapon epidemic that is sweeping our country. Point #2, the Bible was never in public schools that observed the Constitution. If you want to pray, you can pray anywhere at anytime in public schools, just as long as I am not required to listen to your worship service. Many schools have after school Bible banging clubs, so don''t play victim. You''ve been listening to to many haters like theUSA''sworst.

[cyberus-2009]

-----
Blaming this on any one aspect of this story, whether it be the right to own guns or homeschooling is so short-sighted, in my opinion. (much snipped see original) So instead of attacking one or two factors involved it would be good to find out more before forming an opinion.

Posted by dogcat12 at 01:34 PM : Mar 04, 2008
-----

I agree completely .. however tunnel vision seems to be common, people tend to see what they want to see and read into things what they wish to.
Of course IMHO the worst cases are the ones that never even read the article .. they jump into rant mode based on the headline.

[chad55555]

BEING A COMBAT VETERAN I KNNOW THERE ARE A 1001 and 1 ways to kill without using a gun.GUNS SAVE MORE LIVES THEN THEY HARM. What do you expect,we take the bible out of school,rip the family apart and show movies that destroy the minds of our young. Ans then blame it on GUNS,HITLER TOLD THE PEOPLE THE SAME THING,THEY WOULD BE SAFE WITHOUT GUNS. RIGHT AND THE EASTER BUNNY IS PINK. GROW UP PLEASE.

[facts6]

This story is very elemental. The parents got between a man and his stuff and the girl got him whipped up. It won''t be the first time people have died and will die on the kitty cat gallows.

[observer2020]

meangirl0108: You have been reported as abusing this forum for your lame advertisements. Stick to the story. If you want to advertise yourself, use another forum. This is for news and opinions...not for prostituting yourself...very lame.

[theusa1st]

to USA1st: So the secret to a good society is not to debate with people you disagree with, it is to get a "badder" gun and shoot them. How dare you slander this country by using a name tag of a country that is supposed to support free speech, and be a society of laws, not cavemen?

Posted by exCoachKen at 02:50 PM : Mar 04, 2008

Once again you have proven yourself a fool. Who said anything about shooting someone because a disagreement? Doesn''t free speech allow me to choose any tag I please? Don''t talk to me about slander you simple minded little person...it sounds that you have anger problems with anyone that disagrees with you.
You shouldn''t question my loyalty to my country either ***...go crawl back under the rock you slithered from. You do sound mighty tough from behind you keyboard though....

[candide777]

"Carl Johnson, a friend of the Caffeys, said the family moved about two years ago to just outside this farming town of about 1,500. He called them good Christians and said he often told the daughter that he wanted her soft singing voice to perform at his funeral." wcbstv.com

[bobnjersey]

[The family''s daughter, whose name is being withheld because of her age, is charged with three counts of capital murder and is being held on $1.5 million bond. According to police reports, she waited in a car with classmate Bobbi Gale Johnson, 18, down the road while the killings took place. ]

oh bobbi gale ... you''re friend is likely to get less of a sentence than you ... and she''s the one who dragged you into it.

ideally she''ll be tried as an adult ... and meet her maker very soon.

[theusa1st]

Posted by exCoachKen at 01:03 PM : Mar 04, 2008

you start out saying it''s about taking responsibility and then you go and try and blame it on law abiding gun owners...you then talk about deranged delinquents in our country.

since the world is inhabited by human trash and morons like you I will always make sure I have the means to protect my family and my liberty. If human trash is trying to hurt my family I''m not looking for a fair fight...I''m looking to come out the survivor...period. I am not a violent person and am a law abiding tax paying citizen. I could care less how you want to defend yourself if you have to...

[dogcat12]

Blaming this on any one aspect of this story, whether it be the right to own guns or homeschooling is so short-sighted, in my opinion. Raising children is very hard. Sometimes children raised perfectly turn out rotten and sometime children raised in deplorable conditions turn out to be wonderful adults. This is not to say that it is not important to raise our children in the best way possible, but to say that it is not cut and dried how a child will turn out. Some of you are saying that homeschooling ruined this girl but what about the other teens involved? What''s their problem? They went to conventional schools. Why didn''t they report this lunitic ''homeschooled'' girl? We are so quick to blame things we don''t agree with and deem it as ''the reason'' it happened. Every situation is different. Maybe there are other factors to consider: type of parental disapline, outside influences such as media, music, etc.. Mental instability. And the list could go on. So instead of attacking one or two factors involved it would be good to find out more before forming an opinion.

[nlm2383]

Taking away guns would not have saved this family.
Posted by prcdr

It would have saved the other victims who WSERE shot you sociopathic ret@rd.


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Posted by scarletphd at 11:44 AM : Mar 04, 2008

Wow, you are just as stupid for actually thinking that they wouldn''t have found other means of killing these people. If they didn''t have guns, who''s to say they wouldn''t have just set the house on fire while they were sleeping? Or found other methods besides guns. Just because you don''t agree with someones valid point does not make them a "ret@rd".