What would happen if you were peacefully sleeping with your wife and suddenly you were awakened by gunfire? This happened to Terry and Penny Caffey in the early morning hours in their house located in Emory, Texas. At 3:00 a.m. in the morning two men entered the Caffey’s house unannounced and the couple was awoken by the sound of laundry room door hitting the dryer. Seconds later gunfire erupted in the house.
That night, Terry Caffey lost everything that was dear to him. Two men entered his bedroom and began firing. During an interview Terry said he took rounds in his arm and shoulder and then he felt hot lead in his right cheek and with the shot he was blown out his bed. As he lay beside his bed bleeding, he was unaware that his wife was already dead from the gunshot wounds as were his two young sons.
In an interview with The 700 Club, Terry related that when he realized his wife Penny was beyond hope he crawled painfully to the woods that were behind his home. The house was located in a rural area and he told the interviewer that the closes neighbors’ house was over four hundred yards away. Terry’s did not know if he would make it but the determination to get to the neighbors’ house and let them know who committed this horrific crime drove him on.
His neighbors, Helen and Tommy Gaston, heard a loud banging at the door and opened the door to a very bloody Terry Caffey. When they asked about his wife and sons, they were told that they had both been killed. Who had done this? Who would break into the home and destroy a man’s family and his future?
It was discovered that Charlie Wilkinson, a former boyfriend of Erin, Terry’s six-teen year old daughter, was the man the shot Terry’s family in cold blood. Terry was taken to the hospital for treatment and found out there that Erin his daughter remained alive, but this discovery was soon covered up by disappointment. Erin was indeed alive but had been arrested for involvement in the murders. He was so distraught by the news he tried to pull out his IV tubes in anger and frustration.
From those asked at the MiracleFaithBaptistChurch where the family attended, no one had anything bad to say about Erin. She was considered quiet and shy and it was reported that she even sang in the church choir. There were no red flags, no red flags until she started seeing Charlie Wilkinson.
Terry reported that she began to dress differently and lost interest in things that she was into before the relationship began. She didn’t want to attend choir anymore and she even distanced herself from the youth group and her peers. Terry finally found evidence one day when Erin had left her computer on and the page was logged on to Wilkinson’s ‘MySpace’ page. Here Terry saw that the page was filled with references to alcohol, sex, and profanity. Terry confronted Erin and forbid her to see Charlie.
Erin’s reaction was a surprise to Terry. She put down her head and began to cry. She told her father that she had been trying to break up with Charlie but was lost of how to go about it. This was later disputed when some of Erin’s friends said that the couple had plotted to murder Erin’s parents so they could run away with each other and be together forever. After a heavy night of partying and drinking, Charlie and Erin talked two other teenage friends into assisting them and they carried out their plans to end the life of Terry and Penny.
Terry went through emotional turmoil after the murders. He questioned his faith and his daughter’s involvement but resolved to his faith in God and settled on an attitude of forgiveness. He began to reconcile his thoughts and settled on the fact that he would forgive not only his daughter but also the teenagers that helped her kill her family.
While the police were dictating that Erin was the mastermind, Terry still was in a state of forgiveness and wanted his daughter to know that he and God forgave her. Terry went as far as asking the prosecuting attorney to not to seek the death penalty.
His pleads for leniencies were answered and he stood beside his daughter during the sentencing. All four teenagers received a life sentence.
Terry has remarried and adopted two children. He co-authored a book entitled “Terror by Night” with James Pence and spends his time with a full-time ministry preaching about forgiveness and God’s will.