Texas teen, boyfriend spent a month planning fatal attack, records say

EMORY, Texas -- A high school couple forced to break up spent a month plotting to kill the girl's parents before her mother and two younger brothers were fatally shot and stabbed in a weekend ambush, according to records released Monday.

Charlie James Wilkinson, who had been dating Penny and Terry Caffey's 16-year-old daughter, told police his girlfriend wanted her parents dead because they forbade their relationship, according to Rains County Sheriff Department investigators.

"Wilkinson stated that he and [the girl] were in love and the only way they could be together is to kill the parents," the arrest affidavit stated.

The daughter, Wilkinson and two others are charged with three counts of capital murder each in the massacre before dawn Saturday at the Caffeys' secluded home. The girl has not been identified because of her age.

The statements depict a bloody spree that began around 4 a.m., when Wilkinson and a friend broke into the house and are accused of firing shots at the parents while they slept. Wilkinson and Charles Allen Waid are then accused of going upstairs and fatally shooting 13-year-old Mathew Caffey before stabbing 8-year-old Tyler Caffey with a sword.

Wilkinson and Waid then set fire to furniture and laundry before leaving with the Caffeys' daughter and Bobbi Gale Johnson, who were waiting in a car parked down the road, according to the affidavit.

The lone survivor was Terry Caffey, the father. He was shot five times and dragged himself 300 yards to a neighbor's home. Tommy Gaston, the neighbor, said Monday that Terry Caffey was improving and should recover.

The killings stunned this town of 1,500 in rural East Texas, where the Caffeys were known as deeply religious and kindhearted.

The Caffeys' daughter is being held on $1.5 million bond. Facing the same charges and bond are Wilkinson, 19, Waid, 20, and Johnson, 18.

Waid, Johnson and Wilkinson are being held in the Rains County jail. The Caffeys' daughter is being held in neighboring Hunt County's juvenile detention center. It remained unclear early Monday whether they had attorneys.

The Caffeys' home was just outside Emory in Alba, about 60 miles northeast of Dallas.