Girl talked of killing parents weeks before massacre, police say
By PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press Writer

EMORY(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.

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 a friend was offered $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 schoolmate 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. Bobby Wilkinson said he had no comment on the arrest of his son. Other 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 schoolmates - 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."