Love Hurts: The True Story of a Teen Romance, a Vicious Plot, and a Family Murdered

After Erin Caffey's fundamentalist parents banned Charlie Wilkinson from dating her, Wilkinson and friend Charles Allen Waid broke into the Caffeys' home, killed Erin's mother and two brothers, and left her father Terry for dead in a burning house. But Terry lived to tell the tale—and identify Wilkinson as an assailant. What followed, however, was worse than what he'd already endured, as it soon became clear that daughter Erin was hardly a victim or pawn in the terrible acts, but instead a brutal mastermind who had persuaded the reluctant Wilkinson to murder her entire family. The killings disturbed the small East Texas community, and families were shaken again when Terry Caffey pleaded for mercy for the killers. Greenberg's comprehensive account digs deeply into the motives and personalities involved in this case. All of the teenagers here are distinct personalities, and their normalcy is chilling; none have a history of abuse or mistreatment. Readers will be haunted by Greenberg's (December 8, 1980: The Day John Lennon Died) eminently readable true crime tale. (Jan.)