Rachel Shannon

Today we are discussing a case that unravels the very fabric of family trust.

In the quiet woods of Alba, Texas, the Caffey family lived a peaceful lifestyle full of music, laughter, and love.

The children grew up in a strict household, which eventually led to one of them acting out and budding a forbidden teen romance.

But that normal teen rebellion turned much darker, and before long, an entire family would be left in the wake of unspeakable destruction.

What one group of teens thought was the perfect crime would soon blow up in their faces as they left behind a survivor who went on to expose the whole thing.

buckle up because this case is an absolutely wild ride.

Erin Michelle Caffey was the oldest of three children born to parents Penny and Terry Caffey.

The family lived in a cabin deep within the woods just outside of Alba in a rural community in Texas.

At the time, Aaron was a 15-year-old high schooler.

Aaron's little brother, Matthew, who is also known as Bubba, was in the seventh grade, while the youngest of the children, Tyler, was in the fourth grade.

Now, it was said that the Caffey parents were protective over their children, especially Aaron, maybe even too protective.

When the boys were in elementary school and Aaron was in middle school, the family moved to Alba from Celeste, a town located about an hour away.

The kids were initially enrolled in public school, but apparently there was an incident where a girl was showing interest in Erin and even tried kissing her.

At the time, Erin was known as always having trouble in school anyways.

She was pretty social and thrived at school in that sense, but she always struggled with her grades and seemed to lag a bit behind her peers.

Eventually, she was diagnosed with ADHD, which made it tough to learn in a regular school environment.

So only about a month into public school in Alba, Penny and Terry pulled the kids out of school, and for the following three years, the children were homeschooled.

partly because they didn't want negative influences to corrupt their kids, but also because they felt that Erin may benefit from a more one-on-one approach to learning.

For the three years that followed, the kids remained in homeschool.

Those outside the family described that the kids were pretty shy, not the most social, I mean they weren't really getting much social interaction outside the home, though they were well-mannered, polite, and generally very pleasant to be around.