Tell me what stayed with you—I read every message. Your thoughts might even shape what the Quiet Jury hears next on Patreon.

🎙 Episode 106: Erin Caffey — “The Door Was Unlocked”

This episode revisits a story that meant a great deal to someone who believed deeply in this show

March 1, 2008.
Emory, Texas.

Just after midnight, a fire erupts at a quiet brick home on a rural road.
Firefighters expect an accident.

Instead, they discover something unthinkable.

Inside the house:
A mother and two young boys, shot execution-style.
A father barely alive — burned, bleeding, whispering a truth no one expects.

Down the road, a teenage girl waits.
Uninjured.
Crying.
Telling police the same thing again and again:

“They shot my family.”

But this is not a story about strangers breaking into a home.

It’s a story about control, faith, adolescence — and a door that was unlocked on purpose.

In this episode of Murderess Podcast, Sidney Smith examines the case of Erin Caffey:
a deeply religious upbringing,
a forbidden relationship framed as rescue,
and a plan that turned obedience into annihilation.

This is not a Romeo-and-Juliet story.
It’s not a cautionary tale about rebellion.

It’s a study of agency, influence, and the devastating consequences of choice.

📍 Location: Emory, Texas
📅 Key Dates: 1990 birth → early 2000s escalating conflict → March 1, 2008 murders → 2009 conviction → post-2010 sentencing changes

👥 Central Figures: Erin Caffey, Charlie Wilkinson, Terry Caffey, Penny Caffey and Matthew & Tyler Caffey

🧠 Themes: Control vs. autonomy, Faith and obedience,Manipulation and agency,
Forgiveness without erasure and The difference between influence and responsibility

🎧 Murderess Podcast is written and hosted by Sidney Smith
🎙 Produced in partnership with Sidney Smith Cre8tiv, LLC and the You Hear Good Things podcast network
📅 New episodes every Thursday

🔗 Find past episodes, bonus content, and Quiet Jury access:
https://www.sidneysmithcre8tiv.com → Cre8tiv+

🎧 Listen on your favorite platform:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeartRadio

📱 Follow Sidney Smith:
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter → @sidneysmithcre8tiv

– Texas v. Erin Caffey (2009): trial records, sentencing documents, accomplice testimony
– Texas Monthly — “Flesh and Blood”: long-form investigative feature on the Caffey family murders
– Murderpedia: Erin Caffey case file, timeline, accomplice summaries
– Wikipedia: Caffey family murders overview (cross-verified with court and journalism sources)
– ABC News (2012): survivor interviews, Terry Caffey forgiveness statements
– KLTV News (East Texas): local reporting on trial, sentencing, and family advocacy
– Court transcripts & sentencing hearings: confession details, prosecution framing, defense arguments
– Contemporary juvenile justice reporting: post-conviction legal changes impacting sentencing

Tell me what stayed with you—I read every message. Your thoughts might even shape what the Quiet Jury hears next on Patreon.

What's up Murderess Accomplices! In this week's episode, Sidney and Jamie cover a drowning, a grieving mother and a child’s accusation that changed everything. In this special rerun, we revisit the Amanda Lewis case — a story built on memory, doubt, and the thin line between accident and intent.

Tell me what stayed with you—I read every message. Your thoughts might even shape what the Quiet Jury hears next on Patreon.

🎙 Episode 105: Omaima Nelson — “Thanksgiving in Blood”
A Murderess Podcast holiday special

Thanksgiving weekend, 1991.
Costa Mesa, California.

A 56-year-old man named Bill Nelson is supposed to introduce his new wife to his daughter over dinner. He never makes it.

Instead, neighbors hear a garbage disposal grinding through the night.
Police find body parts wrapped in newspaper and tinfoil.
Hands fried in oil.
A head boiled and stored in a freezer.
And a 23-year-old Egyptian-born woman named Omaima Nelson telling detectives it was all self-defense.

She says she was raped.
She says she was fighting for her life.
She says she dismembered her husband in a “trance.”

But prosecutors say something else:
A pattern of luring older men, tying them up, and robbing them — a pattern that escalated into murder.

Her trial becomes one of Orange County’s most notorious.
The evidence becomes unforgettable.
And the unanswered question — what happened to the missing 80 pounds? — still haunts investigators.

This Thanksgiving, we revisit the case that shocked a generation…
and a woman who went from abused child to model, to newlywed bride, to convicted killer — all in the span of a few extraordinary months.

📍 Location: Costa Mesa, California
📅 Key Dates: 1986 immigration → 1990 assault pattern → Nov 28, 1991 murder → Dec 2 arrest → 1993 conviction → 2006 & 2011 parole denials
👥 Central Figures: Omaima Aree Nelson, William “Bill” Nelson, Margaret Nelson (Bill’s daughter), Robert Hannson, Richard Gray
🧠 Themes: trauma vs manipulation, survival vs predation, gendered violence, courtroom mythmaking, the psychology of escalation

🎧 Murderess Podcast is written and hosted by Sidney Smith
🎙 Produced in partnership with Sidney Smith Cre8tiv, LLC and the You Hear Good Things podcast network
📅 New episodes every Thursday

🔗 Find past episodes, merch, and tour dates:
https://www.sidneysmithcre8tiv.com

🎧 Listen on your favorite platform:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeartRadio

📱 Follow Sidney:
Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter → @sidneysmithcre8tiv

– Orange County Superior Court records (1991–1993): trial transcripts, verdict, sentencing documents
– Los Angeles Times archives (1991–2011): reporting by Larry Welborn, Diana Marcum, Lily Dizon, Rene Lynch
– OC Register archival reporting: Larry Welborn’s features on Nelson’s case and parole hearings
– AP News & ABC News reports (1991–2011): crime scene details, parole opposition, psychological testimony
– Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (2020): Nelson v. Hill — habeas petition and legal posture
– Murderpedia: Omaima Nelson case summary, crime scene documentation, timeline
– Investigation Discovery – Deadly Women (Episode: “Murderesses”): psychological profile excerpts
– Contemporary forensic commentary: Dr. David Sheffner psychiatric testimony (PTSD, psychosis, cannibalism allegation)