Forbidden teenage romance suspected as motive in triple killings on remote East Texas ranch

A family's opposition to a teenage daughter's romance is suspected of leading to a fiery attack that left the girl's mother and brothers dead and her father critically wounded, investigators said Sunday.

Four suspects, including the 16-year-old daughter, remained in custody on capital murder charges Sunday, a day after the pre-dawn attack on the rural East Texas home of Terry and Penny Caffey.

Terry Caffey, who was shot in the head, was able to crawl about 300 yards (275 meters) to a neighbor's house to seek help, while flames consumed his home with his wife and two young sons inside, the Rains County Sheriff's Department said. Penny Caffey, 37; Tyler Caffey, 8; and Mathew Caffey 13, had been shot and stabbed multiple times, according to the statement.

The scene of the attack was about 20 acres (eight acres) of remote woodland on a narrow gravel road with just two other homes between the small East Texas towns of Emory and Alba, which is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Dallas.

Investigators later found the daughter hiding at the home of one of the suspects, according to the statement. It was not clear from the account which of the suspects she was dating. Sheriff's deputies withheld her name because of her age.

"Early on in the investigation, it was revealed that the juvenile and one of the suspects were dating and made to break up," according to the statement.

Charlie James Wilkinson, 19; Charles Allen Wade, 20; and Bobbi Gale Johnson, 18, all of Emory, are each charged with three counts each of capital murder, according to the sheriff's department. All remained in Rains County Jail with bonds set at $1.5 million (euro1 million) each.

The daughter is confined in neighboring Hunt County's juvenile detention center in Greenville.

Terry Caffey was in critical but stable condition on Sunday in East Texas Medical Center in Tyler.