112: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis & the Caffey Family Murders

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In the summer of 1945, the USS Indianapolis was tasked with a top secret mission. The ship was to transport materials for the atomic bomb that the United States would later drop on Hiroshima, Japan. Under the leadership of Captain Charles B. McVay III, the ship accomplished its mission. From there, the ship headed off to Guam, and then to the Philippines. But before they left for the Philippines, Captain McVay requested a destroyer escort. The USS Indianapolis didn’t have submarine detection equipment, but destroyer escorts did. His request was denied. So, off he sailed into submarine infested waters.

Then Brandi tells us the story of the Caffey family murders. Terry Caffey woke up to a blast, riddled with bullets. Two men were in his bedroom. They had guns. One had a samurai sword. The men murdered his wife, Penny, and left Terry for dead. Soon, Terry smelled smoke. The men had set his house on fire. Nearly dead but desperate to get help, Terry found the strength to get himself to a neighbor’s house.

And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.

In this episode, Kristin pulled from:
www.ussindianapolis.org
“Captain, once a scapegoat, is absolved,” by David Stout for the New York Times
“USS Indianapolis sinking: ‘You could see sharks circling’” by Alex Last for the BBC
“USS Indianapolis,” entry on Wikipedia
“Charles B. McVay III,” entry on Wikipedia

In this episode, Brandi pulled from:
“Flesh and Blood” by Pamela Colloff, Texas Monthly
“Father Uses Family Massacre to Help Others” by David Lohr, AOLNews
“Girl, 17, Gets 2 Life Terms In Family Slay” Associated Press, CBSNews
“Family Slaughtered for Teen Love” episode Dr. Phil
“Erin Caffey” episode Killer Women with Piers Morgan