Grand jury declines to indict Robert McCaffrey for wife's murder

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - A grand jury has declined to indict a West Ashley man accused in the murder of his wife.

According to court documents, the grand jury did not find enough evidence to indict Robert "Bob" McCaffrey for the murder of his wife, Gayle McCaffrey, who disappeared in 2012.

McCaffrey reported his wife missing on March 18, 2012.

On Tuesday, the grand jury returned a "No Bill" on the murder indictment indicating that the jury did not have sufficient cause to indict.

The Charleston County Sheriff's Office released a statement saying that Sheriff Al Cannon, after hearing the news, was "disappointed in the outcome."

"The sheriff also stated Bob McCaffrey is responsible for the murder of his wife and detectives will continue to work the case in order to bring charges again as more information develops," CCSO officials said.

According to the sheriff's office, the obstruction of justice charge against McCaffrey is still pending.

"Regarding a future murder charge against Robert McCaffrey: unless law enforcement uncovers additional evidence, a new charge will not be presented to the grand jury," said Solicitor Scarlett Wilson.

On March 27, officials with the sheriff's office held a press conference announcing their plan to charge McCaffrey for murder. 

CCSO officials have described the case as "very complicated" and did not go into much detail into what prompted the murder charged to be filed.

Authorities did say that the evidence has "not changed that much" since the initial investigation, but there was "new information" that came to light.

A recently released affidavit states the Charleston County Sheriff's Office legally classified Gayle McCaffrey as deceased in March of 2018.

The affidavit also states Bob McCaffrey has lied to investigators with the sheriff's office on numerous occasions, refused to cooperate with search efforts for his wife, and has declined any parental relationship with his children.

"There are no other identified suspects that could have killed and disposed of Gayle McCaffrey's body other than the defendant," CCSO officials said in the affidavit.

Investigators say they also believed that Gayle McCaffrey had booked a romantic getaway just two days before her disappearance.

They believe she was trying to reconcile their marriage.

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