Numbers 19:14
This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days. This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.
The law provides that when a death occurs inside a tent, everyone who enters that tent and everything already contained within it becomes ceremonially defiled for a period of seven days. Both persons and objects fall under the same rule of uncleanness, with the contamination extending to all that share the enclosed space with the dead. Applied figuratively, retaining Terry in the home would bring the same kind of defilement upon the household. He is spiritually unclean like a corpse, so that continued presence with him would render those around him unclean.