Monday, 27 July 2026

Terror By Night (True Crime) by Terry Caffey with James H Pence



About the book: In one evening, Terry Caffey lost everything. His wife, Penny, and his sons, Matthew and Tyler, were brutally murdered; his home was burned to the ground, and his sixteen-year-old daughter, Erin, was in jail, charged with three counts of capital murder. In one year’s time, God would restore it all. What happened next is nothing short of miraculous...

At 3:00 a.m. on 1 March 2008, Terry Caffey awoke to find his daughter’s former boyfriend standing in the bedroom doorway with a gun. An instant later the teen opened fire, killing Terry’s wife and wounding Terry six times. As he slipped toward unconsciousness, Terry heard his son crying upstairs. More gunfire followed. When he regained consciousness, he felt the searing heat of his burning house.

Terry knew it was too late to save his family, but he had one thing to do before he died. He fought to stay awake and escaped the burning house through a bathroom window. As Terry stumbled and crawled four hundred yards through pitch darkness, he asked God to keep him alive long enough to identify the killer, and then to let him die.

God allowed Terry to identify the murderer, but He did not let Terry die.

What happened next is nothing short of miraculous.

Terror by Night: The True Story of the Brutal Texas Murder That Destroyed A Family, Restored One Man's Faith, and Shocked A Nation (2009) is the emotionally gripping story of a daughter’s ultimate betrayal, a father’s unfathomable forgiveness, and a miraculous discovery that would restore one man’s faith, spare two young lives, and restore peace to a small Texas town.

This book tells the compelling story of how Terry Caffey found peace after his wife and sons were brutally murdered and his teenage daughter implicated in the crime. Sharing never-before-told details about the night of the crime and subsequent murder trial, Terror by Night shows how Terry was able to forgive the men who murdered his family, and how he even interceded with the prosecutors on their behalf. This story is a powerful example of how the power of forgiveness can bring healing after tragedy and great loss, and how God can bring good out of even the darkest tragedies.

About the authors: Terry Caffey lives in Wills Point, Texas, with his wife, Sonja, and their two sons, Blake and Tanner. Since the tragic loss of his first wife, Penny, and their sons, Matthew and Tyler, he has gone into full-time ministry, speaking and reaching out to others who have suffered unspeakable tragedy and sharing his personal message of God’s faithfulness. Terry continues to visit his daughter, Erin, regularly and remains steadfast in his belief that she did not mastermind the plot to kill her family.

James H Pence is a full-time professional writer, editor and Web designer living near Dallas, Texas. James came to know the Caffey family when Terry's daughter, Erin, and her brother Tyler enrolled in James's "Karate for Homeschoolers" class. Through the karate class, James got to know both Terry and Penny. He later gave Penny a copy of his novel Blind Sight, the source of the mysterious scorched page that Terry found in the aftermath of the fire and credits with turning his life around following the loss of his family. 

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