CALIFORNIA (WAND) – A couple accused of torturing and starving their 13 children experimented with religion and sex, a family member said.
In an interview on NBC’s “Megyn Kelly Today,” Louise Turpin’s sister, Teresa Robinette, said it had been years since she spoke with any of her nieces and nephews.
Police discovered the horrible conditions the children were living in when a 17-year-old daughter escaped out of a window and got help. Officials first thought she was around ten years old, because she was so emaciated.
Several of the 13 were discovered to be adults, the oldest being 29. Although, police said they appear much younger due to malnutrition.
Officials have said the Turpin’s kids were shackled with locks and chains, starved, and abused.
Robinette said her sister told her she and her husband, David Turpin, decided to quit going to church and experiment with other religions.
She said Turpin also told her she was going to “sow her wild oats.”
She said her sister, who had never smoked or drank, started going to bars and getting drunk with her husband.
Robinette claimed her sister and her husband found a man online for her to have sex with at a hotel.
Robinette said she, Louise Turpin, and other female family members were sexually abused by a family member growing up.
“Louise no longer exists to me,” she told Kelly. “She and David are dead to me.”
