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Crime News The Turpin 13: Family Secrets Exposed

Louise Turpin’s Sister Says She Was Sowing Her 'Wild Oats' And Had Been Sexually Abused As A Child

“Louise no longer exists to me. She and David are dead to me.”

By Gina Tron
The Turpin 13: Family Secrets Exposed Premieres Saturday, April 28th

Louise Turpin’s sister Teresa Robinette made an appearance on NBC’s  "Megyn Kelly Today," detailing alleged sexual abuse she and her sisters endured as children. Robinette tearfully told Kelly it was the first time she disclosed the abuse, which she said was by the hands of a family member. That man, who has not been identified, allegedly sexually abused multiplefamily members. 

Oxygen will be delving in to this tragic and shocking case in a two-hour special event "The Turpin 13: Family Secrets Exposed," premiering Saturday, April 28 at 6/5c.

"He abused my mother and sexually abused my mother, and then me, Louise, Elizabeth, and a few of our cousins in the family. That was a situation that was ongoing for me and my sister," Robinette said, adding that it was alway a big, family secret.

Earlier this month, a 17-year-old girl escaped from her Perris, California home to report horrific abuse that she and her 12 siblings were enduring, allegedly at the hands of their parents David Allen Turpin and Louise Anna Turpin. Police found her siblings, some of them allegedly shackled, in their parents home.

Robinette has not spoken to her sibling and her 13 children for about eight years. Before that, she did occasionally Skype chat with her nieces and nephews.

“I always even said I think those children are very book smart, but I was worried because they were home-schooled," Robinette admitted to Kelly. "Because they didn’t hold a conversation well, I was always concerned that they weren’t going to be socially developed."

She said that when her sister turned 40, Louise Turpin told her that she stopped going to church. Instead, she allegedly started experimenting with other religions.

“She thought it was cool that they had quit going to church, and that they were — didn’t trust the church anymore — and they were experimenting with different religions.”

Louise also allegedly began experimenting with sex.

"And at the time she told me that her and David, the older children were helping her take care of the younger children, so her and David could kind of sow those wild oats that they didn’t sow when she was younger.”

That sowing meant the Turpins contacting a man online so that Louise could have sex with him, according to Robinette.  A year later, the Turpins allegedly returned to that hotel room to have sex.

Robinette expressed that she wants a relationship with her nieces and nephews, adding that she hopes they know they have “family that is not deranged.” She said she wants them to be happy.

As for her sister and her husband.

“Louise no longer exists to me. She and David are dead to me.”

Last week, the Turpins pleaded not guilty to multiple felony charges, including torture, child abuse, abuse of dependent adults and false imprisonment. David Turpin has also pleaded not guilty to his additional charge of committing a lewd act on one of the female children by force, according to The Washington Post.

Each defendant's bail is set at $13 million, Riverside County District Attorney Michael Hestrin said at a news conference. If they are found guilty, they could very likely spend the rest of their lives in prison.

David Turpin’s attorney, David Macher, said outside the courtroom that “our clients are presumed to be innocent — and that’s a very important presumption," adding that the case will be tried in court, not in the media.