On January 14, 2018, David and Louise Turpin were arrested and charged with torturing and holding their 13 children captives in what has been dubbed the “House of Horrors.” Thousands of miles away, Louise’s sister Teresa Robinette was shocked to discover her nieces and nephews were starved, beaten, and abused by their seemingly normal parents. Since the arrest, Teresa, along with her half-brother Billy Lambert, have been struggling to put the pieces together and find out what went wrong.

In an exclusive interview with In Touch, Teresa revealed that she hopes the parents get life behind bars for what they did to their family. “Absolutely. I think they deserve everything they’ve got coming to them,” Teresa said of her sister’s and brother-in-law’s upcoming court case involving over 40 charges of abuse, torture, false imprisonment, and a lewd act on a child under 14.

Teresa went on to explain how her family, including her five kids, ranging in ages from 18 months to 18 years old, have been negatively impacted by her sister’s crimes. “One of my kids has gotten bullied over this. I’ve gotten emails and messages that you wouldn’t even believe. I just need people to understand… we’re on the other side of the United States from her,” she explained between tears. “They don’t realize they’re are not just hurting my sister or my brother, but they are also hurting our kids. That’s another reason I’m mad at Louise — because of what’s she’s done to me and my kids now.”

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Today, Teresa, 37, is focused on possibly adopting the youngest six of the Turpin 13 — and is writing a tell-all book about her family. She also knows at some point, she will have to forgive her sister, who was abused by a family member throughout childhood just like her and their other sister Elizabeth. “At some point I know I have to forgive her, at least for myself. I’ve had to forgive some pretty horrible people in my lifetime and at some point in my life I do see me forgiving her but I’ll never forget and I’ll never had the relationship that I had with her,” Teresa added. “It’s really hurts me to even say that she’s my sister right now… that’s not my sister sitting there.”

Be sure to tune into Oxygen’s two-hour special The Turpin 13: Family Secrets Exposed on Saturday, April 28 at 6 p.m.

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