I am disturbed by this case for a lot of reasons, but one is how much Jen and Sarah remind me of a couple I knew for years. They are divorced now. Our friend group always strongly suspected the "Sarah" of the pair was being abused by the "Jen"--there was one incident in particular where she had an injury to her face that was irritably waved away as an accident that was "all her fault" by her partner while she sat silent. The "Jen" was extremely political about everything and obsessed with being a leader and a rolemodel as a lesbian this or lesbian that, progressive this, progressive that. Very self-righteous and focused on image. Also a grievance collector who held the stupidest things against people in our friend group, for YEARS. Like that one woman was able to get pregnant before she could, for instance. When they did have kids, the image obsession only increased. She became downright mean and unpleasant in close interaction and I kept my distance.
One thing that made me think of this couple was the guy who had offered to Jen to be a male role model for her sons, and her apparent disgust at that offer. The "Jen" I knew irl would have been absolutely beyond offended if a man had suggested fathers were in any way important to kids. She held it as a point of pride that her kids were to be raised "father free" and she considered any advocacy for the importance of dads to be homophobic.
Bbm: Excellent description of the "vibe" I am getting, the more I learn.
Another piece is both of these women were estranged from their families according to several reports. So, why is that? Seems they were wearing some passive / revolutionary masks? Highly political, highly alternative marriage, highly alternative mixed family, but with a specific hierarchy.
These kids were teenagers. And, their isolation must have been very unhealthy. Oh, they have the neat house, and most had beautiful teeth, and camping mountain yoga trips, and some events, but what I am not getting is their individuality, friends, dates, branching out, even the joy of a first job. And, the absence of role models, tribal figures, father figures, grandparents, etc... And in that way, that isolation is similar to the Turpins.
When it became apparent that this tragedy was intentional, I thought it might not have been lost on Jen, the high profile case of the Turpins. And, what could have been so horrible, or so hidden that she, or they, would kill her family to keep it that way?