Florida (USA) - Jennifer Wolfthal made children's eyes light up with her book "A Real Friend". Her own kids, on the other hand, had no reason to be happy. And now the US-American has to pay for it!

In her stories, she conjured up an ideal world for her young readers and wrote about friendship. When the woman from Florida put down her typewriter, the devil awoke in her.

As Fox News reported, Wolfthal - with the help of her husband Joseph - is said to have neglected and abused their adopted children.

Investigators discovered the horror parents four years ago. At that time, their eight-year-old adopted daughter was brought to hospital unconscious, with a bruise on the back of her head, a laceration on her lip, a broken tooth and organ failure.

While the girl was recovering in hospital, the police paid her parents a visit - and made some terrible discoveries!

Investigators found two other children (nine and eleven years old) in the Wolfthals' house. Both were said to be malnourished, neglected and covered in bruises.

The children had no chance of escaping their parents' hell: their parents are said to have fitted the doorknobs to the children's rooms so that they were only accessible from the outside.

In addition, the three children were probably brought up in a sect-like manner and had to follow mantras such as "My body always stays flat on the bed" or "I was never given permission to move or say anything".

On January 13 of this year, the sad case finally came to an end and the horror parents were sentenced. Jennifer Wolfthal must serve twelve years behind bars, her husband Joseph at least ten.

"This agreement ensures that the Wolfthals will spend a long time in prison," said a spokesperson for the public prosecutor's office.