Jessica Klimp, 45, and Jason Klimp, 47, faced additional prison time in Michigan after starving their adopted daughters and locking them in dog cages.
The couple received sentences of eight years and three months behind bars after pleading no contest to two counts of first-degree child abuse, according to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office. They’re already serving a decade-long prison sentence in Tennessee for abusing the girls during a stay at a rental house in that state.
Both Klimps have since had their parental rights terminated. They starved their daughters and confined them in dog cages and a “man-made straitjacket,” among other things.
Authorities extradited the couple from Tennessee last year to face these additional charges after state investigators uncovered evidence of systemic torture involving two of their four adopted children.
The Michigan investigation gained momentum after the couple’s arrest during a stay in Tennessee in February 2024. Following that arrest, Michigan State Police executed a search warrant at the Klimps’ Wexford County home.
Authorities discovered a “man-made straitjacket” in a bedroom, along with security alarms installed on the bedroom door, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Investigators also found “dog cages that appeared to have been used to confine the children” inside the home — perhaps the most disturbing detail of the search.
“Kids deserve to grow up in a loving home free from abuse,” Michigan Attorney General Nessel said in a statement following the plea. “The cruelty that these children endured is heartbreaking, and while no outcome can erase the trauma, I hope these convictions will provide a sense of justice and healing.”
The investigation into the adoptive parents began when authorities in Fentress County, Tennessee, responded to the family’s home after one of their adopted daughters collapsed. Jason Klimp reportedly placed the child in a cold shower in an attempt to wake her up before paramedics arrived.
First responders initially believed the 12-year-old girl was between 6 and 8 years old, given the severity of the neglect and abuse she’d suffered. A paramedic testified at a previous hearing that her body temperature had dropped to a dangerously low 95.6 degrees and her skin had become discolored.
The girl and her sister had become severely underweight from a diet of only “liquefied food” from a bottle. She later told police they were forced to eat that way because they “ate too much and would get sick.”
Investigators also learned that the couple severely punished the kids for things like wetting the bed, forcing them to sleep on plastic totes in a 60-degree basement without blankets. Eight children were living in the home at the time — four biological and four adopted.
A Tennessee judge sentenced the couple to 10 years behind bars for aggravated child abuse in October. They were subsequently returned to Michigan to face the Wexford County charges.
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