Jurors took two hours to convict Wendy Wood Holland, 35, of sodomy, sexual abuse, sexual torture and child endangerment.

She showed no emotion when the verdict was read. Prosecutors say Holland faces at least 20 years in prison and could get a life sentence.

Prosecutors told jurors during closing arguments that Wendy Holland, her late husband Donnie and others were monsters who subjected their own children and others to perversions that were almost too depraved to understand, with parents and in-laws using their own young relatives for sex.

EARLIER: Incest ring finally exposed after teen goes missing

Behind bars ... Wendy Wood Holland, 35, in the Baldwin County Circuit Court. Picture: AP Source: AAP

Holland used sex toys and other forms of stimulation to groom the alleged victim for sex with adults at an age children typically are watching Sesame Street and learning to colour, prosecution witnesses told the jury.

The trial though, was all about Holland’s niece, Brittney Wood, who still remains missing.

Testimony showed Brittney was part of at least one family sexual encounter involving Holland, three other adults and two children.

While witnesses heard two days of testimony, her trial failed to give any clues about her whereabouts.

BRITTNEY WOOD: THE MISSING KEY TO EXPOSING A SEX RING

Brittney was last seen with Holland’s husband, Donnie, in 2012, and 11 people have since been arrested on sex-related charges.

Authorities said Brittney could provide important evidence about sexual crimes by her adult relatives if only they could find her alive.

But searches and two years of investigation have failed to turn up any sign of her.

Police believe Brittney is dead, possibly killed in the days before the case went public.

But with no suspects or leads, the search for her has come to a halt.

Following her disappearance, her father was charged with sexual abuse, sodomy, sexual torture and child endangerment.

Donnie Holland was under investigation as the leader of the alleged sex ring at the time of Brittney’s disappearance, and he died days later of what authorities ruled was a self-inflicted gunshot.

Missing ... Brittney Wood is no where to be seen or heard. Picture: AP Source: AP

The investigation that followed has publicly unravelled what authorities describe as a dark, twisted tale of perversion in the working-class neighbourhoods and tiny backwoods of coastal Alabama.

Eight of Brittney’s adult relatives and three family friends have been charged with dozens of charges in two counties as the alleged members of an incestuous ring that authorities say shared children for group sex.

“Brittney could have been huge,” said prosecutor Teresa Heinz.

“She could have corroborated so many things.”

Even without Brittney to testify, two of her uncles and an older brother have already pleaded guilty to sex charges.

Others — including the missing teen’s mother, Chessie Wood, and two aunts — await trial.

Took his own life ... Wendy Wood Holland’s husband, Donnie Holland. Picture: AP Source: Supplied

DEPRAVED INCEST CASE INVOLVES MORE THAN JUST FAMILY

Chessie Wood denies committing any crime, but says some of her closest relatives are guilty of abusing children, including of abusing her daughter.

“There are innocent people in this and there are guilty people in this,” Wood, 39, said in an interview. “I don’t know how the judicial system is going to figure it all out because they’re not the sharpest tools in the shed.”

Chessie Wood, accused of having sex with a young female relative, said she had no idea what was going on in the family until after her daughter’s disappearance.

Authorities are making plea-bargain offers and getting ready for more trials, but questions persist. Perhaps most troubling, why didn’t child welfare workers pursue charges following what prosecutors describe as multiple complaints about sexual abuse within the family going back at least six years?

Without a trace ... Brittney Wood could still be alive. Picture: Supplied Source: Facebook

The case is so big officials don’t know exactly how many kids inside and outside the family might have been victimised; estimates range from 11 to 16 children who were as young as three or four when they were first molested or made to watch adult relatives during drug-fuelled orgies. The children of the suspects have all been placed in foster care or with relatives who weren’t involved in the crimes.

HOW BRITTNEY GOT CAUGHT UP IN A SEX RING BEFORE VANISHING

Authorities believe group sex and child sexual abuse went on for three generations in two families that merged when Holland married Wendy Wood, Chessie Woods’ sister.

Brittney, meanwhile, led a life that was troubled long before folks on the Alabama coast came to know her smile because of missing persons flyers posted in store windows and shared on social media.

The single mother of a daughter born when she was 17, Brittney was molested as a child by a step-grandfather who went to prison for the crime, said Patterson. Before she went missing, Patterson said, Brittney was using drugs and had a gun for personal protection while bouncing between relatives’ homes; others often cared for her daughter.

A relative reported Holland for allegedly abusing one of the family girls in February 2012, authorities said, and word spread through the clan.

Private Facebook messages provided to The Associated Press by Stephanie Hanke, Brittney Wood’s stepmother, show that a female relative informed Brittney about being raped by three male relatives on May 27, just three days before Brittney vanished.

‘We didn’t even realise she was missing until they found him shot’ ... Brittney Wood’s stepmother. Picture: AP Source: AP

On the night of the disappearance, mobile phone records and witness accounts indicate Brittney left West Mobile with Holland and crossed Mobile Bay into Baldwin County, where Holland was found two days later inside his SUV by his wife and one of her friends. He had been shot in the rear of his head behind an ear, which authorities considered an odd spot for a self-inflicted wound.

Holland was scheduled to be questioned about allegations of sexual abuse the very day he was found in the car on an isolated dirt road.

Brittney’s mobile phone battery was in the vehicle with Holland, but there was no sign of the teen. Her gun was there as well; it was the only gun in the car.

After Holland died, relatives and police wondered about Brittney.

“We didn’t even realise she was missing until after they found him shot,” said Hanke.

Searches for the teen began and the sex abuse probe picked up, too.

Family friend Billy Brownlee, 50, was recently convicted in Baldwin County on charges of sexually abusing a girl in the Holland family when she was about 12.

Brownlee claimed Donnie Holland forced him into the acts against his will, but jurors needed only 20 minutes to return a guilty verdict.

Still, authorities wonder how child sexual abuse could go on for years between so many people without anyone being charged until 2012.