Parents Of 13 Children Held Captive Arrested As Horrific Details Emerge

turpin family sentenced to life in prison

The parents of 13 children who were rescued on Sunday have been officially charged with multiple counts of torture, abuse and false imprisonment, and face 94 years in prison each.

David and Louise Turpin were arrested after their 17-year-old daughter escaped from their California home and alerted police.

David Turpin, 57, has also been charged with performing a lewd act on a child by force.

Riverside County district attorney Mike Hestrin revealed that 13 of their children, aged 2 to 29, had been tied up for years in their own home.

“This is severe, emotional and physical abuse,” he said. “This is depraved conduct.”

Hestrin said that the children were first tied up with ropes, but when one child managed to break free, the parents began chaining them to their beds with chains and padlocks.

The children were “often not released from their chains to go to the bathroom”, and were not allowed to shower more than once a year. When law enforcement entered the house, they found it stinking of urine and faeces.

The children would be severely punished with beatings and strangulations, Hestrin continued. “One of the reasons for the beatings is if the kids were found to have washed their hands above the wrist area, they were accused of playing in water.”

All 13 children were severely malnourished, with the oldest child, a 29-year-old woman, weighing just 37kg. Several of them were cognitively impaired as a result of the starvation. Such was the extent of the starvation that officers initially thought that all 13 siblings were minors. One child, a 12-year-old, is the weight of an average 7-year-old.

“The parents would buy food including pies, apple pies, pumpkin pies, leave it on the counter, let the children look at it, but wouldn’t let them eat it,” said Hestrin.

The children weren’t allowed any toys – despite several toys in their original packaging found in the house – but were allowed to keep journals, which are being examined as evidence.

Hestin said that the 17-year-old who had alerted authorities had been planning her escape for two years. Another sibling had escaped with her, but had gotten scared and turned back.

All 13 children are now in hospital, although Hestrin doesn’t know where they will end up.

“They’re relived, I will say that,” said Hestrin. “They’re in good hands, they’re being cared for, their wellbeing is being looked at, their health is being looked at.”

The Turpins are being held on $13 million bail.

“As a prosecutor there are some cases that haunt you,” said Hestrin. “Some deal with human depravity and that’s what we’re dealing with here.”

More Stuff From PEDESTRIAN.TV