California: Thirteen children who were being held captives by their parents were rescued after a 17-year-old girl who escaped from captivity alerted the authorites. When 12 of her siblings were rescued, several of them were found shackled to their beds and malnourished. The 17-year-old used a cellphone she found in the home to call the police with her startling claim about her siblings being held against their will, the Riverside County Sheriff’s department said. Officers found the girl’s 12 siblings - who range in age from 2 to 29 - in the foul-smelling house in Perris, California, living in the dark without access to adequate food or water, the department said.
Some of the children were restrained with chains and padlocks. “The parents were unable to immediately provide a logical reason why their children were restrained in that manner,” the sheriff’s department said. The officers did not immediately recognise that seven of the 13 siblings were adults because they were emaciated. The sheriff’s office said that the 17-year-old girl who called the authorities looked to be 10 years old.
Their parents, David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, were both arrested on nine counts each of torture and child endangerment. They were being held in jail. The sheriff’s department did not say how long the siblings may have been held captive. Sheriff’s deputies provided food and water to the siblings, who claimed they were starving. They were later transported to hospitals for treatment. Records show that Turpin had received state approval to run a private school at the family’s home. The school enrolled six students this year, in grades six through 12, and Turpin was listed as the principal.
In a neighbourhood where residents often walk outside and children run around a nearby playground, the Turpins stood out for never being seen, neighbours said. Dennis Cooke, who lives two blocks from their home, said he saw Turpin once but never the siblings. The couple filed for bankruptcy in California in 2011, stating in court documents that they owed between $100,000 and $500,000 in debt. At that time, Turpin worked as an engineer at Northrop Grumman, the defence contractor, and earned $140,000 annually, records show. Louise Anna’s occupation was listed as a homemaker.
Their bankruptcy lawyer, Ivan Trahan, said that the parents spoke often about their children. They had 12 at the time of their bankruptcy, Trahan said, adding that the children never visited his law office. “They spoke about them highly,” he said. He said Turpin told him that the family loved Disneyland in Southern California and visited often. “We remember them as a very nice couple,” he said. “This is shocking.”
The Turpins moved to California from Texas around 2010, the parents wrote on Facebook, after Turpin returned to work for Northrop Grumman. On a family photo of the parents and 12 children (the youngest had not yet been born) posted on Facebook in 2011, a friend asked if all the children pictured were theirs. “Yes all 12 are our children and we are very proud of them,” the Turpins replied.
