Siblings survive

House of Horrors kids update TWO YEARS AFTER THE 13 TURPIN SIBLINGS ESCAPED HELLISH ABUSE AND TORTURE, THEY ARE FINDING NEW FUTURES, FRIENDS – AND FAMILIES

For years they were chained and beaten, kept prisoner in their suburban Perris, California, home by their parents, David and Louise Turpin. Often they were starved and tormented with treats like pies and doughnuts left on the kitchen counter for them to look at and smell but never, ever touch or eat. Then in the morning hours of January 14, 2018, one of the 13 Turpin children crept out a window of the family home and dialled 911, bringing police – and ultimately salvation – to her and her siblings. Now more than two years later, the Turpin siblings – ranging in age (approximately) from 4 to 31 – are beginning new lives. One has graduated from college, several have jobs, and the six youngest children have been adopted. “They are all happy,” says Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Kevin

Beecham, who built a close relationship with the Turpin children as he was preparing the case against their parents.

“They are free.” He offers a window into their lives now.

NEW FAMILIES, FRESH HOPE

The six youngest siblings have been adopted in California and are “in a really good place”,

Beecham says. “They are doing well in school.” The youngest Turpins suffered fewer years of neglect and abuse, so “they are going to rebound a little better”, he says. Still, some of the older children live together in an apartment as they work at jobs, while some of the kids are receiving more focused care in treatment facilities. “They are receiving really good help,” he says, “with therapy, counselling and a lot of psychological assistance.”

MAKING TIME FOR EACH OTHER

Despite different living arrangements, all 13 kids stay in touch. “They still see each other on a regular basis,” says Beecham. “They will meet, all 13 of them, somewhere discreet. They have different names for the most part … It would be difficult for them to carry that name, that label of being a victim, forever.”

LIVING WITH MEMORIES OF ABUSE

“To this day these kids still can’t look at bread,” Beecham says, because for years their only meals consisted of just two slices of bread with pork sausage or peanut butter – often while their parents ate fast-food meals in front of them. “I made the mistake of mentioning peanut butter, and one of the girls almost threw up,” he says.

WIDENING THEIR WORLD

For the Turpin children new cities often meant new horrors. In fact, the children’s escape plan was put in motion just days before the family was planning to move to Oklahoma. “Every time the family moved, the abuse intensified,” Beecham says. “In Texas there were ropes and smaller chains on the kids; in California the chains were thick and made deep marks on the kids’ skins, so they thought Oklahoma would be worse.” The one place the children did feel safe was Las Vegas, because David and Louise brought them there multiple times to witness their vow renewals. “It was ingrained in the kids’ heads that Vegas was a happy place,” Beecham says. So much so, they came up

with an escape plan that revolved around calling a cab to take them the 400km from Perris to Las Vegas. But because they were not being educated at home or in school, they had little understanding of geography or basic transportation. “They couldn’t figure it out, and their escape plan stopped,” says Beecham. “These kids had never had a conversation outside their family before. They didn’t know who to trust.”

ENJOYING EVERYDAY FREEDOMS

Though David and Louise filled their garage wall shelves with hundreds of

DVDs and movies, the children were not allowed access. When the family lived in Texas, the parents left the older kids in charge of their younger siblings, and one of the boys watched Star Wars while they were away. “When the parents found out, he was put in a cage,” Beecham says. And though Louise bought thousands of dollars of clothes, the kids had old pyjamas and underwear they wore for “six months at a time”, he says. Now they don’t take things like movies and clean clothes for granted. “They are moving on with their lives.” •

Police found “a mountain of evidence” including chains, video footage and filth inside the Turpin home (in 2018).

“Some have jobs, some are going to school, some volunteer in the community,” Deputy DA Kevin Beecham says of the Turpin kids (with their parents). “It’s still hard for all of them, but they are extremely happy.”

Louise, 51, and David, 58, Turpin (in court April 2019) are serving 25 years to life after pleading guilty to 14 felony counts, including torture and false imprisonment. They are prevented from communicating with all but two of their children, who waived protective orders in the case. In letters to each other from behind bars, they most often discuss food in detail, “for pages”, says Beecham.