13 in family held chained inside ‘horrific’ house
PERRIS, Calif. — The mother of 13 malnourished children and young adults who were held in filthy conditions, some chained to furniture, was “perplexed” when deputies arrived at the family’s Southern California home, a sheriff’s official said Tuesday.
The deputies had been summoned by a 17-year-old daughter who jumped out a window and called 911.
Riverside County sheriff’s Capt. Greg Fellows described the reaction of the mother, Louise Anna Turpin, 49, without elaborating. He said he did not know how the father, 57-year-old David Allen Turpin, reacted.
The situation at the home in Perris, about 100 km southeast of Los Angeles, was discovered when the daughter escaped early Sunday, Fellows said.
The teen, who was so small that deputies initially thought she was 10 years old, showed them photographs that led them to believe her story so they went to the home to check on the family, Fellows said.
“The conditions were horrific,” he said.
The children, ages 2 to 29, are all believed to be the Turpins’ biological offspring, authorities said.
Fellows said the investigation has so far found no indication of sexual abuse but that the conditions amounted to torture. “If you can imagine being a 10-year-old and being chained to a bed ... I would call that torture,” he said.
The family had lived in Perris since 2014, and deputies had never been to the residence previously for any reason, Fellows said.
Social workers had never visited either, said Susan von Zabern, director of the county Department of Public Social Services.
The seven adult children were being cared for at Corona Regional Medical Center, said CEO Mark Uffer. He described them as small and clearly malnourished. They were being fed and were listed in stable condition.
“They’re very friendly,” he said. “They’re very co-operative, and I believe they are hopeful that life will get better for them.”
The parents were each held on $9 million bail and could face charges including torture and child endangerment. They were scheduled to appear in court Thursday.
State Department of Education records show the family home has the same address as Sandcastle Day School, where David Turpin is listed as principal. In the 201617 school year, it had an enrolment of six with one student each in the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 12th grades.
Neighbours in Perris, where modest but well maintained homes are tightly packed on suburban streets, said they were stunned by the arrests.
Andrew Santillan, who lives around the corner, heard about the case from a friend.
“I had no idea this was going on,” he told the Press-Enterprise newspaper of Riverside. “I didn’t know there were kids in the house.”