Teen daughter plotted her ‘House of Horrors’ escape
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The 17-yearold girl who raised the alarm about a “House of Horrors” where she and her 12 siblings had been locked up for years had planned her escape for two years. Prosecutors detailing the case against David and Louise Turpin, who appeared before a judge in Riverside Thursday, said the house in Perris contained journals kept by the children, which they say will be crucial in building a case against the parents.
Turpin, 57, and his wife, 49, were charged with 12 counts of torture and 12 counts of false imprisonment. Their youngest child, aged two, did not have sufficient injuries to warrant the same charges, prosecutors said.
“Right now, we are charging one count of a lewd act,” said Michael Hestrin, Riverside County district attorney. “… We are alleging that Mr. Turpin touched one of the children in a lewd way.”
The couple also face seven counts of abuse of a dependent adult and six counts of child abuse.
“This is severe emotional and physical abuse,” said Hestrin, adding that the charges dated back to 2010. “This is depraved conduct.”
The horrific scene was discovered on Sunday when the 17-year-old girl escaped by climbing out a window of the house and calling police from a disconnected mobile phone.
“The 17-year-old had been working on a plan with her sibling to escape the abuse for more than two years,” said Hestrin. “She took her sibling with her through the window, but that sibling became frightened and went back.”
Hestrin alleged that the children were nocturnal. Their parents would allegedly only let them shower once a year. Hestrin claimed the Turpins would lock up their children for weeks on end as a “form of punishment,” and left them severely malnourished after feeding them just once a day.
“As a punishment starting many years ago, they began to be tied up, first with ropes,” alleged Hestrin. "One victim was tied up and hogtied. When that victim was able to escape the ropes, the defendants started using chains and padlocks.”
Hestrin said all 13 of the children were admitted to hospital with “severe calorie malnutrition connected with muscle wasting.”
Doctors said some of the children were suffering from cognitive neuropathy as a result of the abuse, meaning their mental age was much lower than their real age.
Hestrin claimed the children were also subject to “frequent beatings and even strangulation” as punishment for washing.