911 abuse call heard in court
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A 17-year-old girl who had just escaped her home of horrors called police dispatchers and revealed in a high-pitched voice the abuse that had gone on for years.
“My two little sisters right now are chained up,” she said in a recording played Wednesday during a hearing to determine if her mother and father stand trial on abuse charges.
“They will wake up at night and they will start crying and they wanted me to call somebody,” she said of her siblings. “I wanted to call y’all so y’all can help my sisters.”
The girl’s mother, Louise Turpin, dabbed her eyes with a tissue as the 911 call was played in Riverside County Superior Court.
David and Louise Turpin have pleaded not guilty to torture, child abuse and other charges. They are being held on $12 million bail each.
The 911 call in January was the start of a new day for their 13 children, some of whom didn’t even understand the role of police officers when they showed up at the house in response to the call.
Officers freed two children who were shackled to beds and arrested the parents in a case that drew worldwide attention to severe neglect at the Perris, California, home.
After they were freed, the children, who ranged in age from 2 to 29, were immediately hospitalized and eventually released.