Aunt: 13 captive children denied contact with relatives
Thirteen malnourished siblings allegedly kept captive in filthy conditions by their parents in a Southern California home lived a strict existence with no social lives and no contact with extended family, two of their aunts said Wednesday.
“They weren’t allowed to watch TV. They weren’t allowed to have friends over — the normal things that kids do,” the children’s aunt, Teresa Robinette, told NBC’S “Today” show.
Robinette is the sister of Louise Turpin, 49, who along with her husband, 57-year-old David Allen Turpin, were jailed on US$9 million bail each.
Charges that may include torture and child endangerment could come Wednesday and a court appearance is scheduled for Thursday, authorities said.
Deputies said some siblings were shackled to furniture in the foul-smelling home in suburban Riverside County. They were so malnourished that the older ones still looked like children.
Robinette said she voiced concerns to her sister about the children’s health.
“I always made comments to Louise when I did talk to her, about, gosh, they are so skinny,” Robinette said. “She would laugh it off and say David’s so tall and lanky, they are going to be like him.”
The arrests Sunday came after a 17-year-old daughter who looked closer to 10 jumped out a window and called 911. Her parents had made the home a private school, a prison, and a veritable torture chamber for the siblings aged 2 to 29, authorities said during a press conference Tuesday.
Until the girl fled with photographic evidence, it appears no one, neither neighbours nor public officials, knew anything about what was happening inside.
Few details have been released about how the parents kept them captive despite what appeared to be opportunities for them to leave.
Another aunt, Elizabeth Jane Flores, told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” that she tried for years to get in touch with her sister, Louise Turpin, but Turpin shut her out.
“I want to reach out to the kids, I want them to know that for years we begged to Skype, we begged to see them, the whole family,” she said.
Flores tearfully said she and Turpin didn’t have a relationship for two decades beyond the odd phone call. She said she was shocked by her sister’s arrest.
In one of many surreal details that emerged as the investigation grew, it appears that an Elvis impersonator who performs weddings in Las Vegas is one of the few people who had direct dealings with the family, and he saw a different side.
“It’s very disturbing because I felt like I did know them,” said Kent Ripley, the Elvis impersonator who led the parents through at least three vow renewal ceremonies in recent years, most recently on Halloween, 2015.
He looked back at Youtube videos of the ceremonies after hearing the news, including two that show all the children dancing and smiling, with matching outfits and similar haircuts.
“Watching them now it’s kind of haunting and disturbing,” Ripley told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday. “They all looked young and thin but I figured it was just their lifestyle. Maybe the activities they did, maybe because of their religious beliefs. I didn’t get that in depth with them but I knew they were a fun family.”
Numerous photos on the couple’s Facebook page show the children dancing at the Elvis Chapel, visiting an amusement park that appears to be Disneyland and going on other outings, always looking thin but often smiling.
It was a normal public face the family put on that included the ordinary outward appearance of their house, one of many brownand-beige homes that lined a residential street. Four vehicles were parked in their driveway Tuesday, with a horde of international media surrounding the house.