‘Torture’ house pair are religious Elvis fanatics
The US couple who allegedly tortured and imprisoned their 13 children were Elvis fanatics who believed “God called on them” to have such a large family. David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, apparently home schooled their children, forcing them to memorise Bible passages.
THE American couple who allegedly tortured and imprisoned their 13 children were Elvis fanatics who believed that “God called on them” to give birth so many times.
David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, were said to have forced their children to memorise passages of the Bible during “very strict” home schooling sessions.
Family members were reportedly kept away, with the children’s grandparents saying they had not seen them for around five years and an aunt saying she had not visited for 19 years.
The couple had renewed their vows with an Elvis impersonator marriage celebrant three times, often with their identically dressed children looking on, according to photographs.
The family had also filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and were said to have debts of up to $500,000 despite Mr Turpin’s job as an engineer earning $140,000 a year. The details emerged as a shocked United States attempted to understand how an apparently mildmannered, middle-aged couple had allegedly committed such crimes.
The pair were charged with nine counts of torture and 10 of child endangerment after being arrested at their home in Perris, California.
It followed the dramatic rescue of their 13 children, aged between two and 29, who were discovered starving, and with some chained to furniture in the “filthy” and “foul-smelling” house.
Police only made the discovery after one daughter, aged 17, fled the property through a window, stole a mobile phone and alerted officers.
Many of the children appeared far younger than their years due to the horrific conditions they appear to have been kept in, police said. The children are being treated for malnutrition.
Greg Fellows, Riverside County sheriff ’s captain, revealed that Mrs Turpin had appeared “perplexed” as to why police were present at her home, but added there was “no indication” that she was mentally ill. Mr Fellows added: “They’ve been through a very traumatic ordeal. They’re very friendly, they’re very cooperative and they’re hopeful that life will get better.”
A spokesman from the county’s social services department said that the children appeared to have been held for a “prolonged period”.
Until the summer of 2016 the family’s activities were well-documented on Facebook; photos showed trips to the beach and to visit Father Christmas, and a smiling clan at Disneyland, wearing matching outfits. The last photographs posted, in July 2016, showed them gathered in what appeared to be Las Vegas, with an Elvis impersonator performing a vow-renewal ceremony.
It was the third time that they had been photographed with the same Elvis, in the same outfits, at the Elvis Chapel in Downtown Las Vegas.
Kent Ripley, the Elvis impersonator, said he was “still disturbed” by the reports of abuse. “I mean they were sitting right around here three different times,” he told Fox News. [The Turpins] seemed to care about each other and care about the kids. They seemed to smile, the kids were smiling they didn’t
hide behind themselves, they were very quiet.”
The outings appear to have stopped last July – five months after Phyllis Robinette, Mrs Turpin’s mother, died, aged 66, in Princeton, West Virginia.
Shortly before she died, Mrs Robinette wrote on Facebook: “Would love to come and see you all.”
Mrs Turpin was one of six siblings, living as far afield as Guam, Georgia and Tennessee. Her sister, Elizabeth Flores, an author, has previously written about being abused as a child.
Yesterday, she claimed she had not seen her sister in 19 years but knew that something was “not right” with her parenting style. She added that she was never allowed to visit her sister or speak to her nieces and nephews.
The 41-year-old, who lives in Cleveland, Tennessee, told DailyMailTV: “Something didn’t seem right about her parenting, but I never would have expected it to be like this. We have been so worried about them because it’s been so strange, but there was nothing we could do.
“They wouldn’t let anyone visit and we didn’t know their address. I haven’t seen her in 19 years. We would talk on the phone from time to time, but every
time I would ask to talk to her kids, she wouldn’t let me.
“My parents booked several flights to go see them but when they got there they wouldn’t tell them where to go and my parents left crying every time.”
Mr Turpin’s parents, James and Betty, from West Virginia, described their son as “deeply religious” and believed God had “called on them” to have so many children. They were in the Pentecostal faith.
They told ABC the children, who they had not seen in five years, had “very strict home schooling” and would memorise long Bible passages.