Couple’s dogs ‘better fed’ than their children
THE Californian couple who are accused of starving their 13 children kept two Maltese dogs that they appeared to keep significantly better fed.
David Turpin, 57, and his wife Louise, 49, were arrested at their home in Perris on Sunday. When police entered the property they found shackles on the beds and one 22-year-old still in chains.
The emaciated children, who prosecutors claim were fed once a day and only permitted to shower once a year, were taken to hospital, where they are still being treated. One 29-year-old sibling weighed only five stone.
However, inside the house police found two small dogs that Joe Vargo, Perris city spokesman, said were in “good condition”. He said both the female Maltese mixes, aged around one, will be raffled off for adoption.
Former acquaintances of the Turpin family have begun to piece together the strange life of the family. Ashley Vinyard, 25, lived across the street from their former home in Rio Vista, Texas.
When they moved out, Miss Vinyard nosed around, finding a kitten dumped in a skip, which she adopted. The house, she said, was filthy and full of religious material. “It looked like a cult house, it was kind of scary,” she told Mail Online. “Stuff like preparing for Armageddon. I remember not seeing any toys or dolls at the house.”