Thirteen siblings held captive were likely coerced to remain quiet
LOS ANGELES—When a 17-yearold girl jumped out a window from the house where her parents allegedly starved and tortured their 13 children, she broke a silence that had likely lasted years.
It’s not clear why the teenager waited so long to act, but psychiatrists say such behavior is not uncommon even in cases of extreme deprivation.
Most people would recognize milder forms of the same inaction that is a coping mechanism, whether it’s failing to speak out against off-color jokes, enduring sexual harassment or staying in an awful marriage, said Dr. Bruce Perry.
“This happens all the time. The number of individuals who would immediately respond to an opportunity where they could get away is very small compared to the number of people who would have that paralysis and insecurity and confusion about what to do,” said Perry, a psychiatrist who is a senior fellow at the ChildTrauma Academy in Houston.
The vulnerable girl might have been shamed, beaten or threatened with violence and only after many missed opportunities did she probably work up the courage to act, Perry said.
“It’s pretty remarkable that she’d do that,” he said. “The power that must have been exerted to keep an entire family like that for so long must have been pretty sophisticated.”
David Turpin, 56, and his wife, Louise Turpin, 49, were arrested Sunday after authorities found the malnourished children in their home in suburban Perris, 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles. They were jailed on $9 million bail each and are expected to appear Thursday in Riverside County Superior Court on charges that could include torture and child endangerment, authorities said.
The Turpins have lived in two Riverside County communities since moving to California in 2011, and police said they were never called to either home, nor were any reports fielded by child protective services.
In Hill County, Texas, where they lived previously, the sheriff’s office received a call from a neighbor complaining that a pig belonging to the Turpins escaped from a pen and ate 55 pounds of his dog food.
In another report, David Turpin said that the family’s dog had bitten their 4-year-old daughter on the face. He told police he took the girl to a hospital for stitches and the dog to a veterinarian to be put down, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.
It’s not clear what motivated the Turpins to live a secluded life with their large brood or what went on in the house. Parents convicted in similar cases exerted control over their children though intimidation, psychological and physical coercion, and frequently possessed their own belief system.
The Turpin children appeared to be cut off from the outside world, despite taking trips to Disneyland and Las Vegas, where the parents renewed wedding vows in a service presided over by an Elvis impersonator.
Individuals held under such conditions often become so physically and emotionally weak “that they are unable to free themselves, even if an opportunity arises,” said Dr. Allen Keller, who runs the Bellevue-NYU Center for Survivors of Torture in New York.