Children captive in house of horrors
THE US has been left stunned after a California couple was arrested when authorities found their 13 malnourished children being held captive in a house of horrors, with some shackled to beds in the dark.
Police discovered the horrifying scene after a 17-year-old girl escaped from the home in Perris, 113km east of Los Angeles, and called officers using a mobile phone she grabbed as she fled.
David Allen Turpin and Louise Anna Turpin are being held on suspicion of torture and child endangerment. Bail has been set at $11.3 million.
The teen who broke free from the squalid hellhole told the emergency operator she and her 12 siblings, whose ages range from two to 29, were being held captive in their home by their parents. Investigators from the Perris Police Department and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said the girl was emaciated and looked only 10 years old, even though she was 17.
Police later found several more children inside the home – malnourished, unwashed and shackled with chains and padlocks. Seven of the captives were adults, aged 18 to 29.
“Further investigation revealed several children shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foulsmelling surroundings, but the parents were unable to immediately provide a logical reason why their children were restrained in that manner,” a police statement said. “Deputies located what they believed to be 12 children inside the house … The victims appeared malnourished and very dirty.”
The sheriff’s office said “the victims were provided with food and beverages after they claimed to be starving”.
Neighbours described the home as desolate and said the children rarely came outside.