House of Hell kids ‘like cult’
Neighbours feared parents ran a cult
THE 13 children chained up by their religious parents in a US house of horrors acted as if they were “in a cult”.
Neighbours said the youngsters looked like clones in matching clothes – and spoke like robots.
THE 13 starving children chained up by their parents in a house of horrors acted like they were “in a cult”.
David and Louise Turpin have been charged with torture and child endangerment after a daughter escaped and alerted police on Sunday.
Officers found their kids – aged two to 29 – shackled to beds in the “foul” home.
A sickening picture of life there is beginning to emerge as locals recall the cultlike behaviour of the youngsters. Neighbours revealed the starving brood reminded them of “clones” and were always in matching clothes.
The “undeveloped” youngsters spoke robotically and at the same time. Their parents would never let them out unattended.
Mike Clifford, 60, a neighbour from a previous California home, recalled seeing the children on marathon “militarystyle” marches around a bedroom at midnight. He said: “I never saw them play. The kids would be walking in circles like they were marching for hours. My wife spoke to two of the girls – they were monotone, they spoke together. They were like a cult.” Police hailed the 17-year-old who escaped despite fearing she could be killed for her actions. The teen climbed through a window and managed to call police using a deactivated phone she found inside the bungalow. The tortured clan were taken to hospitals “very malnourished and dirty”.
The children’s aunt, Elizabeth Flores, claimed yesterday that David would creepily watch her in the shower. She said they went to great lengths to keep their sordid family life secret, adding: “Louise never let us talk to her kids.”
David, 57, and Louise, 49, are each charged with nine counts of torture and 10 of child endangerment at the home in Perris, near LA.
The couple are due to appear in court today.