Parents Jailed On Torture Charges After Teen Leads Deputies To California House Of Horrors
PERRIS, Calif. (CBSNewYork/CBS News/AP) — Authorities say an emaciated teenager led deputies to a California home where her 12 brothers and sisters, ranging in age from two to 29, were locked up in filthy conditions.
Police said they discovered "children shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings" and said their parents could not explain why the children were restrained.
"It's so sad, so horrible, I can't believe this," neighbor Jennifer Luna said. "It's so sad."
Officials say the girl who managed to escape and call 911 was 17 but appeared to be about 10 because of her poor condition.
Deputies assumed the 12 other children were juveniles but seven were actually adults, ranging from 18 to 29.
"They looked so malnourished and pale because of that I thought they were younger than they were," neighbor Kimberly Milligan said.
Neighbors say they only saw the children a couple of times. Once, looking for food in trash cans and another time, landscaping the yard at night.
"The kids were not sociable at all," neighbor Wendy Martinez said. "Like, they didn't want to look at people. They were just doing what they were doing, no eye contact with society."
The parents, David Turpin, 57, and Louise Turpin, 49, were arrested at the scene and each charged with nine counts of torture and 10 counts of child endangerment. They were each being held on $9 million bail.
Police said the victims were transported to the police station to be interviewed and were given food and water after they told deputies they were starving. The six children and seven adult victims were transported to a local hospitals and admitted for treatment.
The home's address is listed with the California Department of Education as Sand Castle Day School, a private school. The 57-year-old father is listed as the school's principal.
In the 2016-17 school year it had an enrollment of six with one student in each of the fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th and 12th grades.
The Turpins filed for bankruptcy in 2011, stating in court documents they owed between $100,000 and $500,000, The New York Times reported. At that time, Turpin worked as an engineer at Northrop Grumman and earned $140,000 annually and his wife was a homemaker, records showed.
Their bankruptcy lawyer, Ivan Trahan, told the Times he never met the children but the couple "spoke about them highly."
"We remember them as a very nice couple," Trahan said, adding that Louise Turpin told him the family loved Disneyland and visited often.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
