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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...rture-brought-13-kids-along-when-they-n838026
A Perris mother and father are behind bars Monday after one of their children escaped their home and reported to sheriff's deputies that 12 of her siblings were still being held captive at their home, some of them shackled with chains and padlocks to their beds.
All of the children appeared to malnourished when they were found Sunday, some so severely that deputies initially believed the adult children to be kids, according to a statement from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, have been booked on charges of torture and child endangerment. They are each being held in lieu of $9 million bail.
According to the sheriff's department, a 17-year-old girl fled the house in the 100 block of Muir Woods Road early Sunday morning and was able to call 911 using a cellphone she had taken from the home.
Despite her age, deputies at first believed her to be around 10 years old because of she was emaciated and malnourished.
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/...-Jailed-Torture-Charges-Perris-469421183.html"Deputies located what they believed to be 12 children inside the house, but were shocked to discover that 7 of them were actually adults, ranging in age from 18 to 29," read the statement. "The victims appeared to be malnourished and very dirty."
The victims ranged in age from 2 to 29 years old.
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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...rture-brought-13-kids-along-when-they-n838026
Louise Turpin's siblings told NBC News they had not seen her in nearly two decades and what little contact they had with her was by phone. They said they believed David Turpin was "treating her like a queen" and wondered why she never let them talk with the kids.
"We always thought she was living the perfect life," her sister, Teresa Robinette, said in an interview conducted in Knoxville, Tennessee. "She would tell us they went to Disneyland all the time, they would go to Vegas."
The sister added that Louise left home at 16 to marry Turpin. She said the parents refused to let their children date or spend too much time with other children.
"They weren't allowed to watch TV. They weren't allowed to talk on the phone, have friends over, stuff like that. Normal things that kids do."
"Further investigation revealed several children shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings, but the parents were unable to immediately provide a logical reason why their children were restrained in that manner," the statement read.
It was only after freeing them that deputies discovered seven of what they thought were severely emaciated kids were actually adults "ranging in age from 18 to 29."
David Turpin had gotten state approval to run a private school, the Sandcastle Day School, out of his one-story tan stucco house, California records revealed. They listed him as the principal.
"They were home-schooled," Fellows said of the victims, adding that he did not know how long the family had been in Perris. He said they previously lived in Texas.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...rture-brought-13-kids-along-when-they-n838026All 13 of the Turpin children have been admitted to nearby hospitals for treatment. Corona Regional Medical Center CEO Mark Uffer said they were "very friendly" and "very cooperative."
"It's hard to think of them as adults because they're very small," Uffer said.
Sophia Grant, medical director of the child abuse unit at Riverside Medical, said they are monitoring them closely. "There can be complications if you try to feed them too quickly," she said.
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