A married couple from Perris, California (in Riverside County) faces up to life in prison for multiple counts of abuse, torture, neglect, and false imprisonment for their 13 children, ages 2 to 29.
David Turpin, age 56, and Louise Turpin, age 49, were arrested after it was discovered that they had chained up their children for up to weeks at a time, refused to let them shower or go to the bathroom, fed them very little, and regularly beat and strangled them. The charges go back to at least 2010.
Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin held a press conference where he released the grisly details.
Neighbors had occasionally spotted children outside the house at night acting strangely, with others in the neighborhood completely unaware that there were even children living in the house.
It was only after one of the children, a 17-year-old girl, was able to escape the residence and called the police that the rest of the siblings were able to be freed.
Officers found multiple of the victims chained up when they entered the house, and all of the children were severely malnourished, except for the youngest toddler, Hestrin said.
The Turpins have pleaded "not guilty" and await their next court date on February 23rd.
Photo: Riverside County Sheriffs Dept.