Chained And Starved: The Story Of The Turpin Children

A seventeen-year-old girl informed the police that she had recently escaped a house nearby where she said her twelve siblings were being held hostage by their parents. Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the house after picking up the girl and discovered that the girl had been right.

Twelve victims — all of them were terribly dirty and undernourished — were discovered inside the house, tied to their beds with padlocks and chains.

The girl who phoned 911 was 17 but seemed to be little older than 10, and officers were surprised to discover that seven of the thirteen individuals they found were adults. The victims’ ages ranged from two to 29.

Since the parents, David and Louise Turpin, were unable to take responsibility for their actions, the police detained them right away. Torture and child endangerment are among the allegations against them, and each has been given a $9 million bail.

Once the victims indicated they were starving, food and water were provided to them all. The youths were then transported to the Riverside University Health System Medical Center, while the adult children were sent to Corona Regional Medical Center.

The situation startled the Turpins’ friends and neighbors. Social media posts feature the family in photos, all dressed similarly, having a good time in Disneyland and celebrating a birthday.

The Turpins shared pictures of their family taken in 2011, 2013, and 2015 at three different vow-renewal ceremonies. According to friends, the couple renewed their vows in the Elvis Chapel in Las Vegas with the whole family there. The guys in matching suits and purple ties, and the girls in similar purple plaid gowns and white shoes.

David Turpin’s mother, Betty Turpin, described the family as “highly respectable,” asserting that she was unaware of the way her grandkids were treated and that her son and his wife were hiding the kids for their safety.

Despite speaking with her son and daughter-in-law on the phone, Mrs. Turpin acknowledged that she had not seen her grandchildren in person for about five years. She had also not talked to the children at all.

The neighbors were also confused, stating that they knew a large family resided there but had never seen the younger children in person.

A neighbor reported to have seen the older kids working around the yard together, but identified them as “very pale-skinned, almost like they’d never seen the sun.”

The couple even fooled their lawyer, Ivan Trahan, who represented them when they filed for bankruptcy in 2011. Both of them spoke lovingly of their kids and even showed him pictures from Disneyland.

According to the records, Louise Turpin was a “homemaker,” while David Turpin earned $140,000 year as an engineer at Northrup Grumman. However, the California Department of Education identifies David Turpin as the principal of the Sandcastle Day School, which he began operating from his home in March 2011.

According to Betty Turpin, her grandkids attended David Turpin’s school as homeschoolers.

Both Turpin parents entered guilty pleas in February 2019 to 14 felony counts, which included false imprisonment, torture, abuse of a dependent adult, and child abuse. They received a life sentence in April, with the potential of release after 25 years.

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