A California couple has been arrested on charges of torture after authorities on Monday said their 13 malnourished children were held captive in their home, with some shackled to beds in the dark.
Authorities said they were alerted after a 17-year-old girl managed to escape on Sunday and call police using a cellphone she found.
She was so emaciated that officers said they originally thought she was just 10 years old.
The 13 victims in Perris, California, ranged in age from two to 29, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
“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 said.
“Deputies located what they believed to be 12 children inside the house, but were shocked to discover that seven of them were actually adults, ranging in age from 18 to 29. The victims appeared to be malnourished and very dirty,” it said.
“The victims were provided with food and beverages after they claimed to be starving,” the sheriff’s office said.
The parents, 57-year-old David Allen Turpin and 49-year-old Louise Anna Turpin, were booked on torture and child endangerment charges with bail set at US$9 million.
The home had three cars and a van with tinted windows. There are indications that the children were allowed outside the house in recent years.
A Facebook page under the name of David-Louise Turpin includes pictures of the couple attending various marriage or exchange-of-vows ceremonies from 2011 to 2016 with their children present.
Neighbor Jamelia Adams, 39, expressed shock.
“It’s just really, really sad. There’s places that kids can go if you don’t want your kids, if you can’t take care of them, and here’s a beautiful neighborhood, brand new housing track, newer cars in the yard, and here’s some kids from 29 to two that was just held captive and malnourished and filthy. It’s just heartbreaking,” Adams said.
“We’ve seen a couple of teenagers maybe last year mowing the lawn, and you know they put some Christmas decorations. Never really thought anything of any sort would happen like that,” said another neighbor, Julio Reyes.
US media reported that the parents had previously filed for bankruptcy.
David Turpin is registered in state records as head of a private school, but its address matches that of the Turpins’ home.
The Los Angeles Times said the couple had lived at the Perris house since 2010 after a move from Texas and they went bankrupt twice.
According to court papers when they filed for bankruptcy in 2011, the couple said they accrued between US$100,000 and US$500,000 in debt opening the school, the New York Times reported.
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