Table Of Content
- Turpin Family: What to Know About the 'House of Horrors' and Where the Siblings Are Now
- ParentsTurpin sisters who escaped California ‘house of horrors’ speak out about abuse
- Escape From a House of Horror: A Diane Sawyer Special Event
- Years After Jordan Turpin Rescued Siblings from House of Horrors, a Look Back at Her PEOPLE Interview
- How did the Turpin family escape the "House of Horrors?"
She said she worried about her siblings, and after one night away, she returned to her family. "They knew that there's this place called Vegas, and it was one of the happy times that they had in their lives, so they're like, 'We need to get to Vegas,'" Beecham recalls. A county spokeswoman said the results will be released publicly when the investigation concludes in March.
Turpin Family: What to Know About the 'House of Horrors' and Where the Siblings Are Now
Responding officers initially thought the girl was a child because she was so emaciated, according to the investigators. When police entered the house — which became known as the "house of horrors — they found children ranging in age from 2 to 29 being held in "dark and foul-smelling surroundings," investigators said. The Turpin children have been relocated several times, according to county officials working on the case and the children themselves. One foster family now faces criminal charges in connection with their alleged mistreatment of several of their foster children, including one of the Turpin minors.
ParentsTurpin sisters who escaped California ‘house of horrors’ speak out about abuse
His body camera footage from that night shows him asking Turpin if she had any injuries, a word she didn't understand at the time. Turpin said that she feared for the safety of herself and her siblings and it was ultimately her fear that led her to escape the house, despite having been kept so isolated that she had never spoken to a stranger before. Although the couple filed paperwork with the state to homeschool their children, learning was limited. But a judge admonished the couple, saying any success the siblings achieved would be in spite of, not because of, their parents.
Escape From a House of Horror: A Diane Sawyer Special Event
The identities of the majority of Turpin's siblings have been kept private, out of respect for their privacy. The Turpin daughters described brutal violence and being deprived of food, sleep, hygiene, education and health care for years. "My whole body was shaking. I couldn't really dial 911, because --" Jordan said through tears, recalling the day of her escape and why she felt she had to make an attempt to run to safety. "I think it was us coming so close to death so many times. If something happened to me, at least I died trying." Starved, beaten and chained for months at a time, those are just some of the abuses endured by the children of the Turpin family. According to the sisters, their parents would abuse them for even the most minor things.
Life
"It was so cool because I've never been around people my age other than my siblings," says Jordan, who used a different last name at the time for confidentiality reasons. "I made friends within two weeks. Every time someone would ask me questions [about my past], they'd say, 'She's too shy. She won't answer!' I loved it." "One adult -- that was a minor, now an adult -- she has reported...one foster parent telling her she understands now why her parents chained her up," Donaldson said. Chang said he "welcome[s] an independent and comprehensive inquiry into the care, services, and placement provided to the 13 Turpin siblings by Riverside County departments."
Video Turpin sisters describe how they formulated plan to escape: Part 6 - ABC News
Video Turpin sisters describe how they formulated plan to escape: Part 6.
Posted: Fri, 19 Nov 2021 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Jordan Turpin recalls escape from 'house of horrors' — TODAY - TODAY
Jordan Turpin recalls escape from 'house of horrors' — TODAY.
Posted: Sat, 20 Nov 2021 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Her father worked as an electrical engineer and her mother was a homemaker. Both were originally from West Virginia and grew up as devout members of the same conservative pentecostal church. "She wrote an apology letter basically saying, 'Sorry I chained you up. It won't happen again. I'll be a better mother.' She was just very naïve to the whole thing," he says. "She was just thinking that she needed parenting classes and that would be the end of it. David, not so much. I think he knew the writing was on the wall early on." "My investigator went through hours, just hundreds of hours, of video surveillance footage, as well as camera footage that these kids would try to sneak," he says. "Within our representation, we continuously advocated for services on behalf of our clients," Osborn said.
MORE: David and Louise Turpin, parents who allegedly tortured their kids, plead guilty to 14 counts: DA
Jordan Turpin, one of the 13 siblings who were rescued from a California "house of horrors" in January 2018, is speaking out, along with her eldest sister, Jennifer Turpin, about the night she escaped the house and sought help from police. The children escaped captivity in a house of horrors nearly four years ago -- and two of them are telling their story for the first time in an exclusive interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer. The parents pleaded guilty to 14 counts each of torture, dependent adult abuse, child endangerment and false imprisonment in 2019.
Jordan Turpin, then 17, escaped from her parents' abusive home and called 911. The Turpins filed documents saying they were homeschooling their children but Jennifer and Jordan Turpin said that wasn’t the case. Instead, they said their mother would coach each of the children to remember what grade they were supposed to be in, based on their ages, and they secretly tried to teach each other what they could. Louise Turpin seemed to rack up huge credit card debts, according to bankruptcy documents. Jennifer and Jordan Turpin said their mother would buy children’s clothes, games and toys, but hoard them. There she attempted to find an apartment and a job, but with her limited education, she said she struggled to fill out an application.
How did the Turpin family escape the "House of Horrors?"
"It appears that, once … there ceased national attention, the urgency in providing these essentials to our clients by certain county agencies significantly declined." "When the case first broke, I obviously got thousands of offers of help … dentists, and doctors, and people saying, 'I will serve these kids pro bono. Please send them my way,'" she said. "I had to pass on those referrals to the Child Protective Services workers and the hospital. And none of them were utilized." "I want to take what I went through and turn it into something positive," says Jordan, who copes on hard days by journaling, writing songs and exploring the outdoors. "It was impossible to sleep. Every time my eyes would close, I dreamed about being [in my first foster home]," she says.
Severely malnourished, beaten, and abused, the 17-year-old had only been outside a handful of times in her entire life when she escaped her parents' house and reported the abuse they were inflicting on her and her 12 siblings. The kids were imprisoned in a true “House of Horrors.” They were routinely physically, verbally, and mentally abused, chained to their beds, and deprived of food and the ability to exercise. As the details of what the Turpin children survived were shared with the public, many began to wonder how two parents could be so horrible to their own children. The Turpin case involved the abuse of children and dependent adults by their parents, David and Louise Turpin of Perris, California, U.S. The ages of the 13 victims ranged from 2 to 29 years-old.
Deputy Anthony Colace was coming to the end of a long and busy graveyard shift when he took the dispatcher’s call to assist on a runaway call. Colace said the majority of runaway calls only require taking the child home to their family. In 2016, Jordan said she got a hold of one of her parents’ old smartphones. It opened up a whole new world she had never seen before, and eventually she discovered Justin Bieber’s music videos. Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said the abuse began as neglect during the 17 years the family lived in Fort Worth, Texas, and intensified when they moved to California in 2010.
The sisters declined to discuss their other siblings, wanting to protect their privacy. One 11-year-old child was so malnourished her arm circumference was the equivalent of a four-and-a-half-month-old baby, investigators said. The most outspoken of the Turpin siblings, Jordan has been focused on healing from her horrific experiences with both her parents and foster parents. She moved into a new home in 2023 with her four guinea pigs and four dogs. In November, she opened up to PEOPLE about her past year and hopes for the future. Additionally, the Turpin family patriarch received an additional charge of perjury after affidavits he submitted to the California Department of Education were reexamined.
If a child colored outside of the lines, Jennifer Turpin said their mother might pull their hair or throw them across the room. One time, Jennifer said one of her siblings was caught in their mother’s bedroom, and their mother threw her and then pushed the child down the stairs. "I requested -- I called the public guardian's office and she refused to let me request for a bike," Joshua Turpin said, referring to the public guardian's office. "And I contacted my attorney, Jack Osborn, and he refused to let me know who was over charge of my trust."
Her siblings were distressed by their mother’s behavior, which prompted Jordan to make her call earlier than she planned. "The night I left was not expected. I was pushed to that point. I literally thought we were gonna die," Jordan recalled to PEOPLE. Before her escape, Turpin was able to acquire a disabled cell phone, which could only be used to call 911, so she snuck out a window and called for help. It's not clear if any children will attend Friday's sentencing, but they will be offered a chance to speak or can offer written statements to be read in court. Deputies testified that the children said they were only allowed to shower once a year. They were mainly kept in their rooms except for meals, which had been reduced to one per day, a combination of lunch and dinner.
“I knew I would die if I got caught," said Jordan Turpin, now 21. "I think it was us coming so close to death so many times. "They didn't trust anybody. They were afraid that whoever they called would just bring it right back to the parents, and then they would just get chained up for the rest of their life." California's Department of Social Services has yet to provide additional records and documents related to ChildNet that were requested by ABC News.
"One adult -- that was a minor, now an adult -- she has reported…one foster parent telling her she understands now why her parents chained her up," Donaldson said. "We have inside jokes and have so much fun together," she says of her brothers and sisters, who all joined her at a Justin Bieber concert this past March. "After everything that happened, and after escaping, I'm so protective over each one. They always know they have me."
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