As authorities continue to investigate the Turpin parents, who allegedly abused and tortured their 13 kids, Psychologist, Rebecca Bailey weighs in on the possibility of religion playing a role in their alleged acts.



As the Turpin parents — David, 56, and Louise, 49 — await their fate to be decided by a judge, they are facing nearly 40 charges, including a dozen counts of torture and another dozen counts of false imprisonment, which they have pleaded not guilty to. While authorities continue to investigate their years-long alleged acts of torture and abuse on their 13 children, Psychologist Rebecca Bailey, breaks down numerous potential factors that could have been linked to why the Turpin parents did what they did. As you may know, David and Louise’s kids, ranging in age from 2-29, were malnourished, pale and unaware of occurrences in the outside world when they were found, according to authorities and medical staff.

Could religion have played a part? — “Religiosity is frequently used as a tool for suppression. We know there have been murders and all sorts of crimes perpetuated in the name of religion,” Bailey explained, using Charles Manson as an example. “Look at him — He proclaimed himself to be the new Messiah and actually believed it and that twisted belief fueled his crimes,” she said, noting that she has not treated the Turpin family, let alone has she met them. “So, I can not say with certainty what the motivation was in this case.” However, “when I look at the families I work with, I often see an element of the abuse being done in the name of religion.”

Bailey further explained — “We all know there are good religions, but the fact is the extremist sects often perpetuate the perspective that ‘I will live forever by populating the planet with my disciples.’ What we have seen with the extreme cases is that often there is a religiosity that binds the family together. — That could certainly be a factor in this case and a factor in why they had so many children.”

Other potential factors

“Another factor is we can assume there was some mental illness, possibly with severe psychosis,” Bailey noted. “Whether it’s due to a delusional or psychopathic disorder or whether it comes from an impulsive aggressive type of disorder we don’t yet know. We do know extreme torture and abuse in the name of religion is still abuse and we can assume there is a delusional disorder that has been perpetuated.”

“We can also speculate that there was intergenerational abuse, meaning was David Turpin could have been abused [himself] as a child,” she said. “It certainly doesn’t excuse his behavior; Many people come out of extreme situations and choose to be better people for it, but it does help to explain where this behavior may have originated from.”

The Turpin parents’ history is alleged abuse finally came to light when one child — a 17-year-old female — managed to escape out a window and use a deactivated cell phone to call 911. Her escape plan was something police said she had worked on for two years. The children were found inside their Perris, CA home with evidence that they had been shackled to furniture and living in unhealthy conditions.

All of the children were taken to Corona Regional Medical Center, where they were described as malnourished, pale and appearing to be years younger than they were because of their environment. Authorities said the children were only allowed 1 meal per day and 2 showers per year. The children were however able to read and write. In fact, authorities say they seized hundreds of journals from the home, which they are combing through for evidence.

Parents, David and Louise Turpin are being held at the Robert Presley Detention Center on $13 million bail — $1 million for each child. The latest news involving the parents is that a Riverside County judge has put a protective order in place [on January 24, 2018], which forbids them from seeing their 13 children for three years [January 24, 2020]. Per the order, David and Louise cannot keep the unnamed victims from testifying in court, nor can they harass, threaten, molest, stalk or damage property of, disturb the piece of, keep under surveillance of the victims in that time period as well. The only contact that can be made would have to be through their lawyer. They also must stay 100 yards away from children at all times, with the sole exception being in court. The judge also told the Turpin parents, “You must not try to or get their addresses or locations. You must have no personal, electronic, telephone or written contact with the people listed.”

HollywoodLifers, what do you think about the Turpin case from what we know so far?