David and Louise Anna Turpin accused of shackling their children to beds, beating and starving them, in ‘house of horror’

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The California couple facing abuse and torture charges for shackling some of their 13 children to beds also beat, strangled and starved them in acts of “human depravity”, authorities said on Thursday.



David Turpin, 57, and his wife Louise Turpin, 49, allegedly ate apple and pumpkin pie and other food in front of the children but denied them proper nutrition and medical care, stunting their growth and cognitive development in one of the US’s most shocking cases of child abuse.

Turpin parents accused of torturing 13 children had no 'home school' oversight Read more

“The abuse was horrific ... it involved beatings, strangulation,” Riverside County district attorney Michael Hestrin told a press conference four days after police freed the Turpin children, aged two to 29, from what has been called a “house of horror” in Perris, 70 miles south of Los Angeles.

“As a prosecutor, there are some cases that haunt you. Some deal with human depravity, and that’s what we’re dealing with here.”

The couple pleaded not guilty to multiple felony counts of torture, child abuse, abuse of dependent adults and false imprisonment in a brief court appearance on Thursday. David Turpin was charged with a lewd act against one of his daughters. Each wore a dark suit, not prison garb.

The prosecutor revealed that the 17-year-old daughter who fled the house through a window and raised the alarm had planned the escape for two years and left with a sister. However the sister had turned back. “She was frightened,” said Hestrin.

Play Video 0:50 'I would call that torture': police chief on California captivity case – video

The children were allowed to shower just once per year and punished “for playing with water” if they washed their hands above the wrist, he said. They were up at night and slept during the day. They had not seen a doctor in four years and never saw a dentist.

The 13 were supposedly home-schooled but some of the older ones remained unaware of concepts such as pills, medicine and police officers. The parents did however encourage the children to keep journals – hundreds of which will provide evidence in court, said Hestrin. “I think those journals are going to be strong evidence of what occurred in that home.”

David Turpin earned $140,000 as an engineer at the global security company Northrop Grumman but the couple filed for bankruptcy in 2011.

The abuse started while the family lived in Texas and intensified after it moved to California in 2010, said Hestrin.

Initially the parents punished infractions by tying the children with rope, then used chains and padlocks, sometimes leaving the children to urinate in their beds. There were new toys in the house but they were unopened.

“They were never allowed to have toys,” said Hestrin. “They lack a basic knowledge.”