Press Conference Held As Formal Charges Announced Against Parents Who Held 13 Siblings Captive (Update Added)
[guest post by Dana]
Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin just held a press conference updating the public about charges filed against David and Louise Turpin for the horrific torture and abuse of 13 children held captive in their Southern California home. The parents could reportedly face 94 years in prison if convicted on all charges. Hestrin noted that as this is an ongoing investigation, there could be more charges made. Two of the 13 siblings managed to escape through a window this weekend. Although one of the siblings got frightened and went back to the home, the other sibling, a 17 year old girl, managed to call for help on a deactivated cell phone.
Here is a brief summary of what unfolded :
In a discovery that has stunned both authorities and neighbors in a suburban Riverside County neighborhood, 13 brothers and sisters who appeared to have been held captive by their parents in a Perris house were found early Sunday, Jan. 14, after one of them escaped and called 911.
The 17-year-old showed deputies photographs that convinced them of her report that her 12 brothers and sisters between the ages of 2 and 29 were being held against their will, Fellows said.
The phone call led to deputies on Sunday finding three siblings chained and padlocked to furniture.
The victims appeared dirty and malnourished, authorities have said, and were so emaciated that deputies were shocked to discover that seven were 18 or older.
Some bullet points from today’s press conference:
*Children could shower only once a year.
*Children have never been taken to a dentist.
*Children were restricted to one meal per day.
*Children had no idea what pills or medicine were.
*Children did not know who the police were.
*Children were locked up as punishment if they washed their hands above the wrist because that was considered playing.
*Children weren’t released from their chains to go to the bathroom.
*Children were tied up with ropes until one of them was able to escape. Parents then began using chains and padlocks.
*Children’s punishment lasted weeks or months at a time. Punishment included beatings and/or strangulation.
*Children were not allowed to have toys. Numerous toys in their original packaging were found throughout the house.
*Some of the children have cognitive impairment and neuropathy.
The children are so severely malnourished that one of the sibling is actually a 29-year-old woman who weighs only 82 pounds. Hestrin also said a 12-year-old sibling weighs what an 7-year old would weigh. In a further example of the vicious cruelty of the parents, Hestrin said that David and Louise Turpin would buy apple pies, set them on the kitchen counter where the children could look but not be allowed to eat them. The parents also ate food in front of the hungry siblings while not allowing them to have any of it.
When asked by a reporter how the siblings felt about being taken out of the home, Hestrin said they were all “relieved”.
Further, the children were allowed to write in journals. Hestrin said that investigators have collected hundreds of them and anticipates that they will provide a more detailed look at what occurred in the home.
About the criminal charges the Turpins face – at this point in time:
Both were charged with *12 counts of torture, he said. David Turpin, he said, also was charged with a lewd act on a child by force or fear of duress.
Other charges include seven counts of violation of a dependent adult, six counts of child abuse or neglect and 12 counts of false imprisonment. Hestrin did not say whether both suspects face the last three sets of charges.
*The two-year old was reportedly being given enough to eat. Bail is set at $9 million each.
Note: If you are interested in providing financial help for the siblings, be aware that any GoFundMe campaigns set up for the children are not legitimate. However, GoFundMe spokeswoman Katherine Cichy has clarified GoFuneMe’s policy when this happens:
…GoFundMe campaigns are backed with a guarantee: Either funds go to the right place or customers get a refund.
“Our team is closely monitoring all campaigns related to this incident,” Cichy wrote in an email.
Cichy also said donations are collected by GoFundMe and held by the company – and are only released to the intended beneficiary.
If any questions arise, she said, the GoFundMe team will “hold the funds unless the beneficiary is verified to our satisfaction. This layer of protection ensures that funds go only into the right hands.”
Further:
CPS said it is receiving calls from around the world from people who want to help the siblings financially. Because the agency does not want the siblings to be taxed for the money they receive, they are setting up a fund for them to go through the Riverside County Regional Medical Center Foundation.
Clothing for the 13 siblings is needed. You can find items and sizes needed here.
Surely there is a special place in hell for such evil individuals. This is so horrific and heart-breaking, that it seems trite to simply say that prayers will be fervently made on behalf of the 13 siblings. But that’s all I’ve got. As they begin this leg of the journey surrounded by caring individuals, may physical, mental, and emotional healing be theirs. May their hearts be overwhelmed by love and kindness.
UPDATE: David and Louise Turpin appeared in court this afternoon:
The parents of 13 children and young adults have pleaded not guilty in a California court to numerous charges that they tortured and abused the siblings for years.
David and Louise Turpin were each ordered held on $12 million bail after entering their pleas Thursday and were scheduled to return to court on Feb. 23.
–Dana
The siblings had been working on an escape plan for two years.
Dana (023079) — 1/18/2018 @ 1:20 pmI cannot imagine how anyone could ever fully recover from that.
aphrael (3f0569) — 1/18/2018 @ 1:24 pmIt is hard to let oneself think about the crying and despair felt by children in this situation. Since God is good, I will find somebody in the act before I die.
Richard Aubrey (10ef71) — 1/18/2018 @ 1:27 pmBut the neighbors?
Relatives?
Interfering neighbors can have Child Abductive Services take your kids on an anonymous rumor they were swinging too high or something ridiculous.
Nothing here?
Nothing?
I suspect these kids are going to get the royal treatment from various officials who are simultaneously looking over their shoulders and shredding files.
Thirteen ‘Boo Radleys’ in a suburban community– not some remote ranch– and nobody close by noticed anything odd about all this? In a state where a barking dog draws attention and protection? You might believe one, two– even three ‘children’ kept in this hell– but thirteen? Something stinks here– and not just the neighbors or the kids from no showers. As RA notes in #3 …suspect these kids are going to get the royal treatment from various officials who are simultaneously looking over their shoulders and shredding files.”
DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/18/2018 @ 2:26 pmaphrael–
“Recover” is not the right word. This has been their ENTIRE life so far. The younger ones may not be aware of much outside.
Kevin M (752a26) — 1/18/2018 @ 2:31 pmWhy does “allegedly” grate so much here?
Kevin M (752a26) — 1/18/2018 @ 2:32 pmNow, just for one minute, consider North Korea, and why it upsets some people so.
Kevin M (752a26) — 1/18/2018 @ 2:36 pmMay God bless and heal these poor souls. If anyone deserves our help, it is these.
They were taught how to read and write? I’m shocked.
NJRob (8ee058) — 1/18/2018 @ 2:48 pmLeft Texas in 2010 and a little speculation tells me they see themselves godly religious.
Just sayin’
Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (e96021) — 1/18/2018 @ 3:40 pm@9. Texas. ‘Nuff said.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:00 pm9 and 10- go to hell
mg (8cbc69) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:01 pm@11. We referenced Texas- not Utah.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:05 pmThis is like a horror movie .. “The People Under The Stairs”?
Unbelievable.
Mitch (341ca0) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:07 pmMG: I thought this was Hell…
Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (e96021) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:08 pmSurely there is a special place in hell for such evil individuals. This is so horrific and heart-breaking, that it seems trite to simply say that prayers will be fervently made on behalf of the 13 siblings.
Dana, horrid, sure, but California literally oozes local and state social services departments along w/its share of snoops and nosey neighbors. Look cross-eyed at a squirrel or toss a glass bottle in the trash instead of the recycle bin and somebody from some agency checks up on it. Something doesn’t fit w/the way this is surfacing to the public so far.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:15 pm@11. We referenced Texas- not Utah.
Is that a dog whistle to other anti-Mormon bigots?
Kevin M (752a26) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:27 pmI think Texas dumped them in California just like the homeless.
Admiral Ben Bunsen Ellipsis Burner/Abuser (e96021) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:28 pm#15: Perris, CA is not really in the Leftosphere.
Kevin M (752a26) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:29 pmI know flyover states dumped homeless in Hawaii. Bought each a one-way ticket to Makaha..tents on beachfront property.
Admiral Ben Bunsen Ellipsis Burner/Abuser (e96021) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:30 pm@16. Depends on what planet you live on– or plan to: it gets very hot in Zion Park.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:32 pmThe Christians are still putting it to the Hawaiian People.
Admiral Ben Bunsen Ellipsis Burner/Abuser (e96021) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:32 pm@18. The suburbia there ain’t exactly Spahn Movie Ranch country, either.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:34 pmKevin M – my point is that on some level emotionally, even if they’ve escaped the prison physically, it’s going to continue to haunt them, probably for the rest of their life.
aphrael (3f0569) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:35 pm@21. Puerto Ricans, too– although more and more are finally seeing the light. It’s so electric.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:36 pmTurpin. With a name like that, they’re from some sh!thole country. Why do we let those people come here?
nk (dbc370) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:48 pm
Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:57 pmThings like that can leave deep psychological scars, aphrael. I have a friend who used to be a democrat and he still wakes up in a cold sweat during the occasional dream of him noting for Algore.
Because voting a particular way is psychologically comparable to this hell?
You’re a strange man, Hoagie.
aphrael (3f0569) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:58 pmTwo… no, make that three things:
1) this couple deserves prosecution to the full extent of the law… and then some.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 1/18/2018 @ 5:28 pm2) anyone who has spent some time experiencing the natural beauty found in the state of Utah knows it’s about as close to “heaven on Earth” as one can get.
3) Perris, Ca. is just this side of being a sh!thole.
21. claims the asshole pagan…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 1/18/2018 @ 5:30 pmUPDATE: David and Louise Turpin appeared in court this afternoon:
Dana (023079) — 1/18/2018 @ 5:32 pmSpain should man up and take the leach filled sh!thole of Puerto Rico off our hands.
mg (8cbc69) — 1/18/2018 @ 5:37 pm21-Rear Admiral, I have no idea what makes you so out of sorts, but whatever it is, it’s really working.
mg (8cbc69) — 1/18/2018 @ 5:45 pmSicker than sick.
Life without possibility of parole chained to a bed sounds about right.
harkin (8d01aa) — 1/18/2018 @ 6:07 pmHe probably ate a bad turd, mg. “I think this turd has turned”, says he.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 1/18/2018 @ 6:17 pmApparently they’re “Pentecostals” too … must be some kind of radical Muslim sect.
Dave (445e97) — 1/18/2018 @ 6:20 pmThey give themselves away every time, lol.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 1/18/2018 @ 6:23 pmThe starvation. I can’t wrap my mind around that.
Who is their lawyer? If it’s a public defender, I feel sorry for him. I would quit, even give up my law license, before I would defend these people.
nk (dbc370) — 1/18/2018 @ 6:31 pmThose voluminous journals, if ever made public, could turn out to be the most gripping (and harrowing) literature since Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl…
Dave (445e97) — 1/18/2018 @ 6:32 pmHe doesn’t exactly sound thrilled about it:
Dave (445e97) — 1/18/2018 @ 6:37 pmAnd Civil Rights activists say there’s no place in the law for forced sterilization.
shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 1/18/2018 @ 7:08 pmThis interests me. Does every public defender or defense attorney have a line they will not cross, or a place where they will not go even if to defend someone? A clear conscience must be worth something. In a case like this, perhaps they are so convinced of the defendants’s right to a defense that providing one overrides any concerns they might be struggling with within their heart and mind.
Dana (023079) — 1/18/2018 @ 7:40 pmIf I was ever fooled that that was anything more than a fiction, propagated by the system to mitigate its character as an adversarial system, it was only briefly. It did not survive my first case. My relationship with my clients has always been personal. I either commit myself to their interests within the bounds of the law or I don’t.
nk (dbc370) — 1/18/2018 @ 8:41 pmThe defendant’s right to a defense is a concern for the system. It is not a concern for any individual attorney. The attorney-client relationship is consensual. We are not public accommodations, despite the suggestions during a recent SCOTUS oral argument. The system may recognize your right to an attorney but I don’t see that as requiring me to be your attorney; no more than recognizing your right to marriage requires me to be your spouse.
nk (dbc370) — 1/18/2018 @ 8:49 pmthis reminders me of the flowers what are in the attic
happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/18/2018 @ 9:16 pmdon’t eat the donuts
happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/18/2018 @ 9:17 pm“Who is their lawyer? If it’s a public defender, I feel sorry for him. I would quit, even give up my law license, before I would defend these people.”
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with providing a defense that everyone is entitled to. It can get rather distasteful tho.
Clarence Darrow is celebrated for defending two young, wealthy and highly intelligent young men who stuffed a rag into a 14 year old neighbor’s mouth and then proceeded to bash in his skull with a chisel, ignoring his pleas for mercy. They drove out to a wetland area to dispose of the body but stopped for hot dogs and root beer with the boy’s body on the floorboard of their rental car.
Under questioning, they admitted they did it strictly for the thrill of the crime and to prove they were smart enough to get away with it. They both also said they had no remorse and giggled during the trial.
In presenting the defense, Darrow called anyone who demanded justice ‘hyenas’. After the judge spared them the gallows and sentenced them to life in prison, they celebrated and had their guards send out for steaks and chocolate eclairs.
In prison, both used their rather generous family allowances to buy sexual favors, to the point of paying procurers for victims.
One of the murderers pushed for sex a little too hard and was knifed to death, spurring this newspaper gem:
“Richard Loeb, a brilliant college student and master of the English language, today ended a sentence with a proposition.”
harkin (8d01aa) — 1/18/2018 @ 10:18 pmThe thing I don’t understand about these kinds of stories, what prompts the ‘parents’ to keep the kids around at all. Wouldn’t it be far easier to simply starve them to death and then quietly dispose of bodies than to feed 13 prisoners even once a day? They could spout some line about how their faith in breatharianism was too weak.
Soronel Haetir (86a46e) — 1/19/2018 @ 1:15 am32
I’m just getting warmed up and homeless dumping should get one incensed.
Admiral Ben Bunsen Ellipsis Burner/Abuser (e96021) — 1/19/2018 @ 7:34 amCan someone explain the logic here of the high bail?
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 1/19/2018 @ 12:42 pmthey’re calling that guy “shackle dad” in clickbait
lol
happyfeet (28a91b) — 1/19/2018 @ 12:47 pmUm, they are accused of dozens of crimes that shock the conscience and facing what amounts to life in prison. They know they are guilty as sin, and a dozen victims will testify to it in court.
If released, why wouldn’t they try to flee? What would they have to lose?
Dave (445e97) — 1/19/2018 @ 12:52 pmThe starvation may be explained by stupidity, although we have to consider that maybe the father was cruel and the mother was stupid to go along. The 2-year old wasn’t starved. If they had has taht oractice the youngest children would all have died. The “discipline” would apparently began when they reached the age of reason and could talk.
Things evidently got worse with time. The children used to be taken out sometimes. They were taken toi Las Vegas and to Disneyland (but dressed as “Thing 1 Thing 2 etc ???) The mother maintained an account on Facebook (technically joint with her husband) but stopped updating it in mid-2016. They were sometimes seen in a grocery store but spoke robotically. Four of them were seen sodding teh grounds after a complaint for keeping the lawn wild was filed against them.
In the 1990s the older children could play with other chidlren but the father evidently kept on making more and more rules.
He ran a 2-person (or 15-person) cult. He had them read and memorize Biblical passages. Also marched around in the middle of the night between 12 and 3 am because the hours they kept were shifted.
They were given all kinds of rules and punished sadistically for violating them. They were only taught to read and write – and write they had to. They were told to write journals. All of the journals were kept and now they constitute the case against the parents.
The escape was planned for two years. The 17-year old brought pictures as proof and used an old cell phone. Another daughter also escaped with her but grew scared and went back. I suspecvt the father supported the family with fraud of some kind.
The ages don’t make sense. If the mother was 49 how could the youngest child be 2 years old? And was the oldest really 29?
Long before she would not let her parents see or talk to the children. They died without seeing them, even though they traveled several times out to California. But their address was kept secret. The father’s parents or his father at least is still alive in West Virginia. He was a preacher, too.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 1/19/2018 @ 12:56 pmDave (445e97) — 1/19/2018 @ 12:52 pm
Where to? And even OJ got bail.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 1/19/2018 @ 1:15 pmIt just gets more gruesome.
The DA reports that two dogs were also found in the house.
Both dogs were healthy and well-fed…
Dave (445e97) — 1/19/2018 @ 5:34 pmHow should I know? If they have any money and can get to Mexico, they could easily disappear.
They are charged with a total of 75 felonies (38 for the husband, and 37 for the wife).
Our host is surely an expert on this, but as a newly-minted Google expert, here is my take.
California uses a detailed bail schedule. Judges can modify what is in the schedule, of course.
As I read it, when a defendant is charged with multiple crimes, you take the highest bail amount EXCEPT when the crimes are committed against different victims, or on different dates. In that case, the largest bail for each victim (or date) is added together.
There are 12 victims in this case, and each defendant is charged with 12 counts of Torture. Torture is not one of the felonies specifically listed in the schedule, so the bail is set by the maximum sentence according to the table on page 2.
Each count of Torture carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, and a life sentence is worth $1M bail.
So I think there’s your answer – 12 counts of Torture, under California’s bail schedule, adds up to $12M bail.
Dave (445e97) — 1/19/2018 @ 6:07 pmDCSCA (797bc0) — 1/18/2018 @ 4:15 pm
What’s wrong is actual crime fighting is a bother and possibly dangerous. It’s so much easier to police your recycling bin.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 1/21/2018 @ 12:29 am