UNITED STATES

California couple charged with torturing their 13 children again in court

February 23, 2018

David and Louise Turpin, each charged on Jan 18 in Riverside County, California, with committing years of torture and abuse against their 13 children, return to court. If convicted as charged, they face up to 94 years to life in prison.

Both entered not guilty pleas to all counts – 12 counts of torture, seven counts of abuse of a dependent adult, six counts of child abuse or neglect and 12 counts of false imprisonment, for alleged crimes ranging from 2010 to the present. David Turpin is also charged with one count of lewd act on a child.

The Turpins were arrested in their home in Perris, California, after an emaciated teenage daughter climbed out a window and called police. Police discovered 13 children starved and chained and suffering from years of abuse and neglect at the residence.

Police reports say that the siblings, who range in age from 2 to 29, were allegedly beaten, shackled, starved and even taunted with food that they were forbidden to eat, and so severely malnourished that they appeared to be much younger than their ages.

#22483 Published: January 23, 2018