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New details surfaces of troubling condition of starved children chained by parents, adults weighed just 5st8lb


Thirteen siblings who were shackled to beds and starved by their parents in a filthy 'house of horrors' have suffered shocking physical and mental impairments including muscle wasting and stunted growth.

The children, aged two to 29, were severely malnourished and beaten, and even taunted with apple pies they were forbidden from eating, a prosecutor claims.

The mistreatment went on for years, leaving several of the children with cognitive impairment and nerve damage from extreme and prolonged physical abuse.

Due to malnourishment the 12-year-old child had the weight of an average seven-year-old, while the oldest sibling, a 29-year-old woman, weighed just 82lbs.

They lacked "a basic knowledge of life" and were so poorly educated that many of them didn't know what a police officer or medication were.

David and Louise Turpin allegedly mistreated their children for years



Prosecutors say the children suffered muscle wasting and nerve damage (Image: Facebook)

Many of the children were underweight and lacked basic knowledge (Image: Facebook)

The couple are accused of taunting their children with food including apple pies (Image: Facebook)

Their parents, David and Louise Turpin, both face 94 years to life in prison if convicted on more than two dozen charges including torture, child abuse and false imprisonment.




David, 57, is also accused of sexually abusing one of his daughters aged under 14 at the home in Perris, California.

He and Louise, 49, have pleaded not guilty to all the charges as they appeared in court for the first time on Thursday.

The children are being cared for at local hospitals, and authorities have said they face a long recovery.

The children were malnourished and beaten, it was claimed (Image: Facebook)

The couple renewed their vows with an Elvis Presley impersonator

(Image: Facebook)

Afterwards Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin outlined the allegations against the pair, detailing shocking physical and mental abuse against the children, seven of whom are adults.

He called it a case of "human depravity" and said the children were denied food and medical care, and were not even allowed to go to the bathroom when they were chained for weeks or months at a time.

They were allowed to shower only once a year and were taunted with food.



David Turpin is accused of sexually abusing one of his young daughters (Image: REUTERS)

Louise Turpin and her husband appeared in court for the first time (Image: REUTERS)

David and Louise Turpin have pleaded not guilty to all the charges (Image: REUTERS)

Mr Hestrin said: "The parents would apparently buy food for themselves and not allow the children to eat it. They would buy food, including pies, apple pies, pumpkin pies, leave it on the counter, let the children look at it but not eat the food."

He called it one of the most "disturbing" cases he had ever dealt with, adding: "A case like that sticks with you and haunts you. Sometimes in this business you are faced with human depravity, and that's what we have here."

They had not been to a doctor in at least four years and none had ever visited a dentist.

The children told investigators their parents began tying them up years ago - first with ropes - as punishment, and then began using chains and padlocks after one of the hogtied siblings managed to free themselves.Reporters gather outside the family's home in Perris, California (Image: Steve Robson/Daily Mirror)

Detectives carry out an investigation inside the home's garage (Image: MEGA)

A film collection inside the Turpin family home (Image: MEGA)

Officers have been searching the home all week (Image: MEGA)

The prosecutor said the children were punished with beatings and strangulations for things such as washing their hands above their wrists, which their parents saw as "playing with water".

The children were each given a name stating with the letter "J", according to a criminal complaint.

They were allowed to write in journals now being used as evidence, but were not allowed to have toys, with detectives discovering many unopened toys in their original packages.

The family slept during the day and were awake through the night, going to bed before dawn, helping the parents to evade detection, it was claimed.

Police arrested David and Louise at their home in the early hours of Sunday after their emaciated 17-year-old daughter climbed out a window and called 911 on a deactivated mobile phone.

Louise Turpin and her husband were arrested last Sunday

She was so thin that police initially thought she was 10.

A sister who escaped with her turned around and went back to the house because she was scared, Mr Hestrin told reporters.

They had been planning their escape for more than two years, he added.

He said religion did not have a role in the mistreatment of the siblings, and declined to say if the parents have explained why the children were abused in such a way.

The family moved into their large bungalow in Perris in 2014 after moving to nearby Murrieta from Texas in 2010.

Police arrested David Turpin and his wife when one of their daughters escaped

David had registered the house in Perris as a private school and listed himself as the principal, allowing the abuse to go undetected for years as California does not monitor or inspect such schools.

Investigators believe the abuse started when the family lived near Fort Worth, Texas, and intensified after they moved to California.

No complaints had ever been made to Texas' Department of Family and Protective Services.

David and Louise were remanded in custody, where they are being held on $12 million (£8.6 million) bail.

Their youngest child, aged two, was not included in the torture charges because they were not starved, Mr Hestrin said.















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