A Channel 5 documentary investigates the horrifying story of two parents who tortured their own children, but where are the Turpins now?
David and Louise Turpin kept their 13 children imprisoned in their own home until they were found in January 2018.
Here’s everything you need to know about their depraved crimes.
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Who are David and Louise Turpin?
David Allen Turpin and Louise Anna Turpin are a married couple with 13 children.
They lived together in Southern California.
According to David’s parents, the couple kept having children because ‘God called on them’ to do so.
From 1988 to 2015, they had 10 daughters and three sons. All their children’s names begin with the letter ‘J’.
To an outsider, they may have looked like an unassuming suburban family.
But they were hiding a dark and sinister secret.
What did the Turpins do?
The parents kept their children in shackles living in deplorable conditions, often beating and torturing them.
They were rarely allowed to leave the house, and were kept imprisoned instead.
For years, the parents had imprisoned, beaten and strangled their children, allowing them to eat just once per day and shower just once per year.
One of the siblings was eventually able to escape and call the police.
The case horrified the world, and the family home was described as a “house of horrors”.
After the family left, neighbours found faeces and beds with ropes tied to them in the house, along with dead cats and piles of garbage around the property.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department found the 12 children living in filth, with at least one child shackled to a bed.
All of the children were so malnourished that deputies thought they were all under 18 years old, when in fact seven were over 18.
A 29-year-old weighed just 82 pounds when rescued.
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How were the Turpins caught?
David and Louise’s crimes were exposed when one of their children – a 17-year-old female – escaped through a window and called the police on a cell phone.
Deputies interviewed the victim and later visited the family home on Old Muir Road.
There, they found 12 of the victim’s siblings tied, chained and locked to their beds in what the RCSD described as ”filthy” conditions.
The victims ranged from 2 to 29 years old.
In court, David said via his attorney: “I never intended any harm to come to my children.
“I’m sorry if I have done anything to cause them harm.”
Meanwhile, Louise sobbed: “I pray for my children every day. I am truly sorry for everything I’ve done to hurt them.
“I love them more than they can ever imagine.”
Where are the Turpins now? Louise and David
The Turpins were charged with 12 counts of torture, twelve counts of false imprisonment, seven counts of abuse of a dependent adult, and six counts of child abuse.
David received an additional charge of a lewd act on a child under 14.
He was also charged with perjury in relation to affidavits he filed with the California Department of Education over the years, in which he asserted that his children were being educated in a private school.
On February 22 2019, David and Louise both changed their not-guilty pleas to guilty to one count of torture, three counts of wilful child cruelty, four counts of false imprisonment, and six counts of cruelty to an adult dependant.
David and Louise were sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
Experts believe they will never receive parole due to the severity of the crime, making it effectively a life sentence.
So where are the Turpins now? David was originally sent to the Mule Creek State Prison before being sent to the California State Prison, Corcoran.
Louise is in the Central California Women’s Facility.
Will Louise and David ever be released?
David and Louise were sentenced to 25 years to life, with a possibility of release in 22 years.
This was in April 2019, so both could be out in 2041.
At that time, Louise would be 73 and David would be 80.
Where are the Turpins now? The children still suffer.
A son and a daughter of David and Louise Turpin spoke out in court after the parents pleaded guilty to 14 felony counts of abuse of their children over several decades.
Two of the abused children were brave enough to read statements during the sentencing.
Their son, unnamed for his own protection and privacy, said: “I cannot describe what we went through growing up.
“Sometimes I still have nightmares about what happened.
“Such as my siblings being chained up, or getting beaten.”
A daughter said: “My parents took my whole life from me, but now I’m taking my life back.”
After they were rescued by police, all the children spent several weeks in hospital.
Six minors were put into two foster homes.
In early 2020, the Riverside County Deputy District Attorney said that “some of [the children] are living independently, living in their own apartment, and have jobs and are going to school.
“Some volunteer in the community. They go to church.”
One has graduated from college.
Tortured By Mum and Dad? The Turpin 13 airs on Channel 5 at 10pm on Thursday January 28 2021.
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