In California, a pair kept on a chain of 13 children

Photo: Facebook / David-Louise Turpin

California police have detained a married couple who are suspected of keeping their children in captivity. Police found 13 children in a house in Perris, California. The youngest child is 2 years old. The eldest is already 29. Some of them were chained to beds.

Brothers and sisters aged from 2 to 29 years were held by parents in a private house in Perris, California, about 70 miles east of Los Angeles, the sheriff’s Riverside department reported.

Photo of the District Shefir Department

The prisoners were discovered after an 17-year-old girl ran away from home on Sunday, January 14. She called the police with a mobile phone, which she managed to take with her. Soon, the police found a teenage girl who looked 10 years old. She then told the officers about her 12 brothers and sisters, chained inside the house, according to Los Angeles Times.

When the police arrived at the Turpin family’s house, they saw a shocking picture: in the twilight, in a foul-smelling room, there were children chained to their beds. Their parents could not give a clear explanation of what was happening, writes Air force.

Police say they were shocked that even the adult children (seven of the Turpin couple's 13 children are between the ages of 18 and 29) were obediently locked up, making no attempt to free themselves.

Photo: Facebook / David-Louise Turpin

“They were all clearly malnourished and living in unsanitary conditions,” police said.

On charges of bullying and creating a dangerous situation for the lives of children, 57-year-old David Allen Turpin and 49-year-old Louise Anna Turpin were detained.

Photo: Facebook / David-Louise Turpin

Now everyone in captivity undergoes a course of rehabilitation and treatment in local hospitals.

“It’s so sad it’s hard to believe,” he said. Reuters the head physician of a hospital, Mark Uffer.

According to official information, the Turpin family lived in Texas for a long time before moving to California. David Turpin worked as an engineer in the American military-industrial company. Northrop Grumman and received a good salary - about $ 140 thousand per year. However, as their lawyer, Ivan Trakhan, who represented the family in court during a bankruptcy, said, their debts amounted to $ 240 thousand, mainly on credit cards, writes CNN.

Probably, the debts grew, because his wife was not working, and adult children did not have the opportunity to study and work.

Photo: Facebook / David-Louise Turpin

One of the neighbors of the detainees said that the Turpin family lived a separate life.

“They are one of those families that you can’t find out anything about. They never came to us, I never saw anyone come to them. All you see is them leaving the house, perhaps to get groceries. And that’s it,” said a neighbor of the Turpin family.

The suspects' neighbor, 50-year-old Kimberly Milligan, told the newspaper Los Angeles Timesthat her family Turpin seemed strange. She wondered why the children did not go outside to play.

Photo: Facebook / David-Louise Turpin

“I thought they were homeschooled. You know something is wrong, but you never want to think bad about people,” she says. She remembers that she once said hello to one of their children, but the child looked at her as if he wanted to become invisible.

House family Turpin on the street Muir Woods Road, 160 is no different from other neat, pretty country houses in the area.
The house has three cars parked and a minivan. Curtains down, one of the windows decorated with a Christmas star.

The houses in this area are quite spacious, but are close enough to each other. It is difficult to imagine how the family living here managed to conceal so many gloomy secrets.

The neighbors are now tormented by questions, why they did not notice that something was amiss in the house. If you look at David's page Facebook, at first glance, this is a very happy family.

Photo: Facebook / David-Louise Turpin

Photo: Facebook / David-Louise Turpin

Photo: Facebook / David-Louise Turpin

David's mother, Betty Turpin, said The Postthat she was very surprised by this information and called her son “a very good person.”

“He’s very protective of the kids,” she said. “Everything is always in order.”

Grandma said that she had not seen her grandchildren for several years, because they live too far.

Photo: Facebook / David-Louise Turpin

In recent years, Turpins have renewed their wedding vows at least three times at the Elvis Chapel in Las Vegas. The last time was in October 2015, and all 13 children participated in this ceremony. The twin of Elvis, Kent Ripley, remembered the family and told CBS Newsthat parents genuinely cared about the well-being of children, writes CBS News.

“The way the kids looked physically—thin, but not too thin. I thought they were very active as a family... I didn't think they weren't eating and were being punished or anything like that,” Ripley said. “They smiled a lot.”

Photo: Facebook / David-Louise Turpin

No one is able to answer the question of how long the children were kept locked up, and why it all happened.

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