The Turpin case is one the the most chilling and terrifying stories I had ever read. There are multiple articles on a multitude of websites; there is also a documentary on Hulu about the family and the horrors that happened within their house. The Turpin family consisted of 13 children, 10 girls and three boys.

All of the horrors started when their first born Jennifer was no longer the only baby. Parents, David and Louise Turpin kept having babies. While they were having all of these babies they were starving, torturing, and abusing the other children while the youngest child was never malnourished until the next child came along. These horrors continued from 1988 till when they were saved in 2018 after Jordan Turpin escaped by herself and called the police and prayed that someone would believe her story. The Turpin family moved all over the country due to David’s work needs, so they were also never caught because they were not in one spot long enough to be found. 

David and Louise would chain their kids up to their beds for “punishment” when in reality they would do nothing wrong. They would try to get any food they could get and when they “stole” food from their mother that they called Louise, they would be abused and chained up for the week because they were so naughty. They would not be able to shower but maybe once a year and when they would try to shower or wash themselves other than the times they are allowed, their parents would punish them. 

They were never allowed to leave their house to go outside; this was especially taken away when they went outside on a nice day when they were living in Texas and the neighbor girl came over to play. Which was okay until the mother started walking over, and Louise immediately brought all of the kids inside after they washed their hands. With what the neighbor girl’s mom saw, she said that she will never forgive herself for not looking into the house and at the children being when they washed their hands.  Their hands were clean however there was a dark ring around their wrist showing that their body had not been washed in a long time. 

At this house in Texas, one of the daughters tried to escape; however, the mailman found her walking and brought her back to the house being he did not know what was actually going on behind that door. 

The oldest Turpin, Jennifer, would have to chain up her siblings or sometimes put them into the dog cage the parents had for the bad children. Whenever the parents would leave for the week and leave all of the children at home with the eldest siblings. If Jennifer would not punish the children, she was scared of what would happen to herself when the parents would come home. 

The Turpins had a homeschool called the Sandcastle Day School. He was able to do this without anyone thinking it is suspicious because in the state of California families are able to register as individual private schools, and there are no questions asked. In reality, there was no school happening and all of the children spent the days, weeks, months locked in their rooms with each other in filth. The whole house was constantly a mess. Louise’s shopping addiction created a hoarder’s paradise.  All of the children always had brand new clothes in their closets but were never allowed to wear them because they had to stay in their dirty pajamas from months ago. 

On January 14, 2018 Jordan Turpin, a 17 year old malnourished girl jumped out of the upstairs window and ran to the corner of the street to call 911 to save her and her siblings. When the police arrived, an officer asked her many questions and for proof of horrible acts that were happening in the house. She has photos of her siblings chained to their beds, and they immediately knew she was telling the truth. When they went to check the house they found many of the children still locked to their beds and living in the filth. After all of the children were brought to the hospital, there were lots of new things happening, however, they felt so happy and free because they were able to be happy together without their parents that put them through the only word that the oldest daughter could describe best as “hell.”  One of the teen’s arms was the size of a four month old infant.

All of the Turpin siblings became healthy after a lot of work with the doctors and therapists after they were saved. They are still in contact with all of the first responders that were there when they were saved and all are safe and living a much better life than with their parents. David and Louise Turpin pleaded guilty in February to they were charged with “12 counts of torture and false imprisonment as well as nine counts of child abuse and seven counts of cruelty to a dependent adult.” David Turpin was also charged with crimes related to falsely trying to get a homeschooling license. They are both serving 25 to life in prison for these horrible acts they are responsible for. 

Two of the Turpin daughters, Jordan and Jennifer, spoke out about all of the horrible things that took place inside their house of horror on 20/20 ABC. Jordan talked about what she went through while she was escaping and trying to save all of her siblings.