PERRIS, Calif. (AP) — A 17-year-old girl who looked closer to 10 jumped out a window, called 911, and showed the world the strange and secret horror she and her 12 brothers and sisters had been living through.
Her parents had made their suburban Southern California home a private school, a prison, and a veritable torture chamber for the siblings aged 2 to 29, authorities said.
And until the girl fled with photographic evidence, it appears no one, neither neighbors nor public officials, knew anything about what was happening inside.
Deputies said some siblings were shackled to furniture in the filthy, foul-smelling conditions. They were so malnourished the older ones still looked like children.
Few details have been released about how the parents kept them captive despite what appeared to be opportunities for them to leave.
The parents, 49-year-old Louise Anna Turpin and 57-year-old David Allen Turpin, were jailed on $9 million bail. Charges that may include torture and child endangerment could come Wednesday and a court appearance is scheduled for Thursday, authorities said.
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