California House of Horrors Parents Face Life in Prison on Torture, Abuse Charges

By Fox News. The parents of the children in the California house of horrors case are facing up to a life in prison after being charged Thursday for torture and child abuse, authorities said, while revealing more shocking details of the alleged atrocities that happened inside the suburban home.

Louise Anna Turpin, 49, and David Allen Turpin, 57, appeared in court Thursday afternoon and entered not guilty pleas on all counts, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said. They were each ordered held on bail of $12 million.

If convicted on all charges — which include torture, child abuse, false imprisonment, dependent adult abuse and a lewd act on a child under age 14 — they each face sentences of 94 years to life in prison, District Attorney Michael Hestrin said. The couple’s next court date is Feb. 23.

“One of the children at age 12 is the weight of an average 7-year-old,” he told reporters, revealing more about the discoveries alleged to have been made Sunday after police raided the home in Perris. “The 29-year-old female victim weighs 82 pounds.”

The district attorney said that “the victimization appeared to intensify over time. … What started out as neglect became severe, pervasive, prolonged child abuse.” (Read more from “California House of Horrors Parents Face Life in Prison on Torture, Abuse Charges” HERE)

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‘This Is Depraved Conduct’: Couple Charged with Torture After Kids Found Shackled

By NPR. Just days after Louise and David Turpin’s 13 children were discovered deeply malnourished and — in some cases — shackled to furniture in their home, the Southern California couple has been charged with torture, child abuse and false imprisonment. The two parents face the possibility of life in prison . . .

The Turpin children, who range in age from 2 to 29, allegedly suffered years of neglect and escalating abuse, both physical and psychological. For at least eight years and in three homes, Hestrin said the children were forced to eat rarely, shower no more than once a year and, when punished, were often beaten, strangled or tied up “for weeks or even months at a time.”

“Circumstantial evidence in the house suggests that the victims were often not released from their chains to go to the bathroom,” Hestrin added.

Police did not discover the house in Perris, Calif., until Sunday, when the 17-year-old daughter enacted a plan she and her siblings had been working on for more than two years. Hestrin said that the daughter, together with another sibling, escaped through a window — and that though the other sibling soon grew frightened and turned back, the 17-year-old forged ahead and contacted local police . . .

And though the parents had reportedly registered their home as a private school with the state’s Department of Education, the children “lack a basic knowledge of life,” Hestrin said. “Many of the children didn’t know what a police officer was. The 17-year-old, when asked whether there was medication or pills in the home, didn’t know what medication or pills were.” (Read more from “‘This Is Depraved Conduct’: Couple Charged with Torture After Kids Found Shackled” HERE)

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