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RIVERSIDE, California (AP) – The eldest son and daughter of a couple who hungered and chained 12 of their children spoke in public for the first time Friday, alternately condemning and forgiving their parents before a judge sentenced them to life imprisonment.
Since their release more than a year ago, the two adult children of David and Louise Turpin, released from prison, described how they regained control of their lives and were poorly educated. at home, they were now enrolled in the university and were just learning how to ride a bike, swim and prepare a meal. They are still skinny after years of malnutrition.
"I can not describe in words what we went through growing up," said the eldest son, now 27 years old. "Sometimes I still have nightmares that have happened, such as my brothers and sisters were chained or beaten. But that is the past and it is now. I love my parents and forgave them a lot of the things they've done to us.
The hearing ended a shocking case that went unnoticed until a 17-year-old girl escaped from her home in January 2018 and called 911. The investigators discovered a horror house hidden behind a veneer of suburban normality.
The children – aged between 2 and 29 – were chained to beds, forced to live in poverty, fed only once a day, allowed to take only one shower a year, and deprived of toys and games. . They slept during the day and were active a few hours at night.
A Californian couple who pled guilty to years of torture and abuse of 12 of their 13 children was sentenced to life in prison with the option of parole after 25 years. A lawyer says that children continue their lives. (April 19)
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While her children were talking at a lectern, 50-year-old Louise Turpin sobbed and dabbed her eyes with paper tissues.
"I'm sorry for everything I've done to hurt my children," she said. "I love my children so much."
Her husband, who was shaking and could not initially read a written statement, let his lawyer speak for him until he regained his composure. He did not apologize for the abuse, but wished his children a good education and a future career and hoped that they would visit him. He then began to sob.
Jack Osborn, a lawyer representing the seven adult children in Turpin, said he understood the consequences of his parents' actions and was trying to forgive them. Some plan to talk with their parents, but others do not want to get in touch with them for 10 years.
The man who called the police was a hero for his brothers and sisters, Osborn said.
"Maybe otherwise we would not be here today," he said.
The life sentence without possibility of parole before age 25 was not a surprise. It was agreed when the couple pleaded guilty in February to 14 charges including torture, cruelty and unlawful imprisonment.
The audience hall fell silent when the eldest daughter, aged 30 today, came in, dressed in a blue cardigan over a white shirt, her black hair in a ponytail. Her eyes were already red from crying when she began to speak in the voice of a little girl.
"My parents took me all my life, but now I'm going back to my life," she said, as her mother's lower lip trembled to hold back her tears. "Life may have been bad but it made me strong. I fought to become the person I am. I saw my father changing my mother. They almost changed me, but I realized what was going on. I immediately did what I could to not become like them.
No explanation from parents or lawyers about the reason for the abuse was given, but a letter from one of the children read by a lawyer alluded to a privacy that ranged from celebrating her birthday to a Trip to Disneyland and Las Vegas which was pretty messy.
"Over the years, things became more and more overwhelming, but they continued to trust God," the girl wrote. "I remember our mother sitting in her reclining chair and crying, saying that she did not know what to do."
She said her parents did not know that the children were malnourished because they thought they had inherited a gene from their mother, who was small.
From the outside, the house located in a middle class section of Perris, a small town about 96 km southeast of Los Angeles, seemed perfectly manicured and the neighbors seldom saw the children at home. outside, but nothing gave rise to suspicion.
But when the deputies arrived, they were shocked to find a 22-year-old son chained to a bed and two girls who had just been released from the chains. All but one in 13 children were severely underweight and had not been bathed for months. The house was filled with stench of human waste.
The children claimed to have been beaten, caged and chained if they did not obey their parents. The investigators concluded that the youngest child of the couple, a toddler, was the only one who was not abused.
David Turpin, 57, was an engineer at Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Louise Turpin was declared bankrupt in 2011 as a housewife.
The teenage girl who escaped jumped out of a window. After living all her isolated life, the 17-year-old girl did not know her address, the month of the year or the meaning of the word "medicine".
But she knew enough to hit 911 in a barely exploitable cell phone and began describing years of abuse to a police officer.
Although the couple filed documents with the state from their children at home, the learning was limited. The eldest daughter finished only the third year.
Referring to the means of restraint, the older daughter stated in her statement that her mother "did not want to use a rope or chain but feared that her children would get too much sugar and caffeine".
Life became more difficult after the death of her mother's parents in 2016.
Her parents did their best, "and they wanted to give us a good life," she said. "They believed that everything they did was to protect us."
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