A demented husband and wife from Perry, California are charged with torture, after police, responding to a call from one of the couples horribly abused kids, rushed to the home and freed all victims.

On January 15, 2018, 17 year old daughter of David and Louise Turpin managed to escape from her home where many of her siblings were chained to beds and held captive. The girl called and reported the situation to the police, who responded quickly, finding 13 kids, ranging in ages from 2-29, all in inhumane conditions, according to Sonya Hamasak’s article on CNN.

“The victims appeared to be malnourished and very dirty,” police said in a statement according to a US News article by Mike Blake.

Some first responders initially believed the 17 year old caller to be a 10 year old, for she was so thin and frail, according to an ABC News article by Emily Shapiro. In Hamasak’s article, parents David and Louise were said to be keeping their kids physically and mentally weak with the worst possible intentions. David and Louise were taken into custody and charged with both torture and child endangerment.  

Many who lived near or next to the family seemed shocked, but admitted they never really saw the family all that much. As reported by Shapiro’s article, the neighbors are mostly surprised that the family is anywhere near as big as 13 kids.

One neighbor, Wendy Martinez, had a specifically unusual encounter with some of the children back in October, reported by US News.

“They were very afraid,” said Martinez. “Like they had never seen people before”.

The kids were supposedly home-schooled by their father, who is considered to be an active principal for “Sandcastle Day School”, which is registered on the California Department of Education website, according to CNN. The dark reality seems to be far worse than an innocent homeschooling venture has been taking place at the Turpin home.

Though it went on for too long, it is a relief the demented parents will be brought Justice and will face their day of reckoning. As for the children, a resounding 400,000 dollars has been raised by generous people around the country, according to a Desert Sun article by Colin Atagi.

For many of the kids, recovery from such an event may never fully be achieved, but we pray all victims are able to happily start living the lives they deserve.