‘Horror House’ Couple Wed When She Was 16 and He Was 23

The California couple accused of running a “horror house” for their 13 children were married more than three decades ago, when she was 16 and he was 23 years old.

David and Louise Turpin, now 56 and 49, were married in Pearisburg, Virginia on February 11, 1985, PEOPLE confirmed according to the court clerk’s office in Giles County.

They both reportedly grew up nearby in Princeton, West Virginia, where Louise’s half-brother Billy Lambert said she met David in church. He said the pair “ran away” together to get married when she was 16, but they were returned home by police.

Louise’s father signed off on the marriage, Lambert said. At 20, she and David had their first child.

The couple had 13 children in all, ranging from ages 2 to 29, who were found in filthy conditions at the couple’s Perris, California home on Jan. 14.

Louise and David were taken into custody after their 17-year-old daughter escaped through a window in the home and called 911. She claimed she and her siblings were chained to their beds inside the home, starved and abused.

Responding officers said they found the Turpin children “severely malnourished” from lack of food, with some in chains, according to prosecutor Michael Hestrin.

Hestrin said Thursday that the parents face 12 counts each of torture, seven counts of abuse of a dependent adult, six counts of child abuse or neglect and 12 counts of false imprisonment. David has also been charged with one count of lewd act on a child under the age of 14 by force, fear or duress.

The charges cover alleged behavior dating back to 2010, according to Hestrin. He said the torture charges relate to alleged severe, prolonged abuse over time. Among punishments the children suffered were beatings, being bound to their bed for weeks and being rationed to one meal per day and one shower per year.

David and Louise are not charged with torturing the 2-year-old, as the toddler seems to have been fed enough, though “we don’t know why,” Hestrin said. Authorities are also not clear why the parent subjected their children to the dangerous, cruel conditions, though Louise’s sister claims she endured years of sexual abuse by a close family member as a child.

Teresa Robinette appeared on Megyn Kelly Today to share that she, Louise, their other sister Elizabeth and their mother suffered ongoing abuse by the same man.

“A very, very close family member that we should have – sorry — we should have loved and trusted, he abused my mother and sexually abused my mother and then me and Louise, Elizabeth and a few of our cousins in the family,” a tearful Robinette told Kelly.

She said their mother still took them around the family member “a lot, including Louise,” and claimed it was “always a dark family secret that he did this.”

If convicted of all charges, the David and Louise Turpin could face 94 years to life in prison.