The California “horror house” mom wanted to welcome a fourteenth child so she could land a reality TV series and earn money and fame, according to a new report.
“She used to say how they would be perfect for TV and would often mention they would be bigger than the reality show Kate Plus 8,” Louise Turpin’s half-brother Billy Lambert told Mirror UK.
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“She thought the world would be fascinated by their lives,” Lambert said. She and her husband “thought it would make them millions and household names. They didn’t care about the kids – it was all about them.”
Louise, 49, and husband David Turpin, 56, were arrested on Jan. 14 after police found their children, ages 2 to 29, shackled to furniture in their Perris, California, home, starving and allegedly abused.
Investigators said Louise seemed confused as to why there was a problem when she was arrested; she also was not sure why police had come to their home in the first place.
Police were called to the home after one of the Turpin daughters, 17, escaped through a window and called 911 on a disconnected cell phone. She explained that she and her siblings had been held by chains in their home and endured other cruel punishments.
When the children were found, some were shackled to their beds and lying in their own feces, a detective said of the scene. The children looked severely underdeveloped due to their unhealthy living conditions and lack of nutrition. They were taken into medical care following their rescue from the home.
Six underage children are under care at the Riverside University Hospital System, while seven older siblings — ranging in age from 18 to 29 — were sent to Corona Regional Medical Center.
“I have been a hospital administrator for a long time and I have been in healthcare since 1973… I have never seen this,” CEO Mark Uffer said of the patients. “I can share with you that I have spent a fair amount of time with these kids… we call them kids but they are adults. It is heartbreaking to see this. It really hits home.”
“That is a sobering experience for all of us, when you see a 29-year-old that looks like they are 12 or 13 or 14,” he added.
David and Louise Turpin have been charged with 12 counts of torture, seven counts of abuse of a dependent adult, six counts of child abuse or neglect and 12 counts of false imprisonment, Riverside County District Attorney Michael Hestrin said in a press release. David was also charged with performing a lewd act on a child.
If convicted, they face 94 years to life in prison.
The Riverside University Health Center Foundation set up a fund to accept donations and the chamber of commerce created a page listing clothing sizes and items needed for the victims. You can access the page by clicking here.
