David and Louise Turpin, who allegedly confined, tortured and malnourished their 13 children, face up to 94 years to life in prison if convicted of a number of charges filed, authorities announced Thursday.
Torture, child abuse and false imprisonment are among several of the charges filed against them, ABC 7 reports. A charge was also filed against father David Allen Turpin of one count of a lewd act on a child.
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Bail has been set at $13 million for the Turpins in Riverside County, California.
Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said, “All the victims were and are severely malnourished. The 29-year-old female victim weighs 82 pounds.”
Hestrin also confirmed that the siblings would “sleep all day and be up all night” and that “none of the victims were allowed to shower more than once a year.”
The 17-year-old girl who escaped out of a window and called 911 had been planning her escape for two years, Hestrin said.
“This is severe physical and emotional abuse we’re talking about,” Hestrin said. “It breaks our hearts, but we’re professionals and have to seek justice.”
On Wednesday, investigators served search warrants to the home, spending about seven hours combing through evidence, and walked out with several boxes, two safes and pieces of wood that appear to have been part of bed frames.
David and Louise Turpin were arrested Monday on suspicion of torture and child endangerment.
When police raided the Perris, California “horror house” on Sunday, some of the 13 siblings bound and shackled were found lying in their own feces.
“The smell was terrible,” Deputy Mike Vasquez of the Riverside Sheriff’s Office told the Daily Mail. “Feces and urine everywhere.”
A police source close to the investigation told NBC News that the children showered only twice a year and ate one rationed meal per day.
All 13 kids are receiving IV treatments in the hospital, and officials say they are malnourished to the point where they could go into shock.
Hospital officials say that the kids are so malnourished, that the five legal adult children look “half their age.” Ranging between 18 and 29, the five female and two male captives of their parents are malnourished but in good spirits as they receive treatment at the Corona Regional Medical Center. The six underage siblings were sent to a different facility as their elder siblings.
The family at one point also lived in Fort Worth, Texas, and when the Turpins were foreclosed on, the new owners said they found the carpets soiled, windows broken and boarded up, and scratches on the inside of the doors.
At the time, those owners thought the marks might have been from pets, but now aren’t sure.
The Corona Chamber of Commerce and Riverside University Health System were gathering donations for the siblings.
Child Protective Services received thousands of calls from people who want to help the children and adults.
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.
