When police raided the California “house of horrors” 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.”
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“It’s what happens when people are chained up — there’s nowhere else to go to the restroom,” he continued.
Police rescued the children — ages 2 to 29 — after one of the siblings, a 17-year-old girl, escaped through a window and dialed 911. She alerted the responder to the conditions she and her siblings were subject to, including being shackled to their beds, allegedly abused, fed once per day and allowed only two showers per year.
Their parents, David Turpin, 57, and Louise Turpin, 49, were arrested in their Perris, California home following the rescue on charges of multiple counts of torture and child endangerment.
According to the Daily Mail, the case is still under “review” by investigators for the Riverside District Attorney’s Office, meaning that the Turpins’ scheduled arraignment on Thursday could be postponed.
“We are still reviewing the case and have not yet made a decision on the filing of charges,” spokesman John Hall told the outlet. “If we do file charges, the arraignments would be scheduled for [Thursday] at 1:30 p.m. [PT].”
As of late Wednesday afternoon, a public information officer confirmed to the Daily Mail that no complaint had been filed by the DA’s office.
While police are still investigating the situation that left more than a dozen children bound and starving inside their parents’ home, all 13 siblings are receiving IV treatments in the hospital. Officials added that the kids are so malnourished they could go into shock.
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.
Despite the trauma the children have endured, they are reported to be doing well. Medical staff are working to gradually re-introduce foods into their bodies following their period of malnourishment and to keep them clean and healthy.
Here is How to Help the California ‘Horror House’ Victims, if you are interested.
