David and Louise Turpin, jailed on $9 million bail each, are expected to make their first court appearance on Thursday, and could face charges including torture and child endangerment, authorities said. Prosecutors plan to announce the charges at news conference.
Betty Turpin said her son told her he had so many kids because God wanted him to. She said her son shared her Pentecostal Christian faith but he wasn’t affiliated with a church in California.
“I feel they were model Christians,” she said. “It’s hard to believe all of this. Over the years, the Lord knows what happened.”
James Turpin said during their visit, “they all looked to me well-adjusted. They weren’t skinny or nothing. They were joyous to see us.”
He said they were dealing with social workers in attempting to connect with their grandkids, who are hospitalized as they recover from their years-long ordeal.
On Wednesday, authorities searched the couple’s current home in Perris, 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles, where one of the daughters, a 17-year-old jumped out the window and called 911 on Sunday. Investigators removed dozens of boxes, what appeared to be two safes and pieces of a bed frame.
Some siblings were shackled to furniture in the foul-smelling four-bedroom home that looked perfectly normal from the outside.
The Turpins have lived in two Riverside County communities since moving to California in 2011, and police said they were never called to either home, nor were any reports fielded by child protective services.
The new owners of the Texas home where the Turpins previously lived released yellowed photographs of what they found after the large family vacated the property, which had been foreclosed. The photos showed beds tied together, boarded up doors, smashed windows, and even covered vents.
It’s not clear what motivated the Turpins to live a secluded life with their large brood or what went on in their Perris house.
