Two parents are being held on $9 million bail each after a horrific discovery at a residence in Perris over the weekend — 13 malnourished siblings held captive amid dirty conditions, including some children shackled to beds, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said Monday.
An investigation began after a 17-year-old girl “escaped” from her home in the 100 block of Muir Woods Road and called 911 early Sunday morning to report that her 12 brothers and sisters were being held captive by their parents, according to a sheriff’s news release.
She alleged some of her siblings were bound in padlocked chains.
Responding officers initially believed the “slightly emaciated” girl was only 10 years old until she provided her age.
After interviewing the teen, investigators went to the residence and contacted her parents, identified as 56-year-old David Allen Turpin and 49-year-old Louise Anna Turpin, according to the release.
Investigators discovered “several children shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings,” the release said. The parents could not provide a “logical” explanation for why the kids were restrained, investigators said.