Hearing stories of child abuse is gut-wrenching. It is unfathomable how someone can inflict abuse on an innocent child.
You go through so much to bring a child into the world. Enduring morning sickness for months and the pain of childbirth is just the start of the things you withstand to meet your little guy.
And once you finally do, lay eyes on that curious little ball of potential, it is love at first sight.
A lot of pain and psychological ailment must be present to go from infant infatuation to torture.
We see two such deranged individuals in a recent story revealed from the suburbs of Perris, California.
Fox News reported:
“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 sister were being held captive by their parents, according to a sheriff’s news release.”
The teenage girl told the dispatcher that some of her brothers and sisters were being held in the home by padlocked chains.
Perris Police authorities and neighboring Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies quickly responded to the call for help and came to where the teen girl was.
It was thought upon arrival that the girl was only about 10-years-old because she looked “slightly emaciated”, according to authorities.
After hearing her story “investigators went to the residence and contacted her parents, identified as 57-year-old David Allen Turpin and 49-year-old Louise Anna Turpin, according to the release”, Fox News revealed.
When the situation was investigated, what was found was down right horrific. Fox News reported that sheriff officials walked in to find “several children shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings.”
Not only were these poor children held prisoner in their own home, but they were underfed and unkept.
There is no excuse that justifies treating any human being this way, but the parents of the abused children didn’t even try; they were reported as having no “logical” explanation of their behavior by Fox News.
The abuse must have been going on for some time because the adult children were not recognized as being fully grown; their growth must have been inhibited from malnourishment.
Fox News reported on the authorities shock:
“Authorities located what they thought were 12 children, but were stunned to find out that seven of them were adults between the ages of 18 and 29, the release stated. The victims looked to be malnourished and filthy, authorities said.”
All of the 13 victims had to be questioned at the local police station in Perris, California. Every sibling, who all ranged between 2 and 29, was provided food and drink while at the precinct, most of which claimed to be “starving.”
Hospital treatment was provided for all the abused victims. It has not been made known yet if there are any conditions that the children will have to face because of their home imprisonment.
Both of the ruthless parents were arrested after being interviewed, and taken to the Robert Presley Detention Center for “suspicion of torture and child endangerment”, according to Fox News.
Their bail is set at $9 million each. Whatever the sentence is for these two baseless imbeciles, it won’t seem enough for they way they treated their own flesh and blood.
You would think that with such horrendous things occurring in a busy neighborhood someone would have seen something or spoken up.
When the neighbors were interviewed, the LA Times reported they just thought the Turpins were “weird.”
The husband, David, had a normal job as an engineer once, but later unemployed he filed for bankruptcy. He was listed as the principal for a school he ran out of his home that allegedly had six students enrolled.
It is unclear who these students are, why he was claiming a principal status, or if any of the possible students were abused.
From the outside looking in the kids seemed to be living a normal life, as the Cut reported “public entries on their joint Facebook page are filled with smiling family photos, some taken at Disneyland, and usually with their children all wearing matching outfits.”
It is alarming how something like prolonged child abuse can be so easily hidden from the public eye. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon.
According to dosomething.org, an activist group for child abuse, approximately 5 children die every day due to child abuse. Also, it has been found that:
“1 out of 3 girls and 1 out of 5 boys will be sexually abused before they reach age 18.
90% of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way. 68% are abused by a family member.”
These shocking statistics should make us aware of the dangers lurking around us. Not only to hopefully save the life of a child we come into contact with, but to protect our own.
You can’t assume everybody is safe with your children alone, even if you have known them a long time. Talk with your children about acceptable and unacceptable behavior from an adult so they can alert you of an offender.
The scene that was uncovered this past weekend in the Turpin home is nearly unbearable, but with good support and healthy new beginnings these children will have a much more productive, and safe life.
Please let us know in the comments section if you have come upon an abusive situation, and if there was any warning signs that you recognized.