WHEN police entered David and Louise Turpin's family home for the first time, absolutely nothing could have prepared them for the incomprehensible horrors they were about to encounter. The couple had held their 13 children - aged between two and 29 - captive in abject squalor. They'd been starved, taunted with food, beaten, chained to their beds, and allowed to shower just once a year.
Their suffering was described as "severe, pervasive, prolonged", and their tragic plight was only discovered after 17-year-old Jordan Turpin made a daring escape in January 2018 and called 911. The adult children were so malnourished that shocked police thought they were minors, with Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin revealing at the time: “All the victims were and are severely malnourished. "To give you an example, one of the children at aged 12 is the weight of an average seven year old.
The 29 year old female victim weighs 92lb (6st 7lb)." It was the result of over a decade of unthinkable abuse, and while David and Louise Turpin were sentenced to life in prison and the victims - who became known as the 'Turpin 13' - have tried to rebuild their lives, pertinent questions still remain. Could their suffering have been prevented, and could they have been rescued earlier, if more had been done? Here, we take a closer look at the 'missed' crucial clues that could have alluded to the tortured kids' life of misery long before it was uncovered.
.. For a long time the callous couple - w.
