Parents charged with torture of children in Perris home

TV news crews gather to make their live reports from a Perris home where 13 children were allegedly held captive. Menifee 24/7 photo: Kristen Spoon

Story updated at 8 p.m.:

Residents of a housing tract less than a mile from the Menifee border expressed shock and anger Monday after learning details of the arrest of two adults charged with torture and child endangerment of their 13 children in that community.

The arrests took place Sunday morning in the 100 block of Muir Woods Road in Perris, in the Monument Ranch development just northwest of the intersection of Ethanac Road and Goetz Road. According to a Sheriff’s Department report, 13 people – ranging in age from 2 years old to 29 – were found in the home, emaciated in filthy conditions, with some shackled and chained to beds.

David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, were booked at the Robert Presley Detention Center, each charged with nine counts  of torture and 10 counts of child endangerment with bail set at $9 million each. They will be in court Thursday to answer the charges.

Six juvenile children were admitted to the Riverside University Hospital System for evaluation and treatment, while the seven adult children were admitted to the Corona Regional Medical Center for evaluation and treatment.

According to authorities, the abuse was discovered by officers responding to the 911 call of one of the children who managed to get outside the home and use a cell phone taken from the residence. Officers said the girl appeared to be about 10 years old but is actually 17.

Upon contacting the parents and entering the home, officers discovered the children, several “shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surrounding conditions.” A news release also reported that the parents “were unable to immediately provide a logical reason why their children were restrained in that manner” and that the children "appeared malnourished and very dirty."

As TV news crews set up outside the home Monday, neighbors said they knew several children lived in the home but rarely saw them.

"I never saw the kids by themselves," said Kimberly Milligan, who lives across the street. "The parents were always close by. Even though they looked like kids, I'm sure the ones I saw outside are the ones they are now saying are in their 20s."

The Turpin family is shown in a photo on David and Louise Turpin's Facebook page.

The home was originally one of the model homes in the community, which is only about four years old, said neighbors who were gathered around news vans on a street with nicely kept yards. Even though most said they had little or no contact with the family, Milligan said she suspected something wasn't right.

"There was always something in the back of our minds," she said. "Things like how the lawn was getting so bad. The house doesn’t usually look like it does now. They clean it up when code enforcement comes out. Our joke was, ‘OK, you have 13 kids, you could get together five of them and clean that up. It was usually an eyesore."

Miguel Serna, one of the neighbors, said he saw a few of the children planting sod in the yard in October.

"I said hi," Serna recalled. "They looked at me weird, so I kept walking. They looked scared. But I never thought ... you know, different people act differently."

Although the children are alleged to be held captive inside the home, there is evidence that the entire family did travel outside the community together. A Facebook page for David and Louise Turpin includes photos from 2016 of a wedding or renewal of vows, with all the children in attendance.

Milligan said she never saw the children leave to attend school. According to state Department of Education records, David Allen Turpin is listed as principal of Sandcastle Day School, listed at the same address. Founded in 2014, the school has a listed enrollment of only six.

According to court documents, David and Louise Turpin filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2011. At that time, David Turpin listed his occupation as a defense contractor for Lockheed Martin / Northrup Grumman with an annual salary of $146,369. Louise Turpin was listed as a homemaker.

Court records also show the family lived in Rio Vista, Texas, from 1999-2010. A double-wide trailer was repossessed in 2004. Before moving to Menifee, the family lived in Murrieta.

Another neighbor, Robert Perkins, said a couple years ago, he tried to speak to some of the children as they were setting up a nativity scene at Christmas.

"They were kind of fidgeting, walking backward," Perkins said as he and his mother approached. "We said, 'We’re sorry, we didn’t mean to scare you.' We complimented them on it, but they didn’t say a word, like they were scared. Me and my mom walked away.

"They just kept to themselves; no one hardly ever saw them. I’m still in shock."

Wendy Martinez lives around the corner from the Turpins and her yard backs up to theirs.

"They didn’t want to look at people," she said. "When they were out doing their yard … I wanted to grab them and see if anything was wrong.

"What's catching my eye is that red car," she said, gesturing to a car parked in the driveway of the vacant home. "The girl they say got out and called police, she drives that red car, she's mobile. I've seen her get out and around. Why didn’t she call before?"

Sahadi Calhoun, another neighbor, works as an educational assistant with autistic children at Oak Grove Treatment Center in Murrieta. He had trouble holding back his anger.

"I’m a humanitarian," Calhoun said. "I believe in people, not a dictator. This is a dictatorship. You’re controlling these two kids every day with your power. Something’s going on in the house we don’t know about.

"It’s unforgivable. I can’t accept it. This is tragic."

Cars sit on the driveway of the Turpin home in the 100 block of Muir Woods Road in Perris.