![David and Louise Turpin kept their 13 children captive for years. - [Image: Inside Edition / YouTube screenshot]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2018/1/18/660x290/b_502x220x82/david-and-louise-turpin-kept-their-13-children-captive-for-years-image-inside-editionyoutube-screenshot_1784259.jpg "David and Louise Turpin kept their 13 children captive for years. - [Image: Inside Edition / YouTube screenshot]")
The public is still stunned after hearing that Parents held their 13 children captive in their Perris, California home. Police officers were notified on Sunday, January 14, when one of the children jumped out of a window and called 911 from a deactivated cell phone she had found inside the house. The 17-year-old girl appeared to be about 10 years old with a mental capacity far below her age. A report by US Magazine revealed many of the details shared in this article.
What police found
The Riverside Sheriff's Department reported that the children range in ages from two to 29.
10 of the children are females and three are males. Six of the children are under the age of 18. The seven adults looked much younger than their age because they are underweight and seemed to have been malnourished. Records show that two dogs found on the property are healthier and look like they had been better fed than all the children.
The parents, David and Louise Turpin, had some of the children shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks. Some of them were also chained to other furniture in the house when authorities found them. The four-bedroom house was dark and foul smelling. NBC News reported on Thursday, January 18, that the 57-year-old father and the 49-year-old mother fed their children only one meal a day and let them take a shower only twice a year.
Charges against parents
David and Louise Turbin were escorted out of their house in handcuffs. They have been charged with torture and child endangerment. Their bail was set at $9 million for each one. Investigators have not come up with a reason why the parents did this to their own children. Officials are trying to determine if religion played a part in this situation.
Where children are now
All 13 of the Turbin siblings are hospitalized and receiving the care they need for severe malnutrition. Psychologists will evaluate the siblings after their health improves and they are much stronger. The seven adults are being treated at Corona Regional Medical Center in Corona, and the six children under 18 are at Riverside University Health System Medical Center in Moreno Valley.
Corona Regional Medical Center CEO, Mark Uffer, said it is hard to think of any of the children as adults because of their condition. Rutgers University professor of nutritional sciences, Daniel Hoffman, told CNN that the adults look so young because the growth of a person stops at the age when malnutrition begins.
Some difficult decisions will have to be made because child welfare ends at 18. Children already in the system can stay until they are 21, but seven of the Trupin children are already 18 years old and older. For now, Child Protective Services is focusing on emergency medical care. Then each child will need long-term therapy.
