What the Turpin Siblings Endured in Their Own Home Will Send Shivers Down Your Spine

21-year old Jordan Turpin, one of 12 siblings imprisoned in their home by their parents, “did not know about sidewalks,” she said while describing how she managed to escape from her home and call 911.

“I was actually on the road because I didn’t know about the sidewalks. You’re supposed to be on the sidewalk, but I’d never been out there,” she said, in an interview that aired in November with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer.

Jordan Turpin, along with her siblings were located in Perris, a city located in Southern California, were held against their will and severely abused in their family home.

Some of the children were chained to their beds, but all were starved and physically abused. Discipline could even include being locked in a dog kennel.

They were also denied education, daily bathing, medical treatment, and every other freedom imaginable.

When police seized the home, in 2018, initially they thought 12 of the 13 victims that they encountered were minor children. To their surprise, seven of them were between the ages of 18 and 29 but severely underweight due to a lack of nutrition.

The youngest child in the house was 2 years old at the time. As far as Jordan Turpin, who at the time was 17 years old, Riverside County sheriff’s deputies initially thought she was about 10 when they first saw her, their report says.

After David and Louise Turpin, their parents, were both sentenced in April of 2019, a statement was read by one of the siblings’ attorneys.

The statement from one of the siblings who was 21 read, “I remember our mother sitting in her recliner and crying, saying she doesn’t know what to do. She didn’t want to use rope or chain, but she was afraid her children were taking in too much sugar and caffeine.”

The statement explained that they kept soda in the house because their dad “needed it for work,” adding, “He would fall asleep driving and get in an accident.