CCTV footage emerges showing the 'moment children were freed' from home of David and Louise Turpin

An American man accused of torturing his 13 children abducted his future wife from high school when she was 16 years old, her relatives have claimed.

David Turpin, who was 24 at the time, convinced staff to let him take his girlfriend, Louise Robinette, out of her West Virginia high school, according to her two siblings.

The pair eloped and ventured as far as Texas before they were caught by police and brought back home.

The couple made headlines across the world last week after their 13 children were discovered malnourished and living in filthy conditions, some chained to furniture in the family home.

Louise David Turpin children CCTV - Credit: AFP
Louise and David TurpinCredit: AFP

Mr Turpin, 56, and Mrs Turpin, 49 have been charged with a range of offences including torture, false imprisonment and child abuse.

Louise's younger sister, Teresa Robinette, and her half-brother Billy Lambert, revealed the Turpins married in 1984 after their failed elopement.

Miss Robinette said her mother Phyllis allowed Louise to date David when she was 16 years old despite the fact he was eight years older.

When they were discovered Louise's father Wayne, an evangelical preacher, announced he did not want her to return home, reportedly telling the family: "She has made her choice, she should go off and live her life".

Louise David Turpin children CCTV - Credit: Facebook/David Turpin
David and Louise Turpin with their children as the couple renew their vows at Elvis chapel in Las Vegas on their 30th anniversary, on October 31, 2015 Credit: Facebook/David Turpin

"One day, David went into the high school and they let him sign Louise out of school and they ran away. He had his car and they drove," Miss Robinette told the Daily Mail.

She added that for years the Turpins' marriage seemed perfect. "I just thought she had this richy life [sic]," she said.

"He earned good money. The day he came and picked her up from school, I was told he told her that if she would elope with him and marry him he would give her everything she ever wanted."

The deeply religious couple were said to believe God had called on them to have so many children.

But according to Miss Robinette, the pair began to cut loose from their devout lifestyle about a decade ago to enact various sexual fantasies.

Miss Robinette claimed the couple would leave their older children to “take care of the younger children so that [she] and David could kinda sow those wild oats that they didn’t sow when she was younger”.

These included Mrs Turpin contacting a man through an online website and meeting up with him with a hotel room.

She and Mr Turpin would then re-enact the extramarital affair in the same room exactly a year later, her sister said.

Miss Robinette also revealed that she was sexually abused by a relative as a child but did not reveal the abuser’s identity.

“A very, very close family member that we should have loved and trusted — [he] sexually abused me," she told US talkshow Today.

Louise David Turpin children CCTV - Credit: AFP
The media outside the Turpin's home in Perris, CaliforniaCredit: AFP

The couple were arrested last week after their 17-year-old daughter escaped their home in Perris, California and contacted police.

On Tuesday CCTV footage emerged showing the moment the Turpins' offspring, who ranged from 2 to 29 years old, were finally able to leave the family home after years of alleged abuse.

The footage shows one emerging carrying a smaller child as officers watch over. Later in the video another of the siblings is seen rushing out to catch up with one of his brothers.

When police entered the property they found shackles on the beds and a 22-year-old still in chains.

The emaciated children, who prosecutors claim were fed once a day and only permitted to shower once a year, were taken to hospital, where they were treated for severe muscle wastage and neurological conditions associated with malnutrition.

The oldest child, a 29-year-old woman, weighed just five stone (82lbs) when she was rescued by police.

Both David and Louise Turpin have plead not guilty to 75 counts of torture, child abuse, the abuse of dependent adults and false imprisonment relating to their children. They are currently being held in custody on $9 million bail each (£6.5m).

David Turpin was also charged with one count of a lewd act on a child by force. If convicted, they face up to 94 years to life in prison.

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