Over $400,000 raised for siblings held captive in California torture house
A multitude of fundraisers meant to benefit the 13 Southern California siblings rescued from abhorrent living conditions in January will hopefully offer the family a second shot at life.
Over $400,000 has been raised to benefit the Turpin children, who were starved, abused, beaten and held captive by their parents, David and Louise Turpin, for years in their home in the city of Perris.
A majority of the donations for the siblings, aged two to 29, were collected by the Corona Chamber of Commerce and the Riverside University Health System (RUHS), according to KABC.
RUHS reported that as of Wednesday, it had collected $249,325, and the chamber of commerce said it had received over $178,000. Some of the donations reportedly came from as far away as Germany and Singapore.
Additionally, the chamber of commerce arranged three dozen fundraising events at various California restaurants to benefit the children, adding thousands to the total sum raised.
However, Corona Chamber of Commerce president Bobby Spiegel cautions that while the fundraisers have been overwhelmingly successful, the Turpin siblings will need much more financial support than what has been collected so far.
"We’re talking about 13 lives," he told KABC. "$400,000 is not going to be much in the long scheme of things, so that’s why we did this dine-out event."
Several of the Turpin children are being currently treated at Corona Regional Medical Center, but details on their conditions have not been released.
Officials were first alerted to the siblings' plight in mid-January when a 17-year-old girl managed to escape the home and call police on a stolen cellphone.
According to investigators, the teenager told police that she and her 12 brothers and sisters were being held and abused by their parents in squalid conditions.
When officers arrived at the home, they discovered the 12 other victims living in a deplorable state, some of them bound, shackled or padlocked to beds. Almost all of the siblings were severely malnourished.
David Turpin, 57, and his wife, Louise, 49, have both been charged with 12 counts of torture, 12 counts of false imprisonment, seven counts of abuse of a dependent adult and six counts of child abuse. David Turpin has also been charged with one count of a lewd act on a child under the age of 14 by force or fear of duress.
Both parents are currently being held on $9 million bail, respectively, and face up to 94 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
