Turpin Family: What to Know About the 'House of Horrors' and Where the Siblings Are Now

The 13 Turpin siblings were rescued from years of abuse from their parents in 2018

The story of the Turpin family stunned the nation in early 2018. After 17-year-old Jordan Turpin escaped her family’s home in California and called 911 to report unfathomable abuse, the public soon learned the awful truth of what David and Louise Turpin inflicted on their 13 children for years.

The kids were imprisoned in a true “House of Horrors.” They were routinely physically, verbally, and mentally abused, chained to their beds, and deprived of food and the ability to exercise. As the details of what the Turpin children survived were shared with the public, many began to wonder how two parents could be so horrible to their own children.

It wasn't until Jan. 18, 2018, that then-17-year-old Jordan was able to flee her family's home and phone 911. During the call, she told the operator, “My parents are abusive. My two little sisters right now are chained up ... they’re chained up to their bed.”

She continued, “I live in a family of 15 people and our parents are abusive. We live in filth. Sometimes I wake up and can’t breathe because of how dirty the house is.”

After the extent of David and Louise's crimes were revealed, several of the Turpin children — who ranged from 2 to 29 at the time of their rescue — were placed in foster care, where many of them were abused by their foster family. David and Louise were eventually convicted on 14 felony counts and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Jordan and her siblings have been carving new lives for themselves ever since. In 2022, she settled into her own apartment in Southern California and told PEOPLE that she remained "very close" to her siblings.

"After everything that happened, I'm so protective over each one. Nothing could ever break our bond," she said.

From the abuse they endured in the "House of Horrors" to their lives today, here's everything to know about the Turpin family.

What happened to the Turpin family?

On Jan. 14, 2018, 17-year-old Jordan escaped from her family’s home in Perris, Calif. and called authorities. After police arrived, they discovered that Jordan's parents, David and Louise, had been severely abusing their 13 children to varying degrees for years.

Reports later revealed that the Turpin parents restricted the food their children could eat, left several of them in a home alone to fend for themselves, and imprisoned, beat, and strangled their kids. When the children were discovered, many of them were unable to communicate sufficiently and were not sure who the police were.

In her 911 call, Jordan told the operator, “I just ran away from home. and we have abusing parents. They hit us. They like to throw us across the room. They pull out our hair. They yank out our hair. My two little sisters right now are chained up.”

Jordan's plan to contact authorities was more than two years in the making and culminated as the family was planning a move from California to Oklahoma. “My plan was, okay, while we're on the trip and in a crowd, I’m going to sneak out and call 911," Jordan told PEOPLE.

But her mother seemed especially agitated ahead of the move. Jordan added, “Mother was yelling and throwing things, saying, 'When we move to Oklahoma, I'm gonna chain all your ...,' and she said a really bad word. She said, 'You can just sit in your ...' and she said the 'S-word.' It got really, really scary.”

Her siblings were distressed by their mother’s behavior, which prompted Jordan to make her call earlier than she planned. "The night I left was not expected. I was pushed to that point. I literally thought we were gonna die," Jordan recalled to PEOPLE.

What is the Turpin family “House of Horrors?"

The family’s home was described as a “House of Horrors” by authorities and the public. The children were often chained up after “playing with water” (washing their hands higher than their wrists) and were often left in their own waste for hours. David and Louise only allowed the children to shower once a year.

The Turpin parents managed to hide their abuse for years by having the family sleep during the day and awake at night. Both parents worked in their home and set up their property as a private K-12 school with the California Department of Education.

The children were not the only beings in the home who were subjected to their parent’s cruel treatment. The family’s oldest child was once forced to watch her cat be mauled to death by feral dogs after she was caught taking food out of the pantry without permission. Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Kevin Beecham told PEOPLE, “She was caught stealing or taking some food from the fridge or pantry, and her mom told her to bring her cat and so Mom put the cat outside, and made her daughter watch as these dogs literally ate the cat in front of her, tore apart the cat and killed it.” The girl was approximately 9 at the time.

The parents didn’t only limit their torture to physical abuse either. When the batteries in the smoke alarms in the home would run low, they would allow the devices to beep endlessly instead of changing them out. Beecham said, “There’s that annoying beep, that loud beep. That’s what you heard all throughout the house. The psychiatrist explained that’s one mechanism that torturers would institute to try to keep control by using sounds.”

David and Louise found other ways to use food and gifts to torture their children. Sometimes they would leave pies out in front of the kids, but tell them they couldn’t have any or even touch the desserts. They also filled their home with unopened gifts at Christmas, never letting their children enjoy anything they brought into the home.

How did the Turpin family escape the "House of Horrors?"

Jordan and her 13-year-old sister escaped the house together by crawling out a window in January 2018, but the younger girl went back home after she got scared. Jordan, who had spent two years devising the plan with some of her siblings, carried her older brother's deactivated cellphone and called 911.

Once they arrived at the Turpin home, authorities found three children chained to their beds and the rest in small, foul-smelling rooms. Authorities arrested David and Louise and charged them with 12 counts of torture, seven counts of abuse of a dependent adult, six counts of child abuse and 12 counts of false imprisonment.

What happened to David and Louise Turpin?

Beecham explained to PEOPLE that when the parents were arrested, Louise didn’t seem to understand the gravity of what they had subjected their children to. He explained, “She wrote an apology letter basically saying, ‘Sorry I chained you up. It won’t happen again. I’ll be a better mother.’ She was just very naïve to the whole thing.”

“She was just thinking that she needed parenting classes and that would be the end of it. David, not so much. I think he knew the writing was on the wall early on,” Beecham added.

Both David and Louise were charged with multiple counts of torture, false imprisonment and child abuse. David also received one count of a lewd act on a child under 14.

Additionally, the Turpin family patriarch received an additional charge of perjury after affidavits he submitted to the California Department of Education were reexamined. The affidavits claimed the children were enrolled in a private school.

On Feb. 22, 2019, both David and Louise pleaded guilty to 14 felony counts including cruelty to an adult dependent, child cruelty, torture and false imprisonment. They were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 22 years.

Where are the Turpin family siblings now?

After their rescue, the youngest Turpin children were placed in foster care in California.

In November 2021, Jordan and her sister Jennifer were interviewed by Diane Sawyer for 20/20. The pair were open about their experiences in the "House of Horrors," and Jordan told Sawyer that making the phone call that set her and her siblings free was difficult. "My whole body was shaking. I couldn't really dial 911 because ..."

Jordan also told Sawyer that when she left her home, “I was actually on the road because I didn't even know about the sidewalks. You're supposed to be on the sidewalk, but I'd never been out there.”

Days later, the pair appeared on Good Morning America, where they spoke about the response their story had received. Jennifer said that she had received “hundreds of DMs” and “all the love and support I'm getting, it's overwhelming, but it's awesome.”

Jordan also revealed on the special that she hopes to become a motivational speaker. She said of the possibility, “My whole life it has been so hard for me to understand why everything has happened, but if I can use what I went through to make a difference in the world, then I think that can heal me.”

The 20/20 special also revealed that several of the siblings were abused by foster families that they lived with after their rescue. Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in the special, “[It's] unimaginable to me that we could have the very worst case of child abuse that I've ever seen, maybe one of the worst in California history, and that we would then not be able to get it together to give them basic needs, basic necessities.”

In July 2022, six of the Turpin siblings filed a lawsuit against the foster parents they lived with after being rescued from their parent’s home. Their attorneys filed suits against Riverside County, ChildNet Youth and Family Services and the Foster Family Network.

The foster parents were accused of “grabbing and fondling their buttocks, legs and breasts, kissing them on the mouth and making sexually suggestive comments" as well as “pulling their hair, hitting them with a belt and striking their heads.”

The most outspoken of the Turpin siblings, Jordan has been focused on healing from her horrific experiences with both her parents and foster parents. She moved into a new home in 2023 with her four guinea pigs and four dogs. In November, she opened up to PEOPLE about her past year and hopes for the future.

"Over this last year, I have learned a lot about mental health and everything. It was a really rough year," Turpin said. "The last few months it's been really good because I've really learned so much about mental health [and] why everything has affected me the way it affected me."

Are the Turpin family kids still close?

Despite the horrors they survived, or perhaps because of them, the Turpin siblings have a very strong bond now. In July 2022, Jordan explained, “We all look out for each other. We all have this super big bond. We have our inside jokes, and we're all very, very close.”

She also said that she’s always watching out for her siblings. Jordan added, “After everything that happened, I'm so protective over each one. Nothing could ever break our bond. I always try and stay strong and positive for them.”

Earlier that year, the 13 siblings all attended a Justin Bieber concert together. Jordan, who often watched Beiber’s videos while held captive by her parents, said, “We were jumping, screaming and even got emotional. I got to experience it with my siblings and it didn't feel real.”

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