Turpin House Of Horrors: Timeline Of How 13 Siblings Suffered Years Of Torture And Abuse

In 2018, a teenager in California named Jordan Turpin phones 911 with a harrowing tale. She tells the dispatcher she has escaped her family’s home, and she begs for authorities to rescue her 12 siblings, claiming they are being held captive by their parents, Louise and David Turpin. The extent of the abuse Jordan and her siblings endured over the years slowly comes to light and shocks the nation. Ahead, a timeline of David and Louise Turpin’s life and their parental torture.

February 11, 1985

David and Louise Turpin elope in Virginia. David, 23, first met 16-year-old Louise in church, according to family.

1989

Louise gives birth to her first child in Texas, where David works as an engineer.

June 2010

The Turpins move from Texas to Murrieta, California, for David’s defense contractor job.

2011-2012

David and Louise renew their vows in front of an Elvis impersonator and the couple’s children at a wedding chapel in Las Vegas in October 2011. A photo shows the children in similar haircuts and dressed alike. The following year, the family spends the day together at Disneyland, again posing for photos wearing similar clothing.

2014

David and Louise move their children into a home in Perris, a town in Riverside County about 70 miles east of Los Angeles. Over the next several years, the Turpin children endure horrific abuse at the hands of their parents, and the home becomes known as a “House of Horrors.”

January 14, 2018

Shortly before 6 a.m., Jordan Turpin, 17, climbs out a window and escapes her family’s home. She uses a disconnected cell phone to call 911 and report that she and her 12 siblings, ages 2 to 29, are being held captive. “My parents are abusive,” Jordan tells the dispatcher. “My two little sisters now are chained up … they’re chained up to their bed.”

During the roughly 20-minute call, Jordan says she and her siblings “live in filth” and she at times wakes up “and can’t breathe because of how dirty the house is.”

Jordan is unable to tell the dispatcher where she lives and has to read the address from a piece of paper. “I haven't been out. I don't go out much,” she explains. “I don't know anything about the streets or anything.”

Police arrest David and Louise on suspicion of child abuse around 9 p.m. that evening.

January 18, 2018

Investigators learn the children’s parents regularly beat, strangle, and starve their 13 children, who are reportedly only allowed one shower per year. Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin says the Turpin siblings are severely malnourished.

February 22, 2019

David and Louise Turpin each plead guilty in Riverside Superior Court to 14 felony charges: one count of torture, three counts of willful child cruelty, four counts of false imprisonment, and six counts of cruelty to a dependent adult. “This is among the worst, most aggravated child abuse cases I have ever seen,” D.A. Hestrin says.

April 19, 2019

The parents each receive sentences of 25 years to life and will only be eligible for parole after serving decades in prison.

At the sentencing hearing, some of the Turpin siblings give victim impact statements. “I cannot describe in words what we went through growing up,” Joshua Turpin tells the court. “Sometimes I still have nightmares of things that had happened — such as my siblings being chained up or beaten — but that is the past and this is now. I love my parents and have forgiven them for a lot of the things they did to us.”

David Turpin’s lawyer reads a statement on his behalf. The father claims he “never intended for any harm to come to my children ... I hope the very best for my children in their future.”

Louise also addresses the court: “I want to say I am sorry for everything I have done,” she says. “I love my children so much… I pray for my children every day. I am truly sorry for everything I have done to hurt them. I love them more than they can ever imagine.”

March 2021

Foster parents Marcelino and Rosa Olguin and the couple’s daughter, Lennys Olguin, are arrested for allegedly abusing several of the Turpin siblings after they were placed with the family following their rescue, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department confirmed, according to People. They plead not guilty to the charges against them.

July 2022

Six of the Turpin siblings file two lawsuits in Riverside County Superior Court: one against Riverside County and the other against a private foster care agency, ChildNet Youth and Family Services.

The suits allege the siblings were the victims of abuse in the foster home officials placed them in following their rescue. The suits claim ChildNet Youth knew the Olguins were “unfit to be foster parents” since the family allegedly had a “prior history of physically and emotionally abusing children as well as severely neglected children who had been placed in their care.”

The suits further claim ChildNet Youth “had a financial motive to continue placing a large number of children in this foster home and thereby strengthen its relationship with the County of Riverside, and it put that financial motive ahead of its responsibility to children.”

Today

The Turpin siblings continue to try to move forward with their lives. Jordan, now 22, is active on TikTok and she recently moved into her own apartment in Southern California. “Sometimes I walk into my apartment and literally think, ‘Is this real?’ I'm more independent and can just be myself. This is everything I ever wanted,” she tells People. “I've been feeling like my life is about to actually start.”

Jordan and her siblings remain close. “We have inside jokes and have so much fun together,” she says. “After everything that happened, and after escaping, I'm so protective over each one. They always know they have me.”

Jack Osborn, who represents the siblings, says they are determined to not look back. “They are all working toward their own independence … They want people to know them for who they are and what they are going to be doing,” Osborn explains. “They’re looking forward — working on school, working on their health, and working on learning and doing basic life skills.”