The USA has been shocked when the news stations aired what was looking like a Horror movie sequence. 13 children were kept captive in Californian suburbs by their parents until cops freed them after one of the kids managed to run away and called 911, last week.
Cops found the kids, aged 2 to 29, living in awful conditions in a house in Riverside County. The kids’ parents, Louise Anna Turpin David Allen Turpin, were the ones who held them captive.
Now, one week after the events, criminalists are willing to bring in cadaver dogs to sniff for possible remains of children that might have been buried on the Turpin husbands’ property.
Children have been beaten and tortured
Nobody can tell what made the Turpins keep their children captive and neither they say why, as both, Louise Turpin and David Turpin, pleaded not guilty. What’s for sure is that doctors have noticed clear signs of abuse and torture on the older children.
Officials, however, consider that the biggest torture was conducted at a psychological level.
Mistreatment stopped the kids’ growth
Prosecutors said that the children’s growth process was stunted due to severe malnutrition and mistreatment. The 12-year-old one is weighing as a regular 7-year-old and the 29-year-old is at the development level of a 10-year-old.
Also, the kids didn’t know what a policeman is, as some of them showed sign of mental retardation, too.
The sentence for the parents
The parents of the 13 children have been charged with unlawful imprisonment, child abuse, and torture. Judges set the bail at $12 million, as the parents pleaded not guilty.
If found guilty, Louise Turpin and David Turpin will be imprisoned for life.
The kids will remain in state’s custody and they’ll need a lot of medical care and psychological advice to become as normal as possible under the given circumstances.
