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In world exclusive interviews, operatives said husband and wife David and Louise Turpin — who believe pain opens the pathway to God — created a twisted “religious compound” complete with bizarre vents in bedroom closets converted to homemade cages in their suburban enclave.
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Their children, between two and 29 years old, were tortured, chained to beds and had their wills broken by mind-control techniques, investigators charged. In barbaric rituals, the youngsters were marched around their fetid, filthy home reciting biblical passages for hours through the night, sources said.
The desperate kids were rescued from the horrific prison thanks to one brave sibling, who made a daring escape through a barely open window and called 911 on a deactivated cell phone!
Heart-racing surveillance footage captured by a neighbor — and seen by The ENQUIRER — showed the moment cops swarmed the hellhole and arrested the fiends, who face charges of torture and child endangerment.
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While demonic David and his wife rot in cages, their victims — who were freed on Jan. 14 — are now living relatively normal lives, eating and drinking their fill, and playing video games under government supervision. But they remain so haggard-looking and stunted that authorities initially thought the seven adult siblings were actually minors!
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Stunned cops said they found “several children shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings.” The 17-year-old girl who made the life-saving emergency call was so emaciated, she appeared to be ten, police said.
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She provided officials with photographic proof of the pigsty she shared with her siblings. After the raid, neighbors stepped forward to report bizarre sightings of the ghostly pale children marching back and forth inside the home well after midnight. The hungry kids were also seen digging through the trash cans for food.
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“It’s something straight out of a horror movie,” an investigator told The ENQUIRER. Officers and analysts swept through the hellish home in a daylong search for evidence on Jan. 17.
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Our reporters witnessed hundreds of bags of trash being thrown onto the backyard by grimacing sheriffs. All windows and doors were flung open — most likely being the first time fresh air and sunlight penetrated the squalid house in years.
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Police said there was no indication the rescued children were sexually abused — but the possibility is still being investigated. Disturbingly, David has a history of predatory and perverted behavior. His sister-in-law accused him of watching her take showers when she lived with the couple years ago.
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“He did things that made me feel uncomfortable,” said Elizabeth Jane Flores, Louise’s sister. “He would come in there while I was in there and watch me.” After she moved out, Elizabeth was never invited into their home again. “I was only allowed in the driveway,” she explained.
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Elizabeth — who has not seen her sister in 19 years but kept in touch via telephone — recalled how their parents had bought plane tickets to visit the Turpins from Texas, but Louise would not reveal her address! What’s more, Louise’s parents died in 2016 — and the Turpins didn’t attend the funeral.
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Almost 20 years earlier, Louise and David’s behavior appeared suspicious, but no calls were ever made to authorities. A property they owned in Fort Worth, Texas, was lost to foreclosure in 1999, and when the new owners moved in they were disgusted to discover the home was mired in filth — and contained cage-like closets.
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Back at the California house of horrors, our reporters caught a glimpse inside the Turpins’ garage — in which floor-to-ceiling collections of DVDs were alphabetically ordered. Many were Disney cartoons and family favorites, such as “Dumbo,” “Dance Moms” and “Gulliver’s Travels.”
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But, in a chilling twist, the collection included horror movies about couples who take kids captive and hold them against their will — such as “The Glass House” and “Glass House: The Good Mother.” Records showed the house is listed as the address of Sandcastle Day School — a private school registered in 2014, so David could home-tutor six of his children.
However, it was never visited by education authorities because state laws don’t require private schools to be inspected. But the cruelest irony is on the rare occasion the Turpins freed their children from their shackles and prison, it was to make trips to Disneyland — billed as “The Happiest Place on Earth” — or
to watch their parents renew their wedding vows with an Elvis impersonator in Las Vegas.