Two of the Turpin children, who were imprisoned and tortured by their parents for years, will be speaking out on their experiences for the first time in an ABC News interview with Diane Sawyer.
Parents Louise and David Turpin were both sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in 2019 after they pleaded guilty to keeping their 13 children in isolation and abusing them. According to authorities, the Turpin’s children, some of whom were adults, were routinely chained to their beds, fed only once a day and were only permitted to shower once a year. At least one daughter also accused David Turpin of sexual abuse, which he pleaded not guilty to.
Authorities first searched the Turpin home in California after then-17-year-old Jordan Turpin escaped through a window in 2018 and called the authorities.
Speaking to Sawyer, Jordan, now 21, recounted that she walked through the streets that night as she had been so isolated that she did not know she was meant to walk on the sidewalks. Jordan and her eldest sister Jennifer both spoke to Sawyer, describing the abuse they suffered under their parents.
In a recording from the night she escaped, Jordan was heard telling a 911 operator, “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.”
When authorities arrived at the Turpin home, one of their children was still shackled to a bed, while others had reportedly been released just before the authorities had come. All of the Turpin children, apart from the youngest, were described as being malnourished. Investigators initially believed all the Turpin’s children — aged 2 to 29 at the time — were minors due to the extent of their malnourishment.
The interview, titled “Escape From A House Of Horror,” is scheduled to air on Friday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and will also stream on Hulu.