UPDATED:13 siblings ages 2 to 29 'held captive' by parents, some shackled, officials say - ABC News

UPDATE::  Parents who starved and shackled children sentenced to life

A California couple who for years starved a dozen of their children and kept some shackled to beds were sentenced Friday to life in prison, ending a shocking case that revealed a house of horrors hidden behind a veneer of suburban normalcy.

The conditions inside David and Louise Turpin's home in suburban Los Angeles came to light only after one of their daughters fled and pleaded for help to a 911 operator. The parents pleaded guilty in February to neglect and abuse.

The sentencing was preceded by the first public statements from some of the children, who alternately spoke of love for their parents and of what they had suffered, as the couple wiped away tears. None of the children was publicly identified.

UPDATE:: The Latest: Abused children ‘relieved’ by parents’ pleas

A lawyer for some of the children held captive and starved by a California couple says they are relieved after their parents pleaded guilty to torture and other abuse.

Attorney Jack Osborn represents seven adults among 13 children of David and Louise Turpin, who enter pleas Friday in Riverside County Superior Court.

Osborn says the adult children are glad there will not be trial.

He says they can now move forward with their lives without the stress a trial would have involved.
The attorney says the children have been living together, attending school, getting healthy and leading normal lives.

Please be advised that this is still an active investigation with numerous updates and pre-trial maneuverings.  I will not necessarily be covering every aspect of said case, just what I feel are highlights.

UPDATE:: California father accused of torturing 12 of his 13 children charged with 8 counts of perjury

Perris torture defendant David Turpin was charged Friday, May 4, with eight counts of perjury accusations related to the documents he submitted to the state Department of Education to register the homeschool where some of the family’s 13 children were supposed to be educated.

The felony charges bring the total against Turpin and wife Louise to 92 — 50 against David.

Prosecutors say the couple shackled, starved and neglected their children, although the youngest, 2 years old at the time of the couple’s Jan. 14 arrests, appeared to be healthy.

The distraught grandparents added that David and Louise Turpin are considered a good Christian family in their community, saying they can't understand “any of this.” 

"God called on them" to have as many children as they did, James and Betty Turpin said of their son and daughter-in-law. 

The arrested couple's parents also said the children were given "very strict homeschooling," and that the children would memorize long passages of the bible. Some of the kids' goal was to memorize it in its entirety, the couple said. 

The most recent time the grandparents visited they noticed the children “looked thin,” they said, but they seemed like a “happy family.” 

All 13 alleged victims are believed to be the couple’s biological children, the sheriff's office said.

13 siblings ages 2 to 29 'held captive' by parents, some shackled, officials say - ABC News

See also::   Torture / Child Endangerment