In a stunning turn in the case of the "House of Horrors, David and Louise Turpin admitted to abusing their 12 children.
More than a year after their arrest, David and Louise Turpin pleaded guilty Friday to torturing and abusing 12 of their 13 children in what came to be known as the "House of Horrors."
Louise wiped away tears and David appeared stoic in a bright yellow shirt as they answered to each of the counts. They both face 14 counts each of torture, dependent adult abuse, child endangerment and false imprisonment, NBC News reported. The couple entered their pleas in the Riverside County Superior Court in California and sentencing was scheduled for April.
The Turpin parents kept their children in deplorable conditions in their home in Perris. Some of the kids, who ranged in age from 2 to 29, were malnourished and, in some cases, chained to furniture. They were rarely allowed to bathe. Some had stunted growth and had been kept in cages. After their 17-year-old daughter escaped and called police about the abuse she and her siblings suffered, David and Louise were arrested in January 2018.
A year later, Inside Edition got a look at the Turpin home, and it was still a horror.
David and Louise had initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, so Friday's plea came as a surprise to Louise's sister, Elizabeth Flores, who said she was "shocked."
"Every time I went to visit her in jail she told me she was innocent," she added.
With the new pleas, the Turpin children will be spared from testifying in court on their harrowing experiences.
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