>>> an amazing escape to save a
family by a terrified girl with
towering counselor.
>> this is 911.
Do you have an emergency?
>> I just ran away from home,
because we have abusing parents.
>> my hole body was shaking.
>> trying to save her 12
siblings from a house of
horrors.
>> the only word I know to call
it is hell.
>> diane sawyer with a story of
survival like you've never seen.
>> every day did you wake up in
terror?
>> for the first time anywhere,
the raw police body cam footage.
Inside the house in realtime,
and the secret recordings the
children made on a camera hidden
in a barbie doll, and the
superstar who never knew he
inspired them to break free.
>> I started realizing there was
a different world out there.
>> now, two sisters who risked
their lives to save them all and
move them from terror to
triumph.
>> I went, wow, they're strong.
>> this is life.
>>> a security camera is rolling
in a quiet, suburban california
neighborhood.
At the house across the street,
in the shadows, someone quietly
opens a window and slips out.
Watch.
There, a blurry figure stepping
forward.
A small, uncertain girl heading
one way.
Then she turns, hesitates, and
starts to run, clutching an old
cell phone.
>> that was my only chance.
At least if something happened
to me, at least I died trying.
>> 911 emergency.
What are you reporting?
>> um, help.
>> this is 911.
Do you have an emergency?
>> um, I just ran away from
home.
>> do you know what street
you're on?
>> um, no.
Uh, I just ran away from home
because -- I live in a family of
15, okay?
Can you hear me?
And we have abusing parents.
Did you hear that?
>> okay.
How do they abuse you?
>> okay, they hit us.
They throw us -- they like to
throw us across the room.
They pull our hair.
They yank our hair.
I have two -- my two little
sisters right now are chained
up.
>> okay, how old are you?
>> I'm 17.
>> what's your name?
>> jordan turpin.
>> okay, I'm going to connect
you to the sheriff's department
so that they can help.
>> what?
>> one moment.
Don't hang up.
>> I won't.
>> a second dispatcher picks up.
>> hello.
>> oh, yes, I'm still here.
>> nearly four years later,
this is jordan turpin
remembering that night.
>> my whole body was shaking.
And when I was holding the
phone, I remember the phone
was sh -- like, I couldn't
really dial 911 because --
I'm sorry.
>> you were shaking too much?
>> yeah, I was shaking, and so I
was trying, like, to -- to dial
911, but I couldn't even get
my -- my thumb to press the
buttons because I was shaking so
bad.
But I was, like, trying to,
like, calm down.
Thank you so much.
I was trying to, like, calm down
so I could -- I could --
to do it.
And then I finally, like,
pressed it, and then they
answered.
I literally never talked to
somebody on the phone.
>> what's your address?
>> okay, you got to give me a
minute.
This is going to take a while.
I've never been out.
I don't go out much, so I don't
know anything about the streets
or anything.
>> the dispatcher tracks her
location from the gps on her
cell phone and sends out a
request for a police officer.
A deputy across town volunteers.
He's 14 minutes away.
>> and I was freaking out
because I was like, "wait, are
they gonna take me back there?"
like, I was so scared in that
moment.
I was actually on the road,
because I didn't even know about
the sidewalks.
You're supposed to be on the
sidewalk, but I'd never been out
there.
>> the caller tries to find her
house address on a piece of
envelope she stuffed in her
backpack.
>> my address is
9-2-5-7-0-5-7-4.
Did you get it?
>> okay.
So now you just gave me a whole
bunch of numbers.
You didn't give me any kind of
street name there.
>> oh, okay, I'm sorry.
I think those are the numbers on
my house.
>> that's your zip code.
You're -- the numbers on your
house should only be three
digits.
>> finally she reads the correct
address but is panicking, not
knowing whether her parents can
look out a window and see her.
>> are you at a corner right
now?
>> uh, I -- I might be.
>> are you at -- is there a
street sign?
Is there a pole with two names
at the top?
>> I just see -- I just see a
stop sign.
>> okay, can you go over and
stand right at that stop sign?
>> yes.
And then eventually I saw a stop
sign.
And I stood by the stop sign.
And she told me to stay there,
and I was like, "I'm scared
they're gonna come."
like, I wanted to leave.
I was so terrified because I
know they way they were.
They wouldn't care if they knew
police were coming.
They would just kill me right
there and there if they realized
that -- especially if they knew
I was on the phone with the
police.
>> but she tries to remain
brave, because of her siblings.
She is their hope.
>> the reason I ran away from
home was because the chains were
making places, and they will
wake up at night.
And they would start crying, and
they wanted me to call somebody
and tell them.
And so I wanted to call -- I
wanted to call you all so you
all could help my sisters.
>> do you think anybody in the
house will need to go to the
hospital?
>> uh, I'm not sure.
Sometimes we live in filth, and
sometimes I wake up and I can't
breathe because of how dirty the
house is.
We never take baths.
>> when was the last time you
had a bath?
>> what?
>> when was the last time you
had a bath?
>> almost a year ago.
>> I had to make sure that if I
left, we wouldn't go back.
Because -- and we would get the
help we needed, because if we
went back, there's no way I
would be sitting here right now.
>> I don't know how you had the
courage, never having spoken to
anyone like that.
>> I think it was, like, us
coming so close to death so many
times.
And, like, I was worried about
my siblings, and when I saw them
crying and worried, I just felt
like I had to do it.
Like, like, I just wanted to do
it.
I wanted to help everyone.
>> do you know if your parents
keep any kind of weapons in the
house?
>> uh, I think that my father
has a gun.
>> have you seen the gun?
>> no.
But they've talked about it.
>> the dispatcher knows if this
girl with the strange cadence
and vocabulary hangs up or the
call drops, there's no way to
get her back.
Her old phone has been disabled.
It can only call out to 911.
So the dispatcher tries to keep
her talking.
>> do you know what your dad's
name is?
>> david turpin.
I don't know much about my
mother.
She doesn't like us.
She doesn't spend time with us
ever.
>> does anybody at the house
take any kind of medication?
>> oh, I don't know what
medication is.
>> any medicines?
>> ah, when we have a cold,
sometimes we take robitussin.
>> at incredible speed, the
girls rattles off the names and
ages of each sibling.
Their names have been redacted.
>> [ bleep ] is 2.
>> [ bleep ] is 11.
12, 14, 16.
I'm 17.
18, 19, 20.
22, 23.
25 I think.
29.
>> the deputy is now just seven
minutes away.
>> I just want to stay on the
phone with you.
Um, how did you get this phone
that you have?
>> ah, it was a phone that my
brother had that he was gonna
throw away, and I had to have a
way to contact somebody like
you.
So I got it so I could call 911.
>> and you guys don't have any
friends or anybody who comes
over to the house?
>> hi.
>> hey.
>> okay.
>> is that the deputy?
>> um, yes.
>> go talk to him, okay?
>> yes.
>> all right.
Bye-bye.
>> hi, jordan.
>> you're looking at the body
camera footage from the deputy
as he arrives.
>> hi, what's going on?
>> reporter: Moving into frame,
the skittish girl who has to
convince this stranger her story
is real.
>> I was so nervous, because it
was -- I've never had, like, a
conversation with a stranger
before.
And so I saw him, and he was so
serious.
And he was tall, and aye never
talked to a stranger.
I was so, like, scared.
I didn't know what he was
thinking, because he had just
like, one straight face.
>> reporter: You didn't know if
he believed you or not.
>> right.
He was like, did you have any
proof of this?
I was like yes.
>> he knew they were real.
It was obvious they were real.
>> reporter: When we come back,
the photos, the body cam
footage, and what the deputy saw
that changed everything.
>> reporter: You're watching
footage from a body camera, a
deputy walking up to an anxious
girl with a disjointed story.
>> hi, what's going on?
>> okay.
I --
I just ran away from home.
>> okay.
>> and I live in a family of 15.
>> okay.
>> my two little sisters right
now are chained up.
>> they're chained up?
>> yes.
>> where are they chained up at?
>> on the bed.
Now, mother didn't chain them up
just to be mean.
Okay.
They're chained up because they
stole mother's food.
>> uh-huh.
>> but -- I'm sorry if I talk
too much.
Okay.
I've never talked to anybody out
there, so I don't -- I've never
been alone with a person, so
this is very hard for me to
talk.
Okay.
>> how did you -- do your
parents know you left your
house?
>> no, they don't.
>> do you take any medication?
>> what's medication?
>> medication?
>> yeah.
What's medication?
>> do you take pills?
Do you take pills for --
>> oh, I don't think I've ever
taken a pill before.
>> okay.
>> right, I haven't.
Um, but --
>> reporter: The girl with the
strange vocabulary nervously
puts on a little hat, a reminder
of one of her sisters who's
depending on her.
>> our parents are abusing.
They abuse us.
But the reason I called and the
reason I managed to get out
here -- this is one of the most
scariest things I've ever done.
I'm terrified.
But I called because my two
little sisters, they're chained
up right now.
>> reporter: The deputy, a
9-year veteran of the force, is
not sure what to make of the
17-year-old girl who looks so
much younger.
He is ending a graveyard shift,
and it's been a hard night.
>> robbery calls, assault calls.
Deputies were shot at.
>> reporter: He responded to the
runaway call because he knows
how they usually end.
You take the kids back home to
reconcile with their parents.
>> I decided to take it
thinking, hey, this might be a
good way just to end my shift.
>> reporter: And then, on
instinct, he asks a question.
>> do you have pictures of that?
>> yes.
I can show you.
I actually didn't have it, and
then one of my sisters told me I
need to get pictures.
>> do you have pictures of your
sisters chained up?
>> yes, because they're -- yeah,
they're in here.
I don't have proof of everything
but I have proof that my sisters
are chained up.
So, see?
>> reporter: She doesn't seem to
know the word "bruised."
>> here you can look at them.
See?
Those are the places that make
in on them.
And see how dirty she is?
We're so filthy.
We don't take baths.
We don't --
>> how did your sisters get like
this?
>> okay.
>> your parents chained them up?
>> yes.
Because they stole food.
>> okay.
>> but they stole it because
they were hungry.
>> who took this picture?
>> I did.
I took those pictures.
>> okay.
You make sure to save these
okay?
>> okay.
I will.
>> don't get rid of those.
>> I will.
I won't.
>> they looked very sad,
malnourished.
They were very pale.
>> reporter: This is that
deputy, anthony colace.
>> once I saw that photo, it
really sealed the deal for me.
>> reporter: Colace knows this
girl is not your usual runaway.
She has identified a possible
crime in progress, and her
parents could be trying to find
her.
>> can you do me a favor, take a
seat in the back of my car?
>> okay.
>> do you have any injuries?
>> what's injuries?
>> are you hurt?
>> oh!
No.
Not right now.
>> reporter: Colace radios in
for backup.
>> 1 perris 32, can I have
11-10?
>> reporter: With his body cam
running, he gathers more facts,
trying to piece the story
together.
>> what are your parents going
to do when they find out you
left?
>> uh, they're going to want to
literally kill me.
>> what's the worst thing
they've done to you?
>> uh --
they have choked me against the
bed and --
>> did you call the police?
>> no, I didn't have a way to
get a phone yet.
This is the first chance I've
had a phone.
>> reporter: Suddenly, she
remembers another detail, a
horror recounted as part of her
everyday life.
>> oh, my brother's chained up
too right now.
>> they're chained up?
>> one of my brothers is chained
up.
So three people are chained up
right now.
>> and what does your mom do?
>> nothing.
She just stays at home.
But she's always gone.
>> well, why don't you guys just
leave the house?
>> because we're terrified.
We don't really have a way.
Everyone is always looking.
There's always somebody.
>> reporter: Deputy colace is
stunned by the girl in the back
seat with limited words and so
much courage.
>> I asked her what her middle
name was.
She said it was elizabeth.
I asked her to spell it.
She couldn't spell it.
I wanted her to know people on
the outside are loving and
caring.
>> reporter: He notices a video
on her cell phone.
She's singing.
He asks to watch it.
♪ you blame me for everything ♪
♪ I don't understand ♪
>> this is a great video and
you're a beautiful singer.
>> reporter: Daylight arches
over a pleasant suburban
neighborhood.
It's Sunday.
Most residents are still asleep.
Quietly, riverside county
sheriff's deputies pull up to
a house.
On the outside, a house just
like the others.
It has been an hour and a half
since jordan turpin climbed out
the window.
>> so they were like, if we walk
in, would they still be chained.
I was like, if they didn't
notice me missing yes, yes.
But if they notice me missing,
they're gonna try to cover that
all up.
And they asked me if I wanted to
come up, and I was freaking out,
I was, like, no, no, no, no.
Like, honestly, I thought, like,
knowing them, what if they
killed me right there and there,
even if the police were there?
>> say I'm doing a welfare
check?
>> yeah.
>> since a child may be in
danger, the deputies do not need
a warrant to enter the house.
They knock for two minutes and
ten seconds.
>> they're obviously not
opening.
>> then suddenly the door cracks
open.
>> hi.
>> reporter: A mother and father
appear.
>> how you guys doing?
>> good.
>> we got a call um for a check
the welfare here at your house.
>> reporter: They are breathing
heavily.
>> yeah, why?
>> do you guys have kids in the
house?
>> yes.
Okay, what kind of call did you
get?
>> how you doing, sir?
>> I'm doing okay.
>> we were just in bed.
I mean, like --
>> david and louise turpin, who
have concealed a chamber of
horrors for almost 30 years now
watch as deputies start to make
their way through the door.
>> we're going the come in and
check, okay?
>> reporter: And in one of the
rooms inside the house, someone
is waiting in her bed, eyes wide
open, praying that knock on the
door means her sister made it to
freedom.
>> knock, knock, knock.
And I'm like -- and then they
said, it's the police.
And I'm like, this is it.
>> reporter: In the next hour,
we will show you the video as it
happens, what law enforcement
sees when they walk into the
house.
Their first encount we are
emaciated children, some of them
chained to their beds.
>> reporter: I can't believe the
two young women walking toward
our cameras were travelers from
a dark world who invented their
own light.
It's been four years since the
day in January 2018 when they
were rescued, treated at a
hospital, and given new life.
Jordan turpin, now 21 years old.
Her sister who helped plan the
escape, the oldest turpin child,
jennifer, now 33.
How are you?
>> awesome.
I'm doing really good.
>> reporter: January 14th, 2018.
>> yeah.
Big day.
>> reporter: What's the first
thing you did that you look back
on and think, that was my first
moment of real freedom"
>> actually, being in the
hospital.
When music was playing, I got up
and I made sure there was a
little bit of a floor cleared
out, and I danced.
>> the first place we went, we
went to a park with two of my
sisters.
And I was so excited because I
could smell the air.
I could smell the grass.
I was, like, how could heaven be
better than this?
Oh, my gosh, this is so free.
Like, this is life.
>> reporter: They are speaking
for the first time, ready to
talk about their lives but
respecting the privacy of the
siblings they love and the
stories written on all their
bodies when they arrived at the
hospital, where doctors and
nurses wept at what they saw.
Children so emaciated they had
difficulty walking, stunted
growth, heart damage from a lack
of nutrients.
A preteen whose arm was the size
of a 4-month-old baby.
Their speech, their language,
limited by the isolation and
neglect.
>> all of us went through a lot,
and all of us went through our
own things, and to be honest,
not even all of us know every
single thing each one of us went
through.
>> exactly.
And nothing's ever going to be
that bad.
Nothing's gonna be as bad as
29 years in what the only word I
know to call it is hell.
>> reporter: A hell created by
her own parents, who started
out two kids growing up in a
small town in west virginia.
David turpin, by all accounts,
a nerdy boy with bowl cut hair
and a shy stutter.
He graduated from virginia tech
and was offered a well paid job
at lockheed martin.
Louise robinette, a girl six
years younger, a member of the
bible club.
She sang in the choir.
She grew up suffering a family
secret which we'll tell you
later.
This is their wedding photo.
She's just 16.
They are a couple both steeped
in the pentecostal church.
With its message about the
insidious power of the devil,
and the rules -- no drinking, no
sex before marriage.
And that's how the young couple
began life in this nice house
in a nice neighborhood in
fort worth, texas.
They tell family god has called
on them to have as many children
as they can.
He is 26, she's 20 when they
have their first little girl.
There's jennifer.
You can see her smile is so much
like the smile of the mother she
once loved.
>> my first memory, I was about
2 years old, and it wasn't to
me.
>> reporter: What was it?
>> I went downstairs for a glass
of water, for a cup of water.
And on the stairs, I saw my
father yelling very loudly at my
mother.
My mother was crying.
>> she started to say something.
He's like, "no, you shut up!"
and he took his fist and punched
it in the wall, made a hole in
the wall.
I was terrified.
>> reporter: As her father yells
in anger, she says her loving
mother heads into unpredictable
mood swings.
>> it was like I never knew
which side I was going to get of
her if I was going to ask her a
question.
Like, she going to call me
stupid or something.
But anyway -- and then -- or
like yank me across the floor.
Or she going to be nice and
answer my question?
>> reporter: Neighbors are never
invited inside that house, where
the bright white walls are now
gray with dirt and stains.
Carpets with human filth.
The shower floor seems black
with mold.
When jennifer shows up at grade
school, she's a little girl with
unwashed hair, unwashed clothes.
>> I remember wanting to make
friends.
I remember all of them didn't
want to be my friend.
Didn't really understand why.
They called me skinny bones
and acted like they didn't want
to be around me.
I probably smelled.
But I didn't realize at the time
I smelled.
But that stench clings to you.
It stays with you.
'cause we would literally live
in houses piled with trash, and
I mean literally piled with
trash.
Mold and everything.
And there's no good way to get
rid of a smell like that.
So it was on my clothes, it was
on me.
And I think that had a lot to do
with it.
>> reporter: Is it possible that
some of her teachers noticed
something?
Years later, there are no
records from the school.
But after the third grade,
jennifer's parents take her out,
and no turpin child will go to
grade school again.
The family moves into an
isolated house in rural texas.
David turpin commutes to
lockheed martin.
They pose for photographs to
send home to family, as four
kids become nine, nine become
12.
But when they go back to the
house, the children are not
allowed outside.
All of them taught to honor thy
father and mother and only to
call them that.
>> we'll call them mother and
father for the sake of the
interview, but I don't like
calling them that.
'cause they're not that to me.
They literally used the bible
to explain their behavior
toward us.
>> reporter: What parts of the
bible?
>> they loved to point out
things in deuteronomy, saying
that, we have the right to do
this to you.
That they had the right to even
kill us if we didn't listen.
>> reporter: Disobey mother,
talk back, steal a piece of
candy -- you can be thrown
across the room, pushed down the
stairs.
Father also used belts and
sticks and eventually dog
kennels with padlocks and
homemade cages.
Jennifer draws the shape of the
cage.
And every day, did you wake up
in terror?
>> yeah.
'cause I -- I was afraid to do
one little thing wrong.
If I did one little thing wrong,
I was going to be beaten.
And not just beat, like, beat
till I bled.
>> reporter: You okay?
Want to take a minute?
>> I want to take a break.
A little break.
Sorry.
>> reporter: Let's do it.
Let's take a break here.
Wade walsvick, lead investigator
on the turpin case.
A 33-year veteran of abuse and
homicide cases.
How long did it take you to
figure out that this was unlike
anything you'd ever seen before?
>> probably within the first
couple of days.
>> reporter: The parents move
their children further off the
radar.
A trailer behind the house.
And then they abandon them
to seek their own adventures.
They drop off weekly
groceries -- never enough.
Jordan was 6 when her parents
left.
She says at times she ate
leaves, grass.
>> there was a lot of starving.
So I would have to figure out
how to eat.
Like, I would either eat
ketchup, or mustard or ice.
>> reporter: Ice cubes and
ketchup?
>> yeah.
>> reporter: And jennifer is
forced to discipline the
children by putting them in
father's cages.
>> the cages that they were
instructed to put their siblings
in.
Or that they would be put in if
they didn't.
>> reporter: That is the
nightmare choice.
>> which is why she struggled so
hard as a 17, 18, 19-year-old,
so much.
>> reporter: It's not a choice
if survival is --
>> the answer.
But living in that, you kind of
feel like you're torn because
you don't know what to do.
Because I was on the brink of
suicide.
I wanted to just end it all.
All my pain, everything.
>> three years go by, and no one
seems to notice them.
No one intervenes.
But after the turpin story
breaks, a little boy remembers
he once had a classmate in
ft. Worth named jennifer turpin.
A frail girl with a brave smile.
He has since become a doctor.
He wrote this plea on facebook.
Jennifer turpin was the one girl
nobody wanted to be caught
talking to.
I can't help but feel an
overwhelming sense of guilt
and shame.
The person who sat across from
you at the lunch table went home
to squalor and filth while you
went home to a warm meal and a
bedtime story.
The resounding lesson -- teach
your children to be nice.
Befriend the jennifer turpins of
the world.
Coming up --
the video of david and
louise tuprin celebrating their
love story.
>> mm, baby.
>> reporter: Certain their
abused children will keep their
secret.
What did they tell these
children that paralyzed them
with fear of the outside world?
♪
>> reporter: In a las vegas
chapel, a middle-aged couple
is renewing their vows.
The chapel is filming the
occasion.
>> I, david --
>> take thee, louise --
>> to be my wedded wife.
>> my best friend.
>> my soul mate.
>> to have and to hold.
>> from this day.
>> and forever.
>> mmm, baby.
♪ wise men say ♪
>> reporter: And while their
children were starving in that
texas trailer, investigators say
the devoted couple had moved
into a motel to go out drinking,
posting photos of their
adventures.
And now the children they had
abandoned are in the chapel with
them, dressed in identical
outfits to celebrate their
parents' love story.
♪ you ain't nothing but a ♪
>> say hound dog.
>> hound dog!
>> hunka hunka.
>> burning love.
>> baby, baby.
>> mama, mama.
>> and we put our hands
together, ladies and gentlemen.
♪ you ain't nothing but a hound
dog ♪
>> reporter: There's jennifer,
the oldest.
There's jordan, the eighth.
Rail thin arms, awkward dancing.
So these are the pictures that
we saw.
>> that moment --
we, of course, were happy to be
out doing something.
At the same time, I know inside
I was like, this is all a mask.
This is all fake.
We're not this big, happy family
that they always portray to
everyone.
And that always bothered me.
And --
that's, like, a mix of things in
that moment that I was feeling,
personally.
>> she would get us all dressed.
We would get clean, and then we
would go out.
And it would be, like, the best
day ever.
We were so happy, all of us.
♪ falling in love with you ♪
>> but then when we would come
back, it was just like, put on
the same dirty clothes and sit
back to where -- and I used to
always wonder, like, why
couldn't we just be a family
like that all the time?
>> reporter: The family now
lives under one roof in perris,
california, a suburb with
spanish style homes, flowers
by the door.
David turpin has a new job as an
engineer at northrop grumman.
He also has a new mustang.
On another car a vanity plate --
"david and louise 4 ever."
but behind the closed door of
this house in the suburbs,
louise turpin seems to have a
manic pattern of shopping
sprees, racking up huge credit
card debts with her childlike
obsession with buying children's
clothes, toys, games she hoards.
The children are not allowed to
touch mother's toys unless she
gives permission.
This is a video made in the
house of one the children's
closets.
Brand-new clothes with price
tags on them, while the children
remain dressed in filth.
>> they would buy literally so
many expensive clothes and toys
and stuff that they wasn't ever
gonna use.
About 100 different collector
monopolies and stuff like that.
>> reporter: At this point,
david turpin files for
bankruptcy.
They decide the children will
have to economize.
So every day it was bread and
peanut butter?
>> mostly.
Very occasionally we would get,
like, food frozen or maybe fast
food place.
>> reporter: So what did your
mother and father eat?
>> oh, they -- they always ate
fast food, frozen meals.
They had the good stuff.
And I was the one usually
preparing it.
>> reporter: A video of the
turpin refigerater, stocked with
items the parents eat.
>> reporter: What did they say
to you about eating what they
wanted?
>> they blamed it on us.
They said they couldn't afford
it because we were stealing.
>> reporter: And by stealing,
you're really -- you're talking
about food?
>> yeah.
We had a weird schedule.
Most of the time we were up at
night and then sleeping in the
day.
>> reporter: And the blinds were
closed so the neighbors couldn't
see.
>> we wasn't allowed to look out
or open them.
We wasn't even allowed to stand
up.
We were supposed to, like, be
sitting down all the time.
>> reporter: Later police find a
video of the hungry, unbathed
children hiding from view in a
hallway.
Their father, en route to his
job, smiles.
Jordan is filming this.
It's a little camera she found
on her barbie doll.
You can see the camera there on
the barbie's neck, the record
button on her little belt.
So take a look at this scene
again.
13 children in their perris,
california, home.
So many houses just a few feet
away.
>> that bothers me because I
know some neighbors knew things
were going on.
So I wish they did something
like, just have somebody look
into it.
>> reporter: And why did the
california school system never
check up on a homeschool called
the "sandcastle day school"?
These are documents filed by
david turpin, who proclaims
himself principal.
Louise is the teacher.
>> a lot of child abuse gets
reported through our schools.
Teachers and school
administrators are mandated
reporters.
So, you know, if a child comes
to school with bruises or
emaciated, that is a very common
way that it gets reported.
>> reporter: Mike hestrin is the
riverside county district
attorney.
>> in this case, the turpin
family claimed that they were
homeschooling their kids.
They weren't.
They used the homeschooling
system as a way to avoid any
scrutiny.
>> reporter: And when mother and
father are out of the house, the
little prisoners emerge.
>> when mother was gone or
father was gone, we would, like,
sneak and talk.
And, like, sometimes we would
open the window, and we would
stick our head out.
>> reporter: They listen to
music.
There's a tv to watch.
A few trusted older siblings now
have smartphones so that mother
and father can always reach them
they take videos of the food
they hide in their beds.
And most of all, these children
are so desperate for an
education they try to teach each
other language and what it is to
be human.
You taught each other --
>> yes.
>> reporter: What you knew.
>> we just did the best we could
with what we did know.
>> I knew the whole alphabet,
but I had my sisters help me
with that.
They taught me the --
>> the vowels?
>> yeah, the vowels.
>> reporter: The children are
told not speak to strangers when
they are taken out on rare
occasions to get those posed
photographs.
And again, that video in
las vegas.
Would you have spotted any fear
in their faces?
They've been told one mistake
and something called child
protective services could come
and separate them forever.
>> I thought that we all go in
different countries.
And I thought that we would
never see each other again,
and I thought that we would be
put into cages and they would
starve us.
And then as soon as we turn 18,
just throw us out on the street.
Mother usually spoke for us.
>> we were also instructed on
certain questions that may be
asked of us.
Like, if they say what grade
you're in, you tell them this.
There would be times where I
would be like, wait, what grade
am I supposed to be in?
>> I know.
Me, too.
I would be, like, going to one
of my sisters.
I used to be, like, memorize,
like, "6, 7, 8."
>> I know.
>> like, it's, "I'm 8, and I'm
supposed to be in 3rd grade."
>> reporter: So they dance.
They pretend.
And the parents don't know that
one of their children has
borrowed a sibling's phone and
is about to see something that
will ignite a plan to escape.
>> reporter: In 2015, how does
jordan turpin start to summon
the courage to run?
She secretly opens a sibling's
smartphone.
>> I don't know where we would
be if we didn't watch
justin bieber.
♪ and I was like
baby, baby, baby, ooh
like baby baby
baby nooo ♪
>> justin bieber was the first
thing who fascinated you?
>> oh, well, I never talked to
justin bieber.
>> reporter: No, but watching.
>> oh, I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry.
Yes.
I loved "as long as you love me"
and "boyfriend" and "baby."
♪ na na na
na na na
if I was your boyfriend ♪
>> reporter: Never underestimate
the power and reach of a teenage
heartthrob to enchant a
14-year-old fan, even one
trapped in a cruel prison.
>> I started realizing that
there is a different world out
there.
I only knew one world, and that
was, like, always being there.
I was just blown minded by how
different it is out there,
and I always, like, I want to be
out there.
I want to be like that.
I want to experience that.
I want to do that.
>> reporter: In bieber's videos,
the houses are nice.
He has friends, and he talks
about being sad and searching
for god and comfort just like
her.
She says she loved learning new
words from him for her stunted
vocabulary.
>> I, like, watched all his
interviews.
And it was actually, watching
him that made me learn fast,
smarter, because I started
paying attention.
>> if god is based on love,
it's, I love you first,
regardless of what you do,
rather than, you do this and
I'll love you.
>> reporter: She started to
understand the fragments of hope
she'd seen on tv.
♪ we're all in this together ♪
>> reporter: Happy kids in
pretty dresses, so far away from
her life.
She had tried to make a pretty
dress with old paper she found
around the house.
>> but, yeah, like, "high school
musical" and all those other
disney channels and stuff,
like, "hannah montana."
>> now why don't you tell me
what's really on your mind?
>> those movies when their
daughter would feel like they
could talk to their mom.
And we'd be like, oh, my gosh,
if I did that, there's no way.
But it's like -- it's just
always like, is that really how
it is in real life?
>> reporter: Something is
changing inside this quiet
child.
And, like, somehow get, like,
social media and then start
talking to other people.
'cause I've never talked to
strangers before.
>> reporter: With her secret
phone she decides to post a
little song she has written
online.
♪ you blame me
for everything ♪
♪ you blame me
for what they say
what they say ♪
♪ you blame me
for everything ♪
>> when mother and father would
leave, I would -- that's when I
would sneak in the bathroom and
I would make my videos and put
them out.
And I was hoping, like, if I
made those videos, then people
might follow me on social media.
And some did.
>> reporter: A stranger writes,
asking why she's always inside
and up at night.
>> he kind of just realized that
I was always in my room, and
then he started asking
questions.
And I told him how we eat and
how we're not allowed to get out
of bed.
He was like, this isn't right.
You should call the cops.
Like, I was so happy to hear him
say that because I was like,
I was right.
I was right that the situation
was so bad.
>> reporter: And one day, jordan
is caught secretly watching a
justin bieber video.
>> mother, she choked me, and I
thought I was gonna die that
day.
And after that whole day
happened, I kept having
nightmares that we were gonna --
that she was killing me.
>> reporter: What jordan turpin
knows is that the moment has
arrived.
You either crack, or you decide
to fight.
>> I kept having nightmares that
I was dying.
And when I woke up, I was crying
so hard.
And that day was when I was
like -- I told my two sisters,
I'm gonna leave.
>> reporter: Coming up --
she starts to plan her escape.
But the clock is ticking.
One chance to get out and not
pay with her life.
And the video cameras in real
time as police move through that
house.
>>> the time for escape is now.
>> help.
>> this is 911.
Duff an emergency?
>> it's literally a now or
never.
>> a desperate plan for freedom.
>> if something happened to me,
at least addaed trying.
>> 13 siblings held captive by
their parents.
>> locked inside for decades.
For the first time, we're taking
you inside that house of horrors
as the police saw it in
realtime.
The sights, the secrets.
>> I found the missing link.
>> reporter: What do you know
about why these two people did
this to their children?
>> 13 times over.
>> and what's happened since
then?
Were many of the promises made
to them promises broken?
Who is accountable?
We're looking for answers.
>> can I ask you, sir?
>> and looking at joy.
>> I want my name and her name,
the turpin name -- like, wow,
they're strong.
>> reporter: Behind the closed
door of a suburban house in a
nice neighborhood, where a
christmas ornament hangs in the
window, inside, there is a
cruelty you do not have to
imagine.
You can see it in the pictures.
Chains used to tie little arms
and legs.
One child tied with a rope uses
his teeth to escape so they
switch to thicker, heavier
chains.
A child both hands attached to
run railing can't roll over or
itch the lice on his head.
Chained for a month, two months,
only released to go to the
bathroom, if they can make it in
time.
Jordan turpin looks at what is
happening to her siblings and
wrestles an agonizing choice.
>> I knew I would die if I got
caught.
But at the end, when I saw,
like, all my younger siblings,
and everyone -- everyone was
scared, I knew that's what I had
to do.
>> reporter: She decides to go
to her sister secretly to ask
for help.
>> she's like, we ned to get out
of here.
So I gave her all the advice I
knew.
All the advice I could.
>> reporter: Jennifer had tried
to escape herself long ago but
came back.
She wrote a song, a kind of
prayer for god to help them.
♪ lord, I hate my life ♪
♪ help me see the light ♪
♪ I am losing faith ♪
♪ help me see the day ♪
♪ lord, help me see the light ♪
♪ light in this darkness ♪
>> reporter: She draws a
primitive little map for her
sister jordan, trying to
re-create what she knows about
the world outside their house.
She thinks the road out may be
there or there.
It's hard to be sure.
In a dark room, jordan films a
phone call with another sister
who asks a taxi company how much
it would cost to take someone
out of california to nevada.
>> the very beginning of nevada.
>> yeah, how much would it cost?
>> a couple hundred?
I'm not going.
I'll take a bus.
>> reporter: Did your parents
know you had the phones?
>> no.
No, they didn't.
>> reporter: Since a taxi costs
too much, jordan remembers
something she's seen on a tv
show called "cops."
>> I got those photos 'cause I
knew that -- that I would need
proof of that.
>> get pictures, anything to
prove, so they can't think
you're just a teenager looking
for attention.
>> reporter: Two of jordan's
little sisters have now been
chained to their beds in the
room they all share.
They were caught stealing
mother's candy.
She cannot bear their cries at
night.
Photos of them would be proof.
>> I asked them permission
before taking it, and they said
yes.
So they knew why I was taking
the picture, and they knew what
it was for.
And they -- they letted me.
>> reporter: And then on January
14, 2018, the signal that time
has run out.
Jordan hears mother say the
family is moving to oklahoma and
everyone is getting chained.
>> the very next day we were
moving.
It was literally a now or never.
>> everyone's getting chained.
I knew I had to leave that
night.
That was my only chance.
At least if something happened
to me, at least I died trying.
Because if we went to oklahoma,
there was a big chance that some
of us would have died.
>> I honestly don't know that
at least one, maybe two of them,
would've survived the trip.
They were in such horrible
decline and on the edge of
starvation.
>> so I started grabbing my
bags.
And I put on, like, some
clothes, clean clothes so I
wouldn't, like, smell or
anything.
>> reporter: She puts pillows
under a blanket to look like her
in case her parents peek into
the bedroom.
She climbs up on the windowsill
and drops down.
There she is again in that
security camera footage starting
to run.
>> I could barely walk.
My legs were shaking.
Everywhere was shaking.
I was so scared.
>> reporter: And something she
didn't know at the time, there
in the shadows, someone else is
slipping out the window and
running in the opposite
direction.
It's her sister who can't find
jordan and then slowly makes her
way back.
You can see that too on the
security camera footage.
While somewhere in the darkness,
jordan is making the lifesaving
call.
>> 911.
What's your name?
>> jordan turpin.
>> I was trying, like, to dial
911, but I couldn't even get
my -- my thumb to press the
buttons because I was shaking
so bad.
My two little sisters right now
are chained.
They will wake up at night, and
they would start crying and they
wanted me to call somebody and
tell them.
>> hi, jordan.
>> hi.
What's going on?
>> reporter: The deputy who
arrives is so intuitive, he asks
that critical question and she
is ready.
>> you have pictures of your
sisters chained up?
>> yes.
I don't have proof of
everything, but I have proof
that my sisters are chained up.
>> who took this picture?
>> I did, I took those pictures.
>> okay.
You make sure to save these,
okay?
>> okay I will.
>> don't get rid of those.
>> I will.
I won't.
>> take a seat back here, okay?
>> okay.
>> reporter: The sun is up.
Reinforcements arrive.
Riverside county deputies walk
up to the door, no idea what
they'll find on the other side.
This is body camera footage of
the police officers knocking on
and off for two minutes and ten
seconds.
>> they're obviously not
opening.
>> suddenly the door cracks
open.
>> hi.
>> hello.
>> hi.
Sorry to bug you.
>> how you guys doing?
>> good.
>> we got a call for a check the
welfare here at your house.
So.
>> for -- for what?
>> check the welfare.
So we just basically check on
everybody and make sure
everybody's okay.
>> yeah, why?
>> do you guys have kids in the
house?
>> yes.
>> reporter: We now know they
had been scrambling to have
someone unlock the chains.
>> okay.
Do you mind if we just come in
and take a look?
Make sure everybody's safe and
everything's okay?
>> okay, what kind of call did
you get?
>> we got a call that there was
a young female walking around
saying that she came from a
house over here.
We were able to find out that
this was the house, and we just
wanted to check and make sure
that everybody was okay.
>> they said she came from here?
>> that's what she said.
>> from inside this house?
>> I think so.
Otherwise we wouldn't be
knocking on your door on Sunday.
>> did she say her name?
>> um, I don't know -- did she
say her name?
>> I don't know offhand but we
need to check the welfare of
everybody inside, okay?
Once we get in and make sure
everything's okay, we'll get out
of your hair.
>> well, we have a lot where
we're packing.
We're getting ready to move.
>> that's fine.
>> so it's a mess in here.
>> we don't mind messes.
We've been in worse.
>> but, I mean --
>> how you doing, sir?
>> I'm doing okay.
>> no weapons in the house or
anything like that?
>> I do have -- I do, I do have
a gun.
But it's locked up.
>> okay.
Locked up is good.
We like that.
Okay, well we're going to come
in and check, okay?
We just want to make sure
everybody's okay.
>> do you have a search warrant
or anything?
>> no, we don't need one, sir.
>> reporter: The deputies move
through the door.
Coming up next, the body cameras
and the stunning scene inside.
>>> do you have a search warrant
or anything?
>> no, we don't need one, sir.
>> reporter: As sheriff's
deputies move through a door
into a horrifying landscape,
the windows are closed.
The room is swelteringly hot,
magnifying the stench of
excrement, decaying garbage,
mounds of mother's molding food.
Every sofa, counter, floor
covered in layers of trash
and unopened toys.
>> hi, kids.
Hello.
It's okay.
>> reporter: Louise turpin
quickly tries to follow the
deputies.
>> all right.
Stay there for me for now.
>> an officer distracts
david turpin with topic after
topic.
>> okay.
What's your name, sir?
>> david.
>> where you guys planning on
moving to?
>> oklahoma.
No, my job's moving.
>> louise turpin is directed to
go back to the front door.
>> why don't you stay over here
with my partner, okay?
>> a pale, emaciated child moves
through the living room.
Her clothes dirty.
So is her hair.
>> okay.
What do you do for work?
>> I'm an engineer.
>> oh, engineer.
>> 35 is another 10.
>> louise turpin nervously
probes again.
>> you got a call?
>> yeah, we got a call from --
not sure if it was the young
girl that left or if it was a
neighbor that saw her walking
around the street.
So, we'll get to the bottom of
it.
Assuming we make sure
everybody's okay.
Then we'll figure out if maybe
she was one of your kids that
wandered away.
How many kids do you have?
>> 13.
>> 13?
Total?
Whoo.
You guys are busy.
>> yeah.
>> reporter: As the parents are
talking, deputies head into the
center of the house.
There's a hallway.
They pass the parents' bedroom.
Then down the hall, two other
bedrooms.
The deputy looks in the first
door and discovers a crushing
scene.
Those two young girls from their
sister's photos.
One is on a bed, the other a
mattress on the floor.
They are limp, frail, eerily
quiet, caked in dirt.
Their arms are bruised.
But where are the chains?
>> hi, sweetheart.
Hi, girls.
Can I see your wrists?
>> me?
>> yeah.
>> which one?
>> okay.
Hi, how old are you?
>> reporter: Next, the deputy
heads to the bedroom next door.
Two filthy bunk beds, but no
child is chained.
He pleads with the children.
Can they tell him, where are
those chains?
>> okay.
Thank you.
We're here to help you.
Okay?
Just work with my guys.
We will help you guys, okay?
>> reporter: Back at the front
doorway, the deputy who has been
talking to the parents notices
something.
Almost obscured by the 6'1"
david turpin and the pile of
boxes to his right --
>> is there a bedroom back here?
>> yeah.
>> you got another couple of
kiddos that sleep here?
>> yeah.
>> sarge, you got another room
in the front right here with two
kiddos in the bed.
>> where at?
>> right here.
>> reporter: Deputies move the
parents to the living room.
And when officers walk inside
the bedroom behind those boxes,
they see three remaining
children, including a boy
shackled to his bed, thick
chains on his wrist.
Another set of thick chains on
his ankle.
He has been this way for weeks.
A deputy gently asks his name
and starts looking for the keys
to unlock him.
Back in the bedroom down the
hall, where the two girls from
jordan's photos sit quietly,
the deputy is directed to go the
closet, and there on the floor
he finds the chains.
>> okay.
I found the missing link.
>> all right, let's just go
ahead and detain the parents.
>> ma'am, why don't you step
over here for a minute?
Okay.
With you.
And, sir, step over here for a
second.
>> reporter: After decades of
hiding their cruelty --
david and louise turpin are in
handcuffs.
>> go ahead and come out this
way.
Want to just walk him to my car
in.
>> yep.
>> and walked out of the house.
>> put her in a different car,
please.
>> as the parents head towards
police cars, inside a problem.
Deputies can't find the key to
unlock the boy still chained to
his bed.
>> now, let me ask you --
>> yes.
>> quickly, are there keys to
the little locks?
>> yes.
>> where are they?
>> my son and daughter can get
them.
That's in the house.
>> the ones in the house know
where they are?
>> yeah.
>> is that what this is about?
>> that's part of it,
definitely.
>> back in the house, the
deputies ask the kids for help.
>> it's in the drawer?
>> it's in the drawer that I was
in.
>> they are directed to go back
into the parents bedroom,
a chaotic mountain of trash.
But as you look at this photo,
is this a portrait of chaos or
derangement?
By the way, there's a child in a
crib who smiles and waves at the
strangers.
The missing key is found in
mother and father's dresser
drawer.
The last child rescued.
The last chain unlocked.
Outside, a 17-year-old girl sits
in a police car.
It has been less than two hours
since she climbed out of the
window.
>> I saw them taking father,
and I started freaking out.
And I didn't know what was going
to happen at all.
The person in the car was, like,
saying, it's okay, it's okay,
it's okay.
Like, you don't have to watch or
see.
Like, he was really nice.
He was really calming me down.
>> reporter: Deputies take all
13 children to the hospital.
Children wasted by starvation
with atrophied muscles, crushed
by isolation and emotional
abuse.
Doctors and nurses give them
food, clean rooms, clothes,
kindness, love.
>> we were dehydrated.
We were starving.
They needed to do a lot of stuff
to help us get healthy.
>> reporter: Do you remember the
first things you ate there?
>> yes.
It was macaroni and cheese.
>> reporter: And enough of it.
>> yes.
It was good.
>> reporter: Coming up next,
inside a courtroom, the parents
respond to the charges.
>>> the riverside county
district attorney's office filed
criminal charges against david
and louise turpin.
12 counts torture, 7 counts
abuse of a dependent adult,
6 counts child abuse, 12 counts
of false imprisonment.
>> reporter: The turpins sit in
a courtroom, chains around their
waists and feet.
It is four days after their
children have been freed.
Louise turpin's attorney is
trying to get the case against
her dismissed, arguing she's now
been diagnosed with histrionic
personality disorder.
A kind of unstable extreme
narcissism.
She even writes that when she
gets the family together again
she promises no chains this
time.
And her sisters say louise may
have been cracked by a truly
horrible secret in their family.
The trauma of ongoing sexual
abuse since she was a child.
>> a very, very close family
member that we should have --
I'm sorry.
>> it's okay.
>> we should have loved and
trusted, he abused my mother and
sexually abused my mother, and
then me and louise elizabeth.
>> but the judge rejects the
mental illness plea, saying
louise turpin poses a risk to
the public.
To this day, david turpin has
refused to talk to
investigators.
>> when you have parents abusing
their kids to this level, and
they're their own flesh and
blood it begs the question,
how could any sane person do
this, right?
And the truth of the matter is
that sane people commit evil
acts all the time.
>> sometimes there is no why.
In my work.
There's no reasoning.
There's not logic to explain
that type of behavior or why
someone would actually do that,
not only to anybody but your own
offspring.
I don't have a why.
I really don't.
>> reporter: The d.A. Amasses a
mountain of evidence.
The turpins make a deal.
No trial.
They're ready to submit their
plea.
>> count one, which is a
violation of torture.
How do you plead to that charge,
sir?
>> guilty.
>> and mrs. Turpin?
>> guilty.
>> dependent adult abuse.
>> guilty.
>> child endangerment.
>> guilty.
>> reporter: At the sentencing,
the parents weep when a few of
the children send notes saying
they forgive them, but the two
oldest children come to the
courtroom to face their parents.
The camera turned away to
protect their identity.
The eldest son speaks.
>> I cannot describe in words
what we went through growing up,
but that is the past and this is
now.
I'm getting a bachelor's degree
in software engineering.
In June of last year, I learned
how to ride a bike.
I also have learned how to
advocate for myself, how to
swim, how to eat healthy, and
prepare a balanced meal.
>> reporter: That young man is
still not ready to go on camera,
but he sent us a video and wants
to send a message you'll hear
coming up after the break.
And next up in the courtroom,
the oldest daughter speaks.
It is jennifer looking her
parents in the eyes.
>> um, my parents took my whole
life from me, but now I'm taking
my life back.
They almost changed me, but I
realized what was happening.
I immediately did what I could
to not become like that.
I'm strong, and I'm shooting
through life like a rocket.
>> reporter: It's the parents'
turn to speak.
David turpin starts, breaks
down.
>> your honor --
I'm going to have my attorney
read my statement for me.
>> all right.
>> I love my children and I
believe my children love me.
>> reporter: He asks his lawyer
to let him try again.
>> I miss all of my children,
and I will be praying for them.
I long for the opportunity to
have contact with them again.
>> I want to say to you, your
honor, and the court, I'm sorry
for everything I've done to hurt
my children.
I don't want any of them to be
sad or depressed because of all
of this.
I want them to know that mom and
dad are going to be okay.
>> reporter: And in the
courtroom when she said she was
sorry for hurting her children?
>> I -- I believed it.
I'm gonna be honest.
But then I remembered that they
both are extremely good at
manipulation.
Whether that was true or not at
the courtroom?
Yeah, it's too late.
>> when they cry and stuff, I
feel bad.
But also it's, like, why?
It's just confusing.
>> I don't know.
I'm never gonna know.
I mean, sometimes I think maybe
they didn't have a good
childhood, but it's still their
choice.
You always have a choice.
>> I don't know what it's
called, maybe bipolar.
But I definitely think it could
have been something like that
with her.
I've just always known him as a
monster.
That's the only way I can
describe it.
>> the sentence will be the same
as to both defendants.
Both defendants are sentenced to
life.
>> reporter: Can you imagine
seeing them?
>> definitely not any time soon.
I have been up and -- I -- I --
I -- I -- never, never, never.
I guess I get afraid of them
manipulating the system and
getting out and then somehow
trying to find us.
Yeah.
>> reporter: There's nothing you
think you want to say to them?
>> I want to know why, but I
would never get that answer.
>> reporter: So it's not
the --
>> it's just, like, a hundred
whys.
>> reporter: Tonight we've
requested statements from david
and louise turpin.
We have not heard back.
They are currently serving their
time in separate prisons in
california.
And three years ago after their
parents were sent to prison, we
imagined the turpin children
finally heading out into their
new lives with a team of people
who would ensure that they could
navigate the world.
Strangers had even donated
money.
So, where is that money, and
where is the team supposed to be
helping them?
>> we've got to shine a light on
this.
The public deserves to know what
their government did and didn't
do and how we failed these
victims.
They need to know that.
>> reporter: District attorney
mike hestrin says there are a
number of agencies in california
that should be accountable for
what happened to the turpin
children after they were freed.
>> there are resources for them
that they can't access.
They're living in squalor.
They're living in a crime ridden
neighborhoods.
There's money for them for
their education.
They can't access it.
>> reporter: This is impossible.
Coming up next, my colleague
david scott and the abc news
investigative unit set out to
get those answers.
>> sir, would you talk to me for
a moment?
>>> I'm david scott with the abc
news investigative unit.
We needed to go to
riverside county to figure out
who failed these kids after they
escaped their parents and led
the district attorney to take
the unusual step of speaking
out.
>> they have been victimized
again by the system.
And that is unimaginable to me
that we could have the very
worst case of child abuse that
I've ever seen, maybe one of the
worst in california history, and
that we would then not be able
to get it together to give them
basic needs, basic necessities.
>> it turns out the siblings
post-rescue lives have been
marred by the county's missteps
and mistakes.
And the facts of the case have
been hidden behind a
court-ordered veil of secrecy.
>> everything's behind closed
doors.
>> but now for the first time,
an insider peels back the
curtain on what she says
happened to the turpin siblings
after they entered the county's
care.
>> they felt betrayed.
>> tonight, melissa donaldson
is breaking ranks to blow the
whistle on the multiple agencies
that she says failed to protect
the turpin children from further
harm.
>> did we see kids having to not
have a safe place to live or
stay at times?
Yes.
Did they have enough food at
times?
They did not.
They had to go to churches and
eat because they didn't know how
to manage money.
And some without housing at
times.
>> without housing.
>> at times.
>> homeless?
>> couch surfing.
>> their housing, at some point,
was in -- located in one of the
worst neighborhoods in this
county.
>> I will tell you, I would have
never placed anybody under my
care there.
>> one of the adult children was
assaulted in one of those
environments.
>> I do know they've been in
unsafe crime exposure,
absolutely.
>> we really want to try and
understand and help the public
understand, you know, frankly,
the jeopardy.
>> sorry.
>> they all lack that sixth
sense of fear.
They had none of that and they
were cast right into the world
in a very unsafe, violent inner
city area.
>> we have to fix it.
You would think that this is the
time to really get it together
and do everything we can,
and we didn't do it that way.
>> they struggle to eat, still.
They'll take that as long as the
abuser is gone.
>> I don't really have a way to
get food right now.
>> when jordan met diane in
July, she had just been
released.
She says without warning, from
extended foster care.
With no plan for food,
health care, life skills
training or even shelter.
>> one of my brothers and me are
the ones that don't have a place
to really stay, we're just being
passed around.
>> and the same goes for some of
the older children, whose safety
and well being was supposed to
be guaranteed by the
court-appointed riverside public
guardian.
>> well, where I live is not the
best area.
>> and this despite more than
$600,000 originally raised from
generous strangers.
Most of that money went into
an official trust overseen by
the court and hidden from public
oversight.
County officials refused to tell
us how much has been spent or on
what, but the turpins we spoke
to say those funds are hard to
access.
>> well, when I try to have
access, I have difficulty.
>> joshua turpin, the
29-year-old sibling of jordan
and jennifer, the one you heard
earlier reading a letter to the
court --
>> that is the past, and this is
now.
>> sent us a video diary, but
did not want to appear on
camera.
He says the public guardian
responsible for managing the
siblings' healthcare, nutrition,
housing and education routinely
denied simple requests.
>> when I requested for a mode
of transportation, I called the
public guardian's office and she
refused to let me request for a
bike.
>> melissa donaldson confirmed
that legitimate requests have
been turned down.
When we asked why officials are
restricting the use of private
donations, they repeatedly
refused to answer, citing
court-ordered confidentiality.
>> I'm just asking really,
really basic questions.
You can't tell me any of that?
>> after their rescue, the seven
minors were placed into foster
homes, while the six adults were
assigned to deputy public
guardian vanessa espinoza,
seen here in a selfie when she
started the job.
While she worked full-time for
the county, she also work in the
real estate on the side,
according to state records.
Here she is promoting her work
at one of her previous real
estate agencies.
>> if you guys are interested in
buying or selling feel free to
contact us.
>> according to the adult turpin
children we spoke to who were
under espinoza's care, she was
often unwilling to help them
with even their most basic
needs, including teaching them
how to use public
transportation, how to cross the
street safely, or how to access
their medical and dental
benefits.
>> when I would ask her for
help, she would just tell me,
just go google it.
>> vanessa espinoza did not
respond to repeated requests for
comment.
>> hi, vanessa.
This is david scott calling from
abc news.
How are you?
We recently tried to meet up
with her at her real estate
office, but she avoided us and
drove home.
The next day, the county
informed us without explanation
that espinoza's employment had
ended.
While jennifer and the other
adult turpins struggled in
county guardianship, some of the
younger siblings were failed
again by the california foster
care agency contracted by the
county, childnet.
County officials have told us
that some of the turpin children
have been re-victimized in their
foster care homes.
>> in the instance of the one
adult that was a minor, now an
adult, she has reported the one
foster parent telling her she
understands now why her parents
chained her up.
The comment was egregious.
>> but even that paled in
comparison to what is alleged to
have happened in another of the
turpin's foster homes.
In fact, one foster family was
arrested and charged with
abusing multiple children in
their care, including at least
one turpin.
Several turpin children remained
in that house for three years
while the alleged abuse took
place.
A lawyer for one of the foster
family members says his client
denies these charges are true.
A childnet spokesman would not
answer our questions about the
turpin case because of
confidentiality laws, saying
only, we take our work very
seriously, including the
extensive vetting of parents.
Experts who know the system are
shocked.
>> it horrifies me to think
things like this are happening
to people who have been abused
in a system that was
specifically set up to help
them.
>> no county official agreed to
answer for the alleged
mishandling of the turpins'
case, including the county's top
lawyer, gregory priamos.
Mr. Priamos, david scott from
abc news.
Can I ask you, sir, about the
dire conditions facing the
turpin siblings in this county
since they've been in the
county's care?
In some cases they're walking
the streets late at night.
Sir?
So we took our questions to the
county's top elected official.
Excuse me, madam chair, may I
approach?
The board of supervisors chair,
karen spiegel, who dodged them.
We've heard credible reports of
unsafe housing, of in some cases
the siblings relying on food
pantries and soup kitchens.
>> we are currently looking into
this.
>> we have been trying to get
these answers, and we have been
unable to get anybody to return
our calls, so we just figured we
would come to you as the
chairwoman.
>> well, I am not -- have the
information you're looking for.
We're still in investigation
stages, so I don't have anything
to share with you.
>> in a statement, espinoza's
former boss, the head of the
public guardian's office,
dr. Matthew chang, stood by his
team's, quote, exceptional work,
but says he welcomes an inquiry.
But the county's chief executive
admitted in a statement, quote,
there have been instances in
which those we seek to protect
have been harmed, and the county
is committed to conducting a
thorough and transparent review.
And so, some of the turpin
siblings continue to face
dangers and hardships in the
county that promised to keep
them safe.
>> shamefully, the system failed
this family.
>> tonight, we are not backing
off.
Abc news has sued to unseal
vital documents about the people
making decisions, the donated
money, and who should provide
the promised support.
The four youngest children are
now together in a foster home,
where their siblings say they
are happy, while the other nine
older children raised in abuse
valiantly navigate the world.
>> if we can't care for the
turpin victims, then how do we
have a chance to care for
anyone?
>> reporter: Coming up, a
reunion.
>> I'm never going to forget
him.
I always think it would be cool
to see him again.
♪
>>> hey, guys.
We are on our way to see deputy
anthony.
>> I cannot wait to see jordan
today.
>> I haven't seen him ever since
the day he came and saved me and
my siblings.
>> reporter: 21-year-old jordan
now trying on blond hair.
>> oh, my gosh, guys, we are
here?
>> I just hope she's happy.
Jordan turpin.
>> hello!
>> wow.
So good to see you.
>> it's so good to see you.
>> how you doing?
>> I'm okay.
I always, like, talk about you
and stuff.
Like, I've told all my siblings
to story more than once, and I'm
just so thankful, because you
saved all of us.
>> I'm glad you had that photo.
You get all the recognition and
credit.
>> oh, thank you.
>> you did the hard part, the
scary part.
>> I'm just so thankful it was
you because you were so gentle
and everything.
>> I'm glad it was me, too.
>> I think god brought all the
right people into my life.
>> not just deputy colace, but
here is that dispatcher who
answered the 911 call and sends
a message tonight.
>> hi, jordan!
You're really brave.
You are so strong to go out and
do what you did.
I want to let you know that the
world is so wide and so full of
bright and wonderful things.
I hope you get to spend the rest
of your days going out there and
exploring and doing fun stuff
and really living life the way
you want.
>> let us know when you're
rolling.
>> what question would you ask?
>> we pretty much tell
everything to each other.
>> reporter: And back in the
interview, we're almost done.
So I invite the two young women
who just finished their first
interview ever to give their
take on my technique.
>> so, ms. Jordan.
>> yes, jennifer.
>> what do you see in your
future?
>> a beautiful house with a
handsome husband.
Maybe a kid some day.
A nice car.
Ms. Jennifer, where do you see
yourself in ten years?
>> ten years.
Big question.
>> I'll hopefully have a house.
>> nice, nice.
>> a nice car.
>> ooh.
>> and have a published book.
>> I love it.
Love it.
>> traveling.
I want to travel the world.
>> ooh, really nice.
>> and where are you going to
travel?
What's first stop?
>> paris.
>> reporter: Paris?
>> I'm going to have little tea
cakes and all that stuff.
I'm going tee fashion show.
Oh, yeah, I'm going paris.
>> reporter: Watch out, paris.
>> here I come.
>> reporter: Out of a harrowing
life, so much hope.
No one doubts along the way the
mountains will be tall, the
challenges great.
They'll need a helping happened,
but every day the young women
who fought their way out are
trying to catch up on joy.
>> aah!
>> how does it feel?
>> awesome.
>> reporter: Jennifer is now in
training to be a manager at a
restaurant.
>> I'm heading to work.
>> a big dream of mine is to
become a christian pop artist.
>> reporter: Her favorite song
right now is kelly clarkson's --
>> broken and beautiful.
♪ I'm broken and it's
beautiful ♪
♪ I'm broken and it's
beautiful ♪
♪ I'm broken and it's
beautiful ♪
>> the way music has helped me,
I want to help people with my
music.
>> I really like doing tiktoks.
♪ savage love ♪
>> I like charlie demill.
Such a cute family.
>> jordan managed to graduate
high school in oneier and has
been taking college classes.
What is your favorite subject to
study.
>> >> I loved government and I
loved english and I loved math.
I would say, can I have double
homework?
I loved the learn, and I was a
really fast learner.
And I got good grades and I was
really happy.
>> she recently got food stamps
and housing through school, and
she has a plan of her own.
>> me graduating college, being
a book writer or a motivation
speaker.
When I have kids, I want to make
sure I'm in a good place, I have
a good job, because I want to
give my kids the best life ever.
>> reporter: In the meantime,
the sisters say the most
important thing in their lives
is getting to see their
siblings, and trying to help
them be happy and safe.
What is it like to be together?
>> it feels at home being with
all of us.
Every time we're together it's a
very special moment, because we
always know at the end of the
day we're always going to be
each other.
>> reporter: And their brother
who sent the video has a
message, too.
>> thank you for your time,
thank you.
Thank you for everything.
This is a big help to be able
to, you know, just get this out
and let it be heard.
>> I want to last name turpin to
be remembered as a name of
strength.
I don't want jennifer turpin,
oh, that poor, poor, you know,
30-year-old woman who went
through a tragic life.
No, I want that name to be my
name and her name, the turpin
name.
Like, wow, they're strong.
They're not weak, they're not
broken.
They've got this.
>> same.
>> reporter: We are so glad you
have been with us tonight, and
as we said before we're going to
stay on this story and let you
know what happens next.
And tonight a special message
from jc dugard, a young woman I
met years ago who stunned the
nation with her courage.
She established a organization
and tonight they created a fund
to receive donations for the 13
turpin children.
She writes the people who helped
her changed her life and says
now it's our turn to pay it
forward.
If you'd like to learn more
about the turpin siblings and
other children facing these
challenges go to the abc news
"20/20" website and our social
media pages.
I'm diane sawyer.
From all of us at abc news, good
night.