Turpin Family Case: Abuse, Foster Care Settlement, and Siblings Now

The Turpin family case is the Perris, California child-torture case in which David and Louise Turpin were sentenced in 2019 to 25 years to life for imprisoning, starving, and abusing 12 of their 13 children over nearly a decade, and in which six of those children were then abused again in the foster home where Riverside County placed them, leading to criminal convictions of the foster parents and a $13.5 million civil settlement in late 2025.

How the Case Came to Light

On January 14, 2018, 17-year-old Jordan Turpin climbed out of the family’s house at 160 Muir Woods Road in Perris and used a deactivated cellphone to call 911. She told the dispatcher her parents were abusive and that two of her sisters were chained to their beds. Riverside County sheriff’s deputies arrived to find 13 siblings, ages 2 to 29, living in dark, foul-smelling rooms with human waste, dead pets, and moldy food.¹

Seven of the people found inside were legally adults. Their growth had been so stunted by starvation that officers initially took them for children. The eldest, 29-year-old Jennifer Turpin, weighed 82 pounds.² Jordan herself appeared to be roughly 10.¹

What the Children Endured

Prosecutors traced the abuse from 2010, when the family moved from Texas to Murrieta, California, through the January 2018 rescue. About four years after arriving in California, the family relocated to the Perris house.³

The children were beaten routinely. Some were shackled to their beds for months at a stretch, freed only to use the bathroom or brush their teeth. They were forbidden to shower more than once a year. Meals were rationed and consisted mostly of peanut butter, bologna, frozen burritos, and chips. All of the children except the toddler were severely malnourished when authorities arrived.²⁴

Medical and educational neglect ran just as deep. None of the children had ever seen a dentist. Jordan reported that she had not bathed in nearly a year and had not seen a doctor in five. She did not know her own address, the current month, or the year, though her parents had registered their home as a private school called Sandcastle Day School and claimed to be homeschooling.⁴²

David Turpin had worked as an engineer at Northrop Grumman, and the family moved to California in 2010 for his job.⁵ Relatives said the couple had shut them out for years; Louise’s sister-in-law had not been allowed to see her nieces and nephews for two decades.⁶ All 13 children’s names began with the letter J.

The Criminal Case and Sentence

David and Louise Turpin were initially charged with torture and child endangerment and held on $9 million bail each.¹ On February 22, 2019, both pleaded guilty in Riverside County Superior Court to 14 felony counts apiece: one count of torture, four counts of false imprisonment, six counts of cruelty to an adult dependent, and three counts of willful child cruelty. The charges covered 12 of the 13 children; no counts were filed for the toddler.³

On April 19, 2019, Judge Bernard Schwartz sentenced both to 25 years to life. District Attorney Mike Hestrin called it the maximum available under California law at the time.⁷³ Both become eligible for parole after roughly 22 years and four months. Louise Turpin is held at the California Institution for Women, with a parole eligibility date listed as September 2032. David Turpin’s current housing location has not been publicly disclosed.⁸

Abused Again in Foster Care

The rescue did not end the abuse for the six youngest siblings. Riverside County, working through private foster agency ChildNet, placed them with Marcelino and Rosa Olguin. In a 2022 civil suit, the siblings alleged that the Olguins forced children to eat their own vomit, pulled their hair, hit them with sandals and belts, and struck their heads. Marcelino Olguin was accused of sexual abuse, including telling an 11-year-old girl she was “sexy” and forcibly kissing her.⁹¹⁰

Retired detective Thomas Salisbury, who investigated the foster home after receiving information from Jordan Turpin, described the treatment of a five-year-old who was given daily sleeping pills, forced to stand in a taped square, kept awake with water bottles and cowbells, and kicked when she fell.¹¹ The siblings said they could not speak honestly with social workers because the Olguins monitored them through a Ring camera.¹²

James Turpin, 24, told Diane Sawyer in a February 2026 interview that the foster parents were “mean and aggressive” when drinking at night. “They made me hate myself,” he said. “At that time, I felt like my life was doomed.”¹⁰

Foster Parent Convictions

Marcelino Olguin, Rosa Olguin, and their adult daughter Lennys Olguin were arrested in 2021 and later pleaded guilty. In October 2024, Marcelino Olguin was sentenced to seven years in state prison after pleading guilty to lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, false imprisonment, and child endangerment. Rosa and Lennys Olguin each received four years of probation for child cruelty. The judge issued a no-contact order between the defendants and the nine victims in the case.¹³

The $13.5 Million Settlement

Six siblings sued Riverside County and ChildNet in 2022, alleging the Olguins had a prior history of abusing and neglecting children and that both the county and the agency were warned of the abuse but failed to report it.¹⁴¹²¹⁵

What the Larson Report Found

Riverside County commissioned an independent investigation in 2021 led by retired federal judge Stephen Larson. The 630-plus-page report, released in July 2022, concluded that the social services system had “failed” the Turpin children and caused them “further harm” after the rescue.¹⁶

Among the findings:

The younger siblings were placed with caregivers later charged with child abuse.
The Office of the Public Guardian had a 40% vacancy rate, with caseworkers carrying 98 to 113 cases each against a recommended load of 30.¹⁷
Older siblings experienced homelessness and hunger as they tried to transition to independent adult life.
Departments worked in isolation. An “overly cautious ‘need to know’ mentality” about privacy laws discouraged lawful information sharing.¹⁸
The siblings had trouble accessing money for basic needs even though more than $1.2 million had been raised for them through outside donations.¹⁹

On July 12, 2022, the Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 to adopt all of the report’s more than 75 recommendations. The county has since raised its child welfare social worker headcount by roughly 57% to about 550, cut vacancy rates from 40% to 10%, and reduced the average deputy public guardian caseload from 100 to 30. Working with state Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, county officials also helped pass California Senate Bill 1054, which Governor Gavin Newsom signed in September 2022 to allow adult and child protective services statewide to share information about clients and their families.²⁰

The Homeschooling Question

How the abuse stayed hidden for so long drew scrutiny. David Turpin had registered the family home with the California Department of Education as Sandcastle Day School, listing himself as principal and reporting six students. California law lets parents establish a private school by filing an annual affidavit with an address and enrollment. No state, county, or local agency has authority to inspect the facility, evaluate educational conditions, or verify that the school actually operates.²¹

Assemblyman Jose Medina introduced legislation to require annual fire inspections of registered home schools, and a second bill, AB 2926, proposed an advisory committee to study reforms like teacher credentialing and home inspections.²² The Home School Legal Defense Association and other advocacy groups opposed the bills, arguing they threatened Fourth Amendment privacy protections. About 1,500 homeschool supporters attended a state Assembly hearing to protest. The Education Committee voted against the data-collection provisions, and no significant expansion of home school oversight passed into law.²³

Where the Siblings Are Now

In February 2026, three of the younger Turpin siblings — Julissa, 19, Jolinda, 20, and James, 24 — spoke publicly for the first time in an ABC special with Diane Sawyer titled “The Turpins: A New House of Horror.” They described the abuse in both their parents’ home and the Olguin foster home. James said he now has “a dream”; Jolinda expressed hope that sharing their story would do some good.¹⁰

Jordan Turpin, whose 911 call started it all, lives in her own home with pets and has said she wants to become a motivational speaker. “If I can use what I went through to make a difference in the world, then I think that can heal me,” she has said.²⁴²⁵

Only one of the six siblings in the foster care lawsuit is still a minor. The others have graduated from high school, and some are in college.¹² The house at 160 Muir Woods Road was foreclosed in November 2018 and sold at an online auction on January 2, 2019, for $310,360 to an unidentified buyer.²⁶

1
BBC News. Turpin Case: Parents Charged After Children Found Shackled
2
ABC News. David and Louise Turpin Plead Guilty
3
Riverside County District Attorney. David and Louise Turpin Plead Guilty
4
BBC News. Turpin Couple Jailed for Life for Torturing Children
5
The Desert Sun. David and Louise Turpin Case Timeline
6
CNN. Turpin Relatives Say They Were Kept Away
7
CNN. Turpin Parents Sentenced to 25 Years to Life
8
People. Where Are David and Louise Turpin Now
9
CBS News. California Foster Dad Sentenced to 7 Years for Abusing Child Torture Victims
10
ABC News. 3 Turpin Siblings Speak for the 1st Time
11
ABC7. Former Detective Speaks on Turpin Investigation
12
The Press-Enterprise. 6 Turpin Children to Split $13.5 Million Settlement
13
ABC News. Foster Parents of Turpin Siblings Sentenced
14
ABC7. Turpin Lawsuit Against Riverside County and ChildNet
15
U.S. News & World Report. California County, Agency Reach $13.5 Million Settlement With Six Turpin Children
16
ABC7. Turpin Siblings Report Social Services System Failures
17
The Press-Enterprise. Riverside County Public Guardian’s Flaws Hurt At-Risk Adults
18
ABC News. Riverside County Statement on Turpin Siblings
19
The Press-Enterprise. What Happened to the $1.2 Million Raised for the Turpin Children
20
Larson LLP. Riverside County Adopts Larson’s Recommendations
21
NBC News. California Torture House Case Exposes Lack of Oversight of Home Schools
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NPR. California Lawmakers Consider How to Regulate Homeschools
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Los Angeles Times. Following Turpin Case, Lawmaker Proposes Home School Oversight
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People. Where Are the Turpin Siblings Now
25
Today. Jennifer Turpin House of Horrors Wedding
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CBS News. Turpin House of Horrors in Perris Sells for $310K