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Clips of Jordan Turpin’s 911 Call After Escaping ‘House Of Horrors’ Are Released
The 17-year-old girl couldn't give dispatchers her home address because she rarely went outside what has been called a "House of Horrors."
Audio clips from the 911 call made by a brave teenager who escaped an abusive home have been released.
Jordan Turpin was 17 when she fled from her family’s California home since dubbed ‘The House of Horrors,’ according to ABC News. Her valiant 2018 escape led to the arrests of her parents, David and Louise Turpin, and the rescue of Jordan’s 12 siblings.
In an exclusive interview with Diane Sawyer, Jordan, with her older sister by her side, said her escape was one of the few times she’d been outside.
“I was actually on the road,” said Turpin. “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 edited clip of the 911 call gives a glimpse into the horrors sustained by the children who ranged from ages two to 29.
“I live in a family of 15… and we have abusing parents,” Jordan told dispatchers. “They hit us. They throw us across the room. They pull our hair. They yank out our hair. My two little sisters right now are chained up.”
Citing how little she had been outdoors, Jordan wasn’t aware of her home address.
“OK, you’ve got to give me a minute,” Turpin told dispatchers. “It’s 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.”
When asked if anyone in the home was on medication, she was unaware of what medication was.
The dispatcher was able to track Jordan’s location from the GPS on her cell phone.
Jordan said she was shaking uncontrollably the entire time.
Hours later, authorities arrested David and Louise Turpin, who pleaded guilty to child abuse charges including torture and false imprisonment. They were sentenced to life behind bars with the possibility of parole in 25 years.
Jordan and her sister, Jennifer Turpin, the first of the 13 children to identify themselves publicly, discuss details about the abuse they suffered, according to ABC News. The abuse was so severe that even Riverside District Attorney Mike Hestrin said the scene “stopped me dead in my tracks.”
The children were subjected to beatings and starvation, sometimes restrained to their beds for months at a time, according to CNN. They were only allowed to shower once a year and forced to live in their own filth. Though officially home-schooled, the children lacked basic knowledge, some of them unaware of what a police officer was.
Despite the horrors they faced, some of the children forgave their abusers.
“Life may have been bad, but it made me strong,” said one of the daughters during sentencing. “I fought to become the person that I am. I saw my dad change my mom. They almost changed me, but I realized what was happening… I’m a fighter, I’m strong, and I’m shooting through life like a rocket.”
The sisters discuss their perseverance in the interview, titled “Escape From A House Of Horror,” which airs Friday, Nov. 19 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and Hulu.
“I want the Turpin name to be, like, ‘Wow, they’re strong, they’re not broken,’” said Jennifer. “’They’ve got this.’”
