House Where Couple Starved and Shackled 12 of Their 13 Children Goes Up for Auction

A police car in front of 160 Muir Woods Road, where authorities rescued 13 malnourished children held captive by their parents in Perris, California on January 16, 2018. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)

The house where a couple abused 12 of their 13 children is up for sale while the couple awaits trial.

The house was nicknamed the “house of horrors” and was put for a starting bid of $177,255, according to The Press-Enterprise. The single-floor house in Perris, California, is 2,386 square feet. It has four bedrooms and three bathrooms. The auction for the home started on Dec. 29 and is scheduled to end on Jan. 2.

David and Louise Turpin, 57 and 49 respectively, face a combined 88 charges for mistreating their children in that house. They are due for trial in September 2019. The children, consisting of both minors and adults, were rescued by the authorities after the couple’s 17-year-old daughter escaped the house through a window and called 911 on a sibling’s cellphone.

Police found some of the children shackled to their beds and all except the youngest malnourished and on the verge of starvation, in a disgustingly dirty home environment, according to a couple of reports from Fox.

The couple pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The house won’t sell unless an undisclosed reserve price is met. A Riverside County appraisal of the property declared it worth $353,138, according to The Press-Enterprise. The house was built in 2013, and then purchased in 2014 by the alleged child-abusing couple for $351,000, Fox News reported.

The most recent bid on the home as of this writing is $250,001. The auction page for the house does not state details related to the previous occupants. The home was foreclosed in November, according to Fox.

Doctors said the children suffer from various levels of cognitive and physical impairments. Prosecutors allege they were beaten frequently, even with strangulation, Fox reported. They also allege the children were only allowed one shower a year and were not unshackled when they needed to use the bathroom.

“Good Morning America” found social media video posted by the 17-year-old from within the home, before she broke out in January. In the videos, she sings, and some of the dirty and disorganized environment is visible in the videos.

The children ranged in age from 2 to 29 when they were discovered, Fox reported. The 2-year-old was conceived when Louise Turpin was 47 years old, and was the only one discovered in good health, Inside Edition reported. The parents would buy food, and use it to taunt the children, letting them look at it but not eat it.

The attorney for the seven adult children of the Turpin’s said his clients are now adjusting to everyday life and looking forward to their futures.

“They want to finish school, they want to have careers. They look forward to going out to movies and shopping and everything else people their age are doing,” said court-appointed attorney Jack Osborn, via a March report in USA Today. “Most of all, they’re looking forward to being independent and coming up with a game plan for their life.”