CNN — David and Louise Turpin have each been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after they pleaded guilty to holding captive and torturing their children for years in their California home.
The parents each spoke before the sentencing.
“I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to hurt my children,” Louise Turpin said, adding she believes God has a special plan for each of them. “I love them more than they could ever imagine.”
David Turpin broke down in tears as he tried to address the court. His attorney read his statement, in which the father expressed hope for his children’s success and said he hopes they remain close because their mother and father will not be with them.
“I thank God for all of my children,” David Turpin’s statement read, adding that he is sorry “if I’ve done anything to cause them harm.”
Before their parents’ sentencing, two of David and Louise Turpin’s children appeared in court Friday to provide emotional testimony about how they and their siblings were held captive and tortured for years in their California home.
“My parents took my whole life from me,” said a daughter, identified as Jane Doe Number 4. “But now I’m taking my life back.”
She said she lives independently and “life is great.”
“I’m a fighter, I’m strong and I’m shooting through life like a rocket,” the daughter said.
David and Louise Turpin cried through the testimony, repeatedly wiping away tears.
The couple was arrested in January 2018 after one of their 13 children, a 17-year-old girl, managed to escape their filthy home in Perris and called police.
Authorities said siblings — who ranged in age from 2 to 29 — had been isolated from the outside world and were often denied showers, medical care and food. They were sometimes tied up for “weeks or even months at a time,” the Riverside District Attorney said last year.
The couple pleaded guilty in February to charges, including torture, adult abuse and child endangerment.
