Two sisters and a brother who were among 13 held captive by their parents at the family home in California, USA, are now speaking about enduring and overcoming their hell
12:13, 04 Feb 2026Updated 12:54, 04 Feb 2026
Three Turpin siblings speak after rescue from ‘house of horrors’
Three siblings who were shackled and held in horrendous circumstances by their parents in a “house of horrors” have given their first interview about their ordeal.
The trio have said they will always “have each other” as they continue to recover. The world was shocked when it emerged 13 children had been horrifically abused by their parents in California. Julissa, Jolinda and James Turpin spoke out for the first time since being rescued from their birth parents who abused them for years.
Sisters Julissa and Jolinda revealed they now have matching tattoos that feature the title track of a Harry Styles album: “we’ll be fine, we’ll be alright.”
The Turpins who were abused by their parents for years – now three brave siblings speaking out.(Image: ABC)
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The siblings addressed their lives after the rescue and their feelings about family after their traumatic upbringing in “The Turpins: A New House of Horror — A Diane Sawyer Special Event” which was aired on Tuesday.
Julissa, 19, told Sawyer: “To me, it feels like, ‘Why do people get to have a family, and we don’t?’ And like we have each other, and that’s the world, you know, but we still want a mom. Something good needs to come from this. It has to. And I can’t accept it not.”
James Turpin bravely speaking about surviving abuse from parents in TV special(Image: ABC)
All three cited undergoing therapy sessions as a vital element in their healing journeys as they process the trauma they’d been through.
Jolinda, 20, said: “I’ve been, like, literally discovering all these things about my brain that helps me have clarity of who I am, my identity, and who I want to be, what I can work on, what I can fix, and also realising, too, that it’s not my fault is a big thing, too,”
James, 24, expressed a desire for having reliable parents and how he learned to lean on other resources available to him.
He said: “I’ve always wished I had normal parents or just someone I could like go to and, you know, rely on or ask questions or whatever, but I have the internet, so it’s okay.”
Harry Styles – his album inspired the two sisters to have matching tattoos of one of his lyrics.(Image: Getty Images for The Recording A)
Jolinda explained that the sisters share matching tattoos that feature lyrics from the title track of Harry Styles 2019 album Fine Line: “we’ll be fine, we’ll be alright.”
She said: “To me that song just means that like we’re gonna be okay, we’re always gonna get through everything and at the end of the day we’re always gonna have each other.”
In the TV special, Sawyer, 80, revealed that the siblings were offered a settlement from the agency that placed them in the care of their abusive foster family, but that the agency did not admit wrongdoing.
Evidence from when Julissa, Jolinda and James Turpin were held in the “house of horrors.”(Image: ABC)
The interview comes nearly eight years after the 13 Turpin siblings were rescued from the family’s home in Perris, California in early 2018. The rescue came about after Jordan Turpin — who was 17 at the time — escaped from the home and told authorities about their captivity and abuse.
Before their rescue, the Turpin siblings, who ranged in age from two to 29, spent most of their lives inside the home where they were regularly beaten and starved.
Defendant David Turpin (L) listens to his attorney Allison Lowe (R) during a preliminary hearing in 2018(Image: IRFAN KHAN/POOL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
At times, the children were chained to their beds or put in cages for breaking house rules. Their parents, David and Louise Turpin, were later convicted on multiple felony counts, including cruelty to an adult dependent, child cruelty, torture and false imprisonment, and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
After their escape, the six youngest Turpin siblings were sent to live with foster parents, Marcelino and Rosa Olguin,and their adult daughter Lennys Olguin. In the home of the Olguins, the Turpin children also experienced abuse.