Turpin family survivor who escaped ‘house of horrors’ shares hopeful message for 16 Ohio children
Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.
Julissa Turpin has shared a message for the 16 children at the center of allegations in Ohio’s 'house of horrors' case.
Last month, 16 children were rescued from a rural Ohio home in Vinton County, after being found in what officials described as 'deplorable' and 'pure evil' conditions.
Gary Siders Sr., Christina Siders, their son Gary Siders, Jr., and his wife Elizabeth pleaded not guilty after they were arrested on June 30 and charged with child endangerment.
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Now, almost 10 years after escaping from her horrific experience, Julissa Turpin has shared a message to the children saying it's 'definitely possible' to get the healing they need.
"For the kids in Ohio, them coming out into this world when they’ve been isolated their whole life is - it’s gonna be hard. As much as I wish I could be, like, 'It won’t be that hard, it’ll be easy,' that’s not the case," Julissa said during an interview with NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas Reports.
"It’s gonna be really hard to adjust, but it’s definitely possible, and it’s definitely possible for them to get the healing and everything that they need," she said.
In 2018, Julissa's sibling Jordan escaped from her family home in Perris, California, and called 911. Jordan was 17 years old at the time, when an officer arrived at the scene, she quickly detailed the abuse she and her 12 siblings had been subjected to.
It was then revealed that parents David and Louise Turpin had been abusing their children, ranging from starvation, beating, and imprisonment.
In April 2019, David and Louise were each sentenced to 25 years to life, after they pleaded guilty to 14 felony counts. These included torture, child abuse, and false imprisonment.
During their sentencing, Judge Bernard Schwartz said: "You have severed the ability to interact and raise your children that you have created and brought into this world.
"The only reason that your punishment is less than the maximum time in my opinion is because you accepted responsibility at an early stage in the proceeding.
"And you spared your children having to relive the humiliation and the harm they endured in that house of horrors."
Describing what it was like after herself and her siblings escaped the severe abuse and captivity, Julissa told interviewer Brian Entin she was 'on Cloud 9'.
"When I got out, it was a little bit intimidating, but I was so happy," she said.
"Just being able to see a tree, just being able to breathe fresh air, that literally felt like heaven to me."
"I thought that people having friends and neighbors talking to each other — I thought that was fake, or just stuff that’s in the movies," she said of the experience, adding that hearing strangers ask how she was 'felt foreign' to her, due to the fact no adult had asked her how she was before.
Elsewhere in the interview, Julissa said 'seeing her mother in court made her ill'.
"I didn't ever know my mom." she admitted, revealing that the only time she ever saw her mother was when she 'was coming towards her to abuse her'.
"I would go to court sometimes and I would see the back of her head, or even just talking about the stuff, and I would get physically sick where I would throw up from the anxiety of it."
Turpin said it was extremely hard to start the healing, knowing she'd have to see her parents in a week, or having to talk about the situation.
Now, the 20-year-old revealed that she has bought her first home. It comes just months after she posted about completing a half marathon.
"To think there was a time l could barely walk and now I'm running half marathons," she wrote on a TikTok video.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues or want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.
Kiesha Dosanjh