Newly released bodycam footage shows the moment police found 17-year-old Jordan Turpin, who escaped from her California home to call 911 and tell the responding sheriff’s deputy a horrifying story.
Jordan said that she and her 12 siblings were being tortured, chained up and starved by their parents in their home, which later became known as the “house of horrors” as more harrowing details were revealed.
“This is one of the most scariest things I’ve ever done,” Jordan told the deputy.
At 17, she had never been outside the home by herself before. The deputy was skeptical, until Jordan showed him shocking photos of her sisters chained up.
“Your parents chained them up?” the deputy asked.
“Yes. Because they stole food,” Jordan replied. “But they stole it ‘cause they were hungry.”
Video shows police raiding the Turpin family home in Riverside. Moments later, parents David and Louise were taken away.
It was the end of a nightmare for Jordan and her siblings, ages 2 to 29. For years they had been imprisoned and starved.
Thanks to Jordan’s courage, the children were rescued, and their parents were sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Now 21, Jordan tells ABC’s Diane Sawyer how a visit to a park gave her a taste of what freedom means.
“I could smell the air. I was like. ‘How could heaven be better than this?’” Jordan says.
“Escape From a House of Horror: A Diane Sawyer Special Event” airs Friday on ABC.