3 Turpin siblings speak out for 1st time on abuse by birth and foster parents

Days after being rescued from the California household where the 13 Turpin siblings suffered horrific abuse at the hands of their own parents, six of the youngest children entered the foster care system. They hoped for a loving home after enduring years of torture, according to Julissa Turpin.

“I genuinely just wanted to be safe,” the 19-year-old told ABC News.

Julissa, her sister Jolinda, 20, and their brother, James, who was also in the foster home, are now speaking out for the first time about the abuse they experienced at the hands of their birth and then foster parents in a new interview with ABC News.

Watch the Diane Sawyer special event, “The Turpins: A New House of Horrors,” on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at 10 pm ET on ABC and streaming the following day on Disney+ and Hulu.

The interview comes over four years after two of their sisters, Jennifer and Jordan Turpin, became the first of the Turpin siblings to speak out about the shocking abuse in their biological family’s home, telling Diane Sawyer about the beatings and starvation they endured in the family’s house.

The horror first came to light after Jordan Turpin, then 17 years old, managed to escape out a window of the family home in Perris on Jan. 14, 2018, and call 911, freeing herself and her siblings.

James Turpin, 24, was so severely emaciated at the time that he could barely walk.

“I was having nightmares that they were, like, killing us, basically,” he said.

Julissa Turpin also said she felt like she was going to die soon.

“Towards the end, you know, I would always, like, cry at night. And I would beg Jesus to, like, take me,” she said.

Authorities discovered that their parents had subjected the siblings, who ranged in age from 2 to 29 at the time, to brutal violence and deprived them of food, sleep, hygiene, education and health care.

Their parents, David and Louise Turpin, pleaded guilty to 14 charges, including torture and false imprisonment, and in 2019 were sentenced to 25 years to life.

Once in their new foster home, several of the Turpin children — including Julissa — say they experienced even more abuse. Julissa Turpin, who was 11 when they first moved in, said on the first night her new foster father told her she was “sexy.”

“I didn’t know very much, but I did know that that didn’t feel right,” she told ABC News. “And I did feel very uncomfortable. And it made me feel so unsafe in the home.”

He would go on to inappropriately touch and forcibly kiss her, she said.

The foster parents who took in six of the Turpin children pleaded guilty to child endangerment and false imprisonment in 2024.

One of them, Marcelino Olguin, also pleaded guilty to lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 and was sentenced to seven years in state prison. His wife, Rosa Olguin, and their daughter, Lennys Olguin, were sentenced to four years each of probation.

The six Turpin siblings sued Riverside County and ChildNet, the private foster care agency tasked with placing them in a home, alleging they suffered “severe abuse and neglect” for years in the care of the foster family, ultimately resulting in a financial settlement, although neither the county nor the agency admitted any wrongdoing.

According to the complaints, Riverside County and ChildNet knew that the foster family the Turpin siblings were placed with were “unfit to be foster parents because they had a prior history of abusing and neglecting children who had been placed in their care.” Despite this, the complaint states, the Turpin siblings were placed with them anyway.

A 2022 report issued by outside investigators hired by Riverside County found that the 13 Turpin siblings had been “failed” by the social services system that was supposed to care for them and help transition them into society.

“Some of the younger Turpin children were placed with caregivers who were later charged with child abuse,” the 630-page report found. “Some of the older siblings experienced periods of housing instability and food insecurity as they transitioned to independence.”

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors moved to follow the report’s recommendations on improving county services provided to children in foster care, transitioning youth and adults under conservatorship.

In a statement sent to ABC News on Jan. 30, Riverside County Executive Officer Jeff Van Wagenen said “the abuse these children suffered in both their biological and adoptive homes was tragic and unacceptable.”

“Their experiences, and those of other vulnerable children, led the County to initiate the independent investigation by former federal Judge Stephen Larson in 2021, which resulted in significant reforms to how the County serves and protects children in its care,” he said, in part. “This review was driven by difficult lessons and guided by a commitment to transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement. No one wants this to happen again.”

According to Van Wagenen, the country “strengthened how child welfare and law enforcement coordinate so that high-risk situations are handled quickly, clearly, and consistently.” It also “updated policies and day-to-day practice in areas where failures can occur.”

He also noted that, since 2021, “Staff are trained and guided to conduct interviews with awareness of cameras and recording devices and avoiding interview locations where others may overhear or record.”

Van Wagenen also cautioned that “reform does not work without enough trained people to do the job” and highlighted the importance of “investing in trained social workers” to work towards “safer outcomes” for children.

“Riverside County’s commitment remains firm: to protect children, elevate their voices, and ensure every decision is grounded in protection, compassion and stability,” he said.

ChildNet said their “hearts remain with the Turpin children” in a statement sent to ABC News on Jan. 29.

“We are deeply sorry for the pain they suffered, and we sincerely hope they continue to heal, thrive, and find peace,” the foster care agency said, in part.

“During the time the children were in ChildNet’s foster care program, there were no complaints or allegations of abuse or neglect regarding their foster placement,” it noted. “The allegations raised in this matter came after the children were no longer in ChildNet’s care and after the foster care case had been closed.”

Roger Booth, one of the attorneys for the Turpins, told the siblings “wanted the story to get out there.”

“They wanted to not just be sort of these nameless, faceless victims,” ​​he said. “I think what’s critically important here is these young people do have a voice. And they’ve chosen to use it.”

Jolinda Turpin something said “good” needs to come out of it.

“It has to, and I can’t accept it not,” she said.