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Aunt of 13 siblings held captive in California said children were kept away from extended family

Posted at 11:21 AM, Jan 17, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-17 11:21:49-05

The Latest on family members found shackled in a California home (all times local):

6:45 a.m.

The sister of a woman accused with her husband of keeping their 13 children captive in California says she never got to know her nieces and nephews.

Elizabeth Jane Flores tells ABC News' "Good Morning America" that she tried for years to get in touch with her sister, Louise Anna Turpin, but Turpin shut her out.

Louise Turpin, 49, and her husband, 57-year-old David Allen Turpin, face torture and child endangerment charges. Officials say their children were malnourished and chained to furniture.

Flores tearfully said Wednesday that she and Turpin didn't have a relationship for decades beyond the odd phone call. Flores says she is shocked by her sister's arrest.

Another sister, Teresa Robinette, tells NBC's "Today" show that Louise Turpin's children lived a strict existence without any social life.

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4:25 a.m.

The sister of a woman who along with her husband faces allegations of keeping their 13 children captive in their California home says her nieces and nephews faced an extremely strict existence.

On the "Today" show Wednesday, Teresa Robinette, whose sister, Louise Anna Turpin, and brother-in-law, David Allen Turpin, have been jailed and could face charges of torture and child endangerment, says the children didn't live a normal life.

Robinette says the children didn't have a social life and weren't allowed to watch TV.

Officials said the children, ranging in age from 2 to 29, were so malnourished the older ones looked like children. Robinette says she voiced her concerns about the children to her sister but was told their father was tall and lanky and they'd grow up to be like him.

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11:40 p.m.

A 17-year-old girl who looked closer to 10 jumped out a window, called 911, and showed the world the secret horror she and her 12 brothers and sisters had been living through.

Her suburban Southern California home served as a private school and a prison for the siblings aged 2 to 29.

And until the girl fled with photographic evidence, it appears no one, neither neighbors nor public officials, knew anything about what was happening inside.

Deputies said some siblings were shackled to furniture in the filthy, foul-smelling conditions. They were so malnourished the older ones still looked like children.

The parents, 49-year-old Louise Anna Turpin and 57-year-old David Allen Turpin, were jailed on $9 million bail. Charges that may include torture and child endangerment could come Wednesday.