Investigators fear there may have been more siblings in the California horror house who didn’t make it out alive, and now they’re considering sending in corpse-sniffing dogs, according to a report.
Police in Riverside County are in “serious discussions” to use the animals to comb the Perris, Calif., residence of David and Louise Turpin, where the couple’s 13 starving children were found in filthy conditions last week — some shackled to beds — to see if any unknown children died and were secretly buried there, according to Crime Watch Daily.
The Turpin’s 17-year-old daughter escaped the house last Sunday and alerted officials that her parents had imprisoned her and her siblings, whose ages range 2-29. When officials rescued the kids, all but the baby showed severe signs of malnutrition, including stunted growth.
Some of the children, all of whom were homeschooled by David, lacked even basic knowledge such as what a policeman is, officials said.
Investigators are also considering DNA tests to confirm all 13 of the kids are related and were born to David and Louise.
The couple felt “called by god” to have such a large brood, but their motivations for torturing the children — which included beatings, strangulation and taunting them with food and toys they could not have — remain unclear.
They are being charged with 38 counts of torture, child abuse and unlawful imprisonment. David faces one charge of a lewd act against a child under 14.
David and Louise face up to 94 years in prison if they are convicted. They denied all charges at arraignment Thursday and are being held on $12 million bail each.
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