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Aunt of 13 Shackled Kids Claims Their Dad Would Watch Her in the Shower

The aunt of 13 siblings allegedly held captive by their parents broke down during a Wednesday, January 17, appearance on Good Morning America

“I want to reach out to the kids,” Elizabeth Jane Flores told Robin Roberts. “I want them to know that for years we begged to Skype. We begged to see them, the whole family.”

Elizabeth Jane Flores on ‘Good Morning America‘
Elizabeth Jane Flores on ‘Good Morning America‘

As previously reported, police discovered nearly a dozen malnourished kids aged 2 to 29 inside David and Louise Turpin’s Perris, California home on Sunday. According to a statement released by the Riverside County Sheriff’s department, “several children” were “shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings.”

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Officers were alerted to the situation by one of the victims, a 17-year-old female, who managed to escape and call 911 using a cell phone found inside the home. Per the Sheriff’s department, the teen appeared to be “only 10 years old.”

David Allen Turpin and Louise Anna Turpin
David Allen Turpin and Louise Anna Turpin Riverside County Sheriff’s Department

Flores, who said she hasn’t had a “sister relationship” with Louise for about 20 years, lived with the Turpins for a few months when she was in college. At the time, the couple had just four children. 

“I thought they were really strict, but I didn’t see any type of abuse. Now that I’m an adult, I look back and see things that I didn’t see then,” she revealed on GMA. Those things included “uncomfortable” experiences with her brother-in-law.

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“If I were to get in the shower, he would come in there while I was in there and watch me, and it was like a joke,” Flores said. “He never touched me or anything.”

When the Turpins lived in Texas, Flores, who lived just a few hours away, saw Louise regularly. But the visits were usually at Flores’ home. “There was never any children, it was just always her and David,” she said. “I would always say, ‘I wish you would bring the kids.’”

Flores recalled a trip she and her mother made to visit the Turpins, only to be turned away at the door.

“When that happens for 20 years, you don’t think it’s abnormal,” Flores said. “You just think that they were always funny and private anyway, even before they had children. They shut us out years and years and years ago.”

Flores sister Louise, 49, and brother-in-law David, 57, are charged with torture and child endangerment and are scheduled for a court hearing on Thursday. Bail was set at $9 million for each. 

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