A judge on Thursday ordered a married couple to stand trial on 49 counts of torture, false imprisonment and abuse over the treatment of 13 siblings who were found imprisoned and starving in their suburban California home, prosecutors said.
David and Louise Turpin were bound over for trial after a two-day hearing in Riverside County Superior Court in which the court heard tape of an emotional 911 call by a 17-year-old girl who climbed out a window and dialed police on a borrowed and deactivated cell phone, said John Hall of the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.
Officers who went to the Turpins' home in Perris, about 70 miles east of Los Angeles, found 12 siblings ranging in age from two to 29 inside, suffering from malnourishment, muscle wasting and other signs of severe abuse.