{"id":31117,"date":"2026-08-07T13:36:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T08:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=31117"},"modified":"2026-08-07T13:36:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T08:36:28","slug":"turpin-survivor-warns-16-almost-feral-kids-found-in-ohio-house-of-horrors-it-will-be-really-hard-to-adjust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=31117","title":{"rendered":"Turpin survivor warns 16 &#8216;almost feral&#8217; kids found in Ohio &#8216;house of horrors&#8217; it will be &#8216;really hard to adjust&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F08%2F136721265.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A Turpin child who was rescued from her parents\u2019<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2018\/01\/17\/inside-the-california-couples-eerie-original-horror-house\/\"> California \u201chouse of horrors\u201d <\/a>has warned the 16 \u201calmost feral\u201d kids found living in a <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/10\/us-news\/inside-the-ohio-house-of-horrors-where-16-feral-kids-were-rescued\/\">feces-covered Ohio <\/a>property that it will be hard for them to adjust when they are integrated into society.<\/p>\n<p>Julissa Turpin, 20, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hlezI97yEHY\">told NewsNation<\/a> Thursday the Siders\u2019 children will be able to heal with time \u2014 eight years after she <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/03\/us-news\/turpin-siblings-recount-years-of-abuse-inside-house-of-horrors-i-would-beg-jesus-to-take-me\/\">escaped the clutches of her abusive parents<\/a> David and Louise Turpin.<\/p>\n<p>The Siders\u2019 children \u2013 who range in age from 1 to 18 \u2013 are in protective custody after <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/01\/us-news\/children-found-in-deplorable-ohio-home-are-part-of-same-family\/\">they were rescued from the cramped 12-by-12 room<\/a> in Hamden, Ohio, on June 30.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Jennifer Turpin with her sister Julissa.  <span class=\"credit\">ABC News<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s gonna be really hard to adjust, but it\u2019s definitely possible,\u201d Turpin told Entin, speaking about the road ahead. \u201cAnd it\u2019s definitely possible for them to get healing and everything that they need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Turpin, who was 10 or 11 when she escaped the four-bedroom home in Perris, California, revealed that common phrases sounded unfamiliar at first when she was coming to terms with her new life.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cEven with literally saying, \u2018How are you?\u2019 That was odd to me that people would say, \u2018Hi, how are you?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s like, \u2018Why is everybody asking how I am?\u2019 It was so weird because it\u2019s the most common phrase ever, but it was never used.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t remember a single time in that house, by an adult or a parent, \u2018How are you?\u2019 or \u2018Are you ok?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The 16 Ohio kids were rescued from a Hamden property in June. <span class=\"credit\">New York Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Turpin also admitted she thought the idea of people having friends was \u201cfake\u201d or just something that featured in films.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t know that I could actually, um, have a friend. \u2026 I didn\u2019t know where I would get a friend,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Turpin recalled the moment she was able to free herself from David and Louise Turpin\u2019s reign of terror. They were <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2019\/04\/19\/horror-house-parents-david-and-louise-turpin-get-life-for-abusing-kids\/\">sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in April 2019.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It was Julissa\u2019s sister Jordan, then 17, who managed to escape the property \u2013 and report the abuse to the authorities.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The Turpin family wearing matching red t-shirts in an undated photograph.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The Ohio kids were found living in squalor and \u2018looked like almost feral animals.\u2019 <span class=\"credit\">New York Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI was always on cloud nine because it was like, honestly, just being able to see a tree, just being able to breathe in fresh air, that literally felt like heaven to me,\u201d Julissa said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt like it kind of, it can\u2019t really get more scary or worse than being in that house.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There is a set of striking similarities in the cases of the Turpins and Siders.<\/p>\n<p>Andy Wilson, the Ohio Attorney General, described the surroundings inside the Hamden property as \u201cthird world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey looked like almost feral animals,\u201d he said, describing the conditions of the kids. \u201cIt was terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf they had waited 24 hours, there is a very high probability that we\u2019d be dealing with a death, or multiple deaths, of these children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>All but one of the Turpin kids were severely malnourished when they were rescued.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Exclusive: Original &amp;apos;House of Horrors&amp;apos; victim offers hope for Ohio survivors\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hlezI97yEHY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Julissa\u2019s sister, Jennifer Turpin, revealed she and her siblings\u2019 diet largely consisted of peanut butter sandwiches, bologna, and frozen burritos. Meanwhile, their parents would gorge on fast food and full meals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Turpin children were not enrolled in schools across California, and authorities in Ohio revealed none of the Siders\u2019 kids were in school at the time of their discovery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the investigative challenges is that [the children] are limited,\u201d Ryan Cain, the Vinton County Sheriff, said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey can communicate but it\u2019s extremely limited and some not at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elizabeth Siders and Gary Siders Jr, who have since been charged with child endangerment, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/17\/us-news\/ohio-house-of-horrors-mom-was-previously-charged-for-not-sending-kids-to-school-court-docs\/\">were hit with truancy charges<\/a> in October 2021 after six of their kids failed to attend school before these were later thrown out.<\/p>\n<p>The case was \u201cunable to be served\u201d because the location of the Siders\u2019 parents and their kids was \u201cunknown to the court,\u201d according to a judge\u2019s filing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/article-15977415\/Ohio-House-Horrors-parents-children.html\">seen by the Daily Mail.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Gary Siders and his wife Christina Siders have also been charged with child endangerment in light of the discovery.<\/p>\n<p>All four pleaded not guilty at their arraignment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Turpin child who was rescued from her parents\u2019 California \u201chouse of horrors\u201d has warned the 16 \u201calmost feral\u201d kids found living in a feces-covered Ohio property that it will be hard for them to adjust when they are integrated into society. Julissa Turpin, 20, told NewsNation Thursday the Siders\u2019 children will be able to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/136721265.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}