Jordan’s bravery freed herself and her siblings from a life of horrific abuse and captivity at the hands of their parents. Watch the DianeSawyer special event, 'Escape From A House Of Horror,' on Friday, Nov. 19 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and stream on Hulu.
"I had to make sure that if I left, we wouldn't go back and we would get the help we'd needed," Jordan Turpin said."I think it was us coming so close to death so many times."Jordan Turpin quietly climbed up on a windowsill of her parents' home without them knowing and dropped down into the outside world.
Jordan’s bravery that day in January 2018 freed herself and her siblings from a life of horrific abuse and captivity at the hands of their parents, David and Louise Turpin, who are now in prison for beating, shackling and starving 12 of their 13 children. "We [weren’t] even allowed to stand up. We were supposed to be sitting down all the time," added Jennifer, now 33."Most of the time we were up at night and then sleeping in the day."
Jordan said she hadn't been to a doctor in five years, she said, and had never been to a dentist in her life.In 2016, Jordan said she got a hold of one of her parents’ old smartphones. It opened up a whole new world she had never seen before, and eventually she discovered Justin Bieber’s music videos.
MORE: Captive teen's chilling 911 call details parents' alleged torture: 'My two little sisters right now are chained up' “She was like, ‘We need to get out of here,’” Jennifer said. “So I gave her all the advice I knew, all the advice I could.”Jennifer Turpin is seen here during an exclusive interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer for"20/20" airing Nov. 19, 2021.Jennifer said she tried to draw a map of their neighborhood based on the few times she had been allowed outside.
She said she asked her sisters, chained to a bed, for permission to take their photos before doing so, which she did with her brother’s old cell phone that she had secretly gotten hold of. Jordan reached a dispatcher who kept her talking as she wandered the neighborhood. Eventually, the dispatcher helped guide the shaky and confused girl to a stop sign where she could wait for a deputy to arrive.
When he arrived, Jordan quickly tried to tell him her life story and then he asked her a critical question: “Do you have pictures of that?” On Colace’s body cam, Jordan is heard telling him that if her parents found her outside they would kill her. As he’s listening to Jordan describe the horrors inside the home, Colace was impressed by her courage. Through his questioning, he could tell she’d had little education.“I was just thinking how smart and how brave she was,” he said. “I asked her what her middle name was and she said ‘Elizabeth.’ I asked her to spell it. She couldn’t spell it.
When Jennifer, who was still inside the home, heard the knocking, she prayed it meant her sister had made it out.The officers, saying they were conducting a welfare check, searched the home, where in one room they found the two young malnourished girls from Jordan's photo with bruised wrists. Within minutes, the deputies found the chains that had just been removed from the girls.
Wade Walsvick, the lead investigator on the case who helped prosecute the Turpins, said this case was “a culmination of everything I’ve done for almost 25 years, from torture, physical abuse, mental abuse.”
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Turpin sisters describe living in 'house of horrors': 'I thought I was going to die'Jennifer and Jordan Turpin share their stories for the first time. Watch the DianeSawyer special event, 'Escape From A House Of Horror,' on Friday, Nov. 19 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and stream on Hulu.
Read more »
How Justin Bieber Inspired Jordan Turpin to Save Her Siblings From a House of Horror - E! OnlineIn a new interview with Diane Sawyer, Jordan Turpin shared how watching Justin Bieber videos provided an important lesson about the world around her.
Read more »
Kanye West Says Michael Jordan Still Beefing With Him Over 'Facts' LyricsKanye West says Michael Jordan is still furious with him years after he dropped his famous 'Yeezy just jumped over Jumpman' lyrics.
Read more »
Scottie Pippen Boasts He Would’ve Given Much Better Performance Than Jordan In ‘Space Jam’LOS ANGELES—Attacking the Chicago Bulls legend for his “massively overrated” line reads, Scottie Pippen boasted Wednesday that he would have given a much better performance than Michael Jordan in Space Jam. “Look, he gets all this praise for a box office smash, but it was really the system around Jordan that elevated…
Read more »
1 Year! Michael B. Jordan, Lori Harvey Enjoy Romantic Anniversary DinnerMichael B. Jordan and Lori Harvey were first linked in November 2020 before going Instagram official two months later— read more
Read more »