Diane Sawyer to interview Turpin children for ABC News
Diane Sawyer and ABC News Studios are behind “The Turpins: A New House of Horror – A Diane Sawyer Special Event,” which airs February 3 at 10pm ET on ABC. The hour-long interview will be available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu the following day.
The Turpin case made headlines in 2018 when 13 children and adult dependents, ranging in age from 2 to 29, were rescued from their biological parents’ home in Perris, California.
Sawyer interviewed two of the Turpin daughters for the first time in 2021, including Jordan Turpin, who initially reported the incident to police. The upcoming special will cover the stories of three more Turpin siblings who speak for the first time about their experiences in the foster care system, experiencing renewed abuse after their parents’ incarceration.
In January 2018, then 17-year-old Jordan Turpin escaped and called 911 after hearing her parents talking about the family’s move to Oklahoma. Police raided the home and discovered disturbing evidence, including human feces, rotting garbage, dead pets and moldy food, in addition to the other twelve children, who were found with bruises on their arms, looking weak and covered in dirt, with some chained to their beds.
Parents David and Louise Turpin were both sentenced in December 2019 to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. The couple was charged with twelve counts of torture, twelve counts of false imprisonment, seven counts of abuse of a dependent adult and six counts of child abuse, with David facing an additional charge of lewd act on a child under 14.
Sawyer’s first interview, ‘Escape From A House Of Horror’, attracted more than 7 million viewers when it first aired. “The Turpins: A New House of Horror – A Diane Sawyer Special Event” is produced by ABC News Studios. David Sloan is senior executive producer and Christina Ng is executive producer.
Here’s the key art for the special:
Here’s a first look:
