The Turpins were considered loners to their neighborhood.
Neighbors remembered the family for their strange behavior. They would comment on the families isolation and the children's lack of freedom.
Although they lived on 36-acres, the family moved into a mobile home on the property after they had trashed the brick house there so bad.
One night, one of the Turpin daughters escaped, taking a walk down the road to look for a telephone.
Nellie Baldwin, an old neighbor who later bought the house after the Turpin family suddenly fled remembers the story of the daughter well since the neighborhood hardly heard from the family.
“A neighbor came along. She told him to take her to a telephone.”
“It wasn’t until about a few days later that they left,” Nellie added. “They just disappeared. He didn’t make any more payments on that place or anything.”
Neighbors speculated that the family fled due to a potential visit from child protective services.
After the family up and fled their property, the mortgage company found feces on the wall, moldy bathrooms, broken doors and more neglect.
Read more at The Orange County Register
Click here to see photos of the destruction to the Turpin family home.