Jordan Turpin is still trying to adjust to the world over five years after she broke free from captivity in her parent’s California home.
Turpin, 21, was 17 when she escaped her family’s Perris residence in 2018, resulting in her parents, David and Louise Turpin’s, arrest and the successful rescue of her 12 siblings. She escaped the home through a window and called for police using a deactivated cell phone.
The defendants are accused of forcing their children to live in squalor; they were routinely beaten, starved, and shackled to their beds. In 2019, David and Louise Turpin were convicted on 14 felony counts of abuse and given life sentences with the possibility of parole.
Neighbors said that the Turpin children mostly kept to themselves and indoors. On the rare occasion that they were outside, they did not look healthy.
Some residents in the neighborhood said that the Turpin family typically kept a messy, unkempt yard, while neighbor Andria Valdez joked that they reminded her of the Cullen vampire family, from the fictional “Twilight” book and film series.
Turpin previously opened up to People Magazine regarding life after she was rescued. She and five of her siblings were placed in another abusive home with conditions similar to her prior family life.
Jordan and the siblings ultimately filed a lawsuit against Riverside County and a private foster care agency for allegedly placing them in a home with caretakers who have a history of abusing children.
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“I’m not ready to go into details about what happened to me in that home. I was very traumatized, and it’s been a very scary journey,” she told People magazine. “It was really hard to understand the first situation [with my parents]. Then going into another, that was just really, really hard. You have all these questions and you just don’t get the answer.”
Now, Jordan has her own apartment and is an influencer with a large following on social media platforms. Still, she said her days are not easy and she usually cries, Elle reports.
“I usually, um, cry. Then I try to get myself to eat. And then I start to do my makeup, but I cry, so I have to do it over. And then I try to do a TikTok, but I’m like, ‘Oh, people are going to say this and that about me.’”
“Then I’m like, ‘Maybe I should get some air. I’m gonna go outside…and then I just cry again. But going outside is not as traumatic to me anymore.”
Meanwhile, Jordan says she’s considering getting into the music industry, but she’s not quite sure yet since she wants to take things slowly.
“Right now, I kind of need a break from my past. I just want to start slowly.”
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[Feature Photo: Jordan Turpin/Instagram]
