The more we know about David and Louise Turpin, the parents of the 13 children rescued from their house in California, the worse it gets.

Earlier in the week we covered how the children were padlocked and chained, and now a neighbour has shed more light on how these monsters treated their own kids.

Mike, who used to live across the road, called the family a cult when talking to the Telegraph:

He said: “They would march back and forth on the second story at night. The light would be on the whole the time, and they would be marching the kids back and forth.”

Because he worked at a hospital, he often came back home in the early hours of the morning, which is when he says he saw the children engaging in the strange behaviour.

Mike, who didn’t give his last name, said he saw them being marched through the upstairs rooms between midnight and 3am…

Despite the fact Mike thought the situation was strange, he didn’t feel anything serious enough to call the police was going on.

He said: “My wife called them clones. They spoke robotically, in a monotone and at the same time.”

No disrespect, Mike, but I might be tempted to call child services if I’m watching kids being frogmarched around at odd hours of the day like robots.

It’s also emerged that the family was obsessed with Disney, taking multiple family trips to Disneyland. Of course they snapped up plenty of memorabilia:

Reporters on Monday gained access to the family’s back garden, where they saw Disney merchandise including pet food bowls (though it is not thought they had any pets) and a Mickey and Minnie Mouse fountain.

Two cars parked outside the residence had personalised number plates, one reading DLand and another reading DL4ever.

Although it is thought the first numberplate reads “Disneyland”, the other could either mean David and Louise forever or Disneyland Forever.

Yeah, it’s not like either of those options is less creepy. These are grown adults aged 57 and 49.

They’re also Elvis fans, renewing their vowels three times at the Elvis Chapel in Downtown Las Vegas over the years.

As often happens, someone went to a family member for their take:

Teresa Robinette, the sister of Louise Turpin [said]: “I’ve never felt such a different mixture of emotions. Like seriously I’m so heartbroken for my neices and my nephews. I’m so angry, I’m so mad, I’m hurt.

“Our life wasn’t perfect growing up but she didn’t live like that. Neither did David, he was raised in a very wealthy home.

“As a matter of fact my dad was a preacher at one point when I was very little – they weren’t raised like this. I don’t know where it came from. I feel like it’s a bad dream.”

Yup, imagine how the kids must feel.

[source:telegraph]