No Texas probes involving California torture suspects

RIO VISTA, Texas – An official in Texas says authorities there had no reports involving the couple charged in California with shackling and starving 12 of their 13 children.

David and Louise Turpin have pleaded not guilty in Riverside County, California, to multiple counts of torture, child abuse and false imprisonment. The couple moved to California from near Fort Worth, Texas, in 2011.

Patrick Crimmins with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said Saturday that his agency had no investigations concerning the Turpins.

A former neighbour in Rio Vista, Texas, tells the Los Angeles Times that the Turpins never socialized and rarely left their house. Ricky Vinyard says the Turpins kept lights on at all hours, blinds drawn. He says one Christmas they bought eight new children’s bicycles that sat outside, unused.