A California couple was arrested after police discovered that 13 people had been held captive in their home in filthy conditions, some shackled to beds with chains and padlocks, CNN reported Monday.
The victims ranged in age from 2 to 29, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.
Police were alerted to the goings on in the home after a 17-year-old girl managed to escape from the residence in Perris, California on Sunday and called 911 from a cell phone she found in the house.
The girl said her 12 brothers and sisters were being held captive inside the home by her parents, some of them bound with chains and padlocks, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said.
The 17-year-old "appeared to be only 10 years old and slightly emaciated," the Riverside Sheriff's Department said, according to CNN.
Sheriff's deputies responded to the home and found the 12 other victims, who "appeared malnourished and very dirty," authorities said.
All of them looked like children, police said, and officers were surprised to learn that seven of them were adults. Several were shackled to their beds "in dark and foul-smelling surroundings," the Sheriff's Department said.
The couple, David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, were charged Sunday with torture and child endangerment, the Sheriff's Department said. Bail was set at $9 million for each.
The six children -- including the 17-year-old who escaped -- are being treated at Riverside University Health System Medical Center in Moreno Valley. The seven adults are being treated at Corona Regional Medical Center in Corona.