The 911 emergency call a 17-year-old girl made to end years of abuse she and her 12 siblings suffered inside a squalid California house has been played at a committal hearing for parents David and Louise Turpin.
The girl's quivering, childlike voice is heard on the January 2018 recording saying her two younger sisters and a brother were chained to their beds at their home in Perris, 113 kilometres southeast of Los Angeles.
"They will wake up at night and they will start crying and they wanted me to call somebody," she is heard to say in a high-pitched voice.
"I wanted to call y'all so y'all can help my sisters."
Both David and Louise Turpin have pleaded not guilty to torture, child abuse and other charges and are each being held on $US12 million bail. They have 13 children ranging in age from 2 to 29.
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The girl had planned her escape for two years and was terrified as she climbed out a window to freedom, Riverside County Sheriff's Deputy Manuel Campos testified to the California court.
The 911 call marked a new start for the Turpin siblings - some who had lived in such isolation they didn't even know the role of the police.
Two girls, 11 and 14, were hastily released from their chains when police showed up at the house.
But a 22-year-old son remained shackled. He later said he and his siblings were suspected of stealing food and being disrespectful, Detective Thomas Salisbury said.
The children were deprived of food, toys and games, authorities said. They were allowed to to write in journals which may now corroborate their horrific stories.
Investigator Patrick Morris said some suffered from severe malnutrition and muscle wasting. An 11-year-old girl who was shackled to a bed had arms the size of a baby and another girl, 12, couldn't recite the alphabet.
The hearing continues.
