The Fate of Twenty-one Los Angeles Siblings

"Earlier that day, they'd received a call about one of the mansion's residents: a two-month-old baby named Walter. Walter had recently been admitted with severe head injuries to the intensive-care unit of a nearby hospital. His mother said he'd fallen off the bed, but his symptoms were consistent with the kind of trauma one might see from a car accident-or after a prolonged shaking."

"When the police entered the mansion, they were surprised to find that it had an institutional feel. There were CCTV cameras everywhere, bedrooms filled with cribs, and, in classrooms downstairs, more than a dozen children seated at desks in front of whiteboards. It was impossible to tell the girls and boys apart, since all of them had shaved heads."

"After some counting-and the consulting of an Excel spreadsheet-the officers determined that Silvia and Guojun were the parents of twenty-one children in total, nearly all under the age of three. As the couple explained that evening, this feat had been accomplished by hiring dozens of women across the country as surrogates."

"On May 9th, Silvia and Guojun were arrested on suspicion of child endangerment, and their children were taken into foster care. The couple was released three days later, but the children have remained in state custody ever since."

A two-month-old baby named Walter was admitted with severe head injuries and later police investigated a $3.2-million mansion in Arcadia. Detectives found an institutional setup with many CCTV cameras, numerous cribs, and more than a dozen children in classrooms, all with shaved heads. Officers determined that the residents’ parents, Silvia Zhang and Guojun Xuan, were responsible for twenty-one children, nearly all under age three. The parents claimed the children belonged to them and said they achieved this by hiring dozens of women across the country as surrogates. Police reviewed surveillance footage and arrested the couple on suspicion of child endangerment, releasing them after three days while keeping the children in state custody.

Read at The New Yorker