BREAKING: NOTHING COULD HAVE PREPARED US—OHIO SHERIFF BREAKS HIS SILENCE AFTER DISCOVERING 16 CHILDREN INSIDE ALLEGED ‘HOUSE OF HORRORS’ IN CONDITIONS HE SAYS WERE ‘WORSE THAN LIVESTOCK’
Police were shocked at the state of the home where the Siders’ were living (Image: AP)
Officers traumatized by responding to an Ohio ‘house of horrors’ where 16 children were discovered living in appalling conditions have issued a disturbing statement.
Elizabeth Siders, 33, her husband, Gary Siders Jr, 36, and her parents-in-law, Gary Siders Sr, 73, and Christina Siders, 67, face charges of second-degree felony child endangering. All 16 children – ranging in age from one to 18 – had allegedly been living in these conditions for at least the previous four years.
The youngsters had reportedly been restricted to a single cramped room around the clock for at least the past four years.
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Gary Siders Sr is one of the adults implicated in the case (Image: WSYX)
Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain characterized the scene confronting officers upon arrival, stating: “Nothing could prepare us, even in 22 years of law enforcement. Nothing could have prepared me to see the scene. I’ve never seen human beings live in that condition before.”
He continued: “Most of our livestock was kept in better conditions than the children.”
The eldest child, an 18-year-old with developmental disabilities, could not write her own name, while investigators disclosed that multiple children were unable to speak.
Authorities discovered the disturbing situation after serving a search warrant at the residence in Hamden, Vinton County, where they located the children along with four adults.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson declared that the evidence in the case is “beyond comprehension.”
Elizabeth Siders is the mother to the 16 children (Image: Southeast Ohio Jail)
During a press conference, he added, “I think if they had waited another 24 hours, there was a very high probability that we’d be dealing with a death or multiple deaths of these children.”
Vinton County Prosecutor William Archer described the case as an “intra-family situation” and stressed it was not a human trafficking matter. He named the suspects as the “grandma, grandpa, father, and mother”.
The four defendants have each been charged with 16 counts of endangering children, a second-degree felony, according to authorities.
They entered not-guilty pleas at their arraignment, and their bond was set at $300,000 each. They will likely seek court-appointed counsel, authorities said.
The charges allege the four defendants abused the children, causing “serious physical harm.”
The children were rescued on June 30, and since then, Ohio has been reviewing a proposed $1 million emergency funding package for the 16 kids.
Elizabeth Siders, mother of all 16 children, filed a court motion seeking release from custody, according to documents obtained by WCMH. The 33-year-old is requesting freedom to reunite with her children, the filing states.
Her attorney, J. Thomas Stolly said in the filing: “Through conversations with Counsel, the Defendant maintains that her principal desire [is] to reunite with her children. She understands that reunification of any sort is an impossibility if she does not appear before this Court.”
The house is now under police investigation (Image: WSYX ABC 6)
Stolly added: “She did not ask when she was getting out of jail. She did not ask what a timeline was for her to get out of jail. She started asking about the kids.”
Investigators have determined that Elizabeth Siders was just 15-years-old when she married Gary Siders Jr., giving birth to their first child only two months later.
Stolly noted that she had only “positive things to say about husband Gary” while speaking from jail, with the couple reportedly desiring a “big family.”
Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain (Image: ABC)
Despite this, her brother Jeremy Russell alleged in a social media post that his sister had been “indoctrinated” during her teenage years.
He further claimed the mother had “wrapped her life up due to indoctrination,” asserting that the extreme psychological hold over her was “100 percent real.”
Other family members have stated that Elizabeth Siders endured a “difficult home life” as a teenager, ultimately fleeing to live with Gary Siders Jr. and his parents.
SOURCE: https://www.the-express.com/news/us-news/212835/ohio-house-horrors-cops-haunting-message-16-feral-kids-found
