On June 30, police searched a rural home in Vinton County, Ohio, where they discovered 16 children, ranging in age from 18 months to 18 years, allegedly living in conditions investigators described as \u201cdeplorable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Authorities believe more than half of the children had spent the previous four years confined to a single 12-foot-by-12-foot room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The alleged neglect extended well beyond the cramped living space. The home was reportedly covered in dirt and feces, and Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said the the years of neglect had taken a visible toll on the 16 children, all belonging to Elizabeth Siders, who married their father, Gary Siders Jr., when she was 15, according to the Associated Press (AP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey looked like almost feral animals. It was terrible,\u201d the attorney general said, according to CBS News. Sheriff Cain offered another grim assessment, saying, \u201cMost of their livestock was kept in better condition than their children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Sickened by it\u2019
Several of the children required immediate medical treatment. Two were airlifted to specialized trauma centers after suffering what Wilson described as \u201cserious physical harm,\u201d while another seven were transported to hospitals in Columbus, including one child who was admitted to the ICU and intubated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Investigators have also said several of the children struggled to communicate, while the oldest, an 18-year-old woman, is developmentally disabled and unable to write her own name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe conditions these children lived in were horrific, and we are sickened by it. Fortunately, this tragic chapter has closed, but their recovery will take time,\u201d Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said in a statement shared on Facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elizabeth, 33, her husband Gary, 36, his father Gary Siders Sr., 73, and his mother Christina Siders, 77, have each been charged with 16 counts of second-degree felony child endangerment. All four defendants have pleaded not guilty and remain jailed on $300,000 bond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cConditions you cannot even imagine people being in, let alone children being in,\u201d the attorney general said at a news conference, describing what he saw as \u201cpure evil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Are my children OK?
As public outrage over the allegations continues to grow, Elizabeth\u2019s attorney Thomas Stolly told AP that she appeared \u201ccrying and exhausted\u201d when he met her inside the jail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn fact, my client\u2019s first question to me when I walked into the jail and introduced myself was about her kids. She asked if her children were OK, she asked if I knew where they were, and she asked when she\u2019d be able to see them again,\u201d Stolly told the outlet, explaining that Elizabeth didn\u2019t first ask about the criminal case against her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI thought it was telling that her first concern was not, \u2018When can I get out of jail,\u2019 but was \u2018Are my children OK?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Evil requires malice\u2019
Stolly said his conversations with Elizabeth have also given him a glimpse into the family\u2019s daily life before the children\u2019s removal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Stolly, the woman described herself as a stay-at-home mother and said all 16 of her children were born in area hospitals. The attorney added that she left school after the 11th grade, while Gary Siders Jr. was working as a food delivery driver and searching for additional employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the case moves forward, Stolly explained that prosecutors have not yet turned over their evidence to the defense. Until he can review it, he said, he disagrees with Wilson\u2019s characterization of the family as \u201cpure evil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEvil requires malice, and I did not see any malice in Elizabeth,\u201d Stolly told AP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his view, the allegations point to something different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think that this is more so a case of isolation than a case of evil, and I think that there\u2019s an important distinction there. Because if that\u2019s all you know \u2013 and you have to think someone at 15 years old doesn\u2019t know a whole lot about being an adult, about being a mother, about being a wife \u2013 and that\u2019s been your worldview for the past 17 or 18 years, you get shaped by that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stolly said his client never presented herself as someone who had been victimized and that it\u2019s \u201ctoo early to actually determine what was going on there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile the headlines may be sensational, there\u2019s a real human component to this and so I would ask people to give this process time to play out,\u201d Stolly said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What are your thoughts on this horrifying case? Please let us know what you think and share this story so we can hear from others!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On June 30, police searched a rural home in Vinton County, Ohio, where they discovered 16 children, ranging in age from 18 months to 18 years, allegedly living in conditions investigators described as \u201cdeplorable.\u201d Authorities believe more than half of the children had spent the previous four years confined to a single 12-foot-by-12-foot room. The …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14777,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14775\/revisions\/14777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}