Authorities were unaware there were 16 “almost feral” children living in a feces-filled house of horrors in Ohio and only stumbled on them last week while serving a man in the home a warrant for indecent exposure.
Police faced shock and horror when serving the warrant against Gary Siders II at the Vinton County home and finding the 16 children ranging in age from 18 months to 18 years — raising questions about how the situation went unnoticed for so long.
It is now a challenge to unravel the case, given that the children — allegedly kept isolated in a 12-foot by 12-foot room — can barely speak properly, NBC4 reported.
“One of the investigative challenges is that [the children] are limited. They can communicate, but it’s extremely limited, and some not at all,” said county Sheriff Ryan Cain.
The oldest child — the 18-year-old — is developmentally disabled and unable to even write her name, according to authorities.
Siders, his wife, Elizabeth Siders, 33, and his parents, Gary Sr., 73, and Christina, 66, were arrested last week and face multiple charges of endangering children.
Siders was 18 years old and had only finished ninth grade when he married Elizabeth in 2008, who was 15 at the time, according to records in Mason County, W. Va.
Because Elizabeth was underage, both her parents, Brian Russell and Lori Ann Raines, had to sign the marriage certificate along with Siders’ parents.
Their 18-year-old was born two months after the marriage, NBC4 reported.
Along with the oldest girl, court records show the other children’s ages as 16, 15, 14, 13, 11, 10, 8, 6, and 5, along with 4-year-old twins, 2-year-old twins and 1-year-old twins.
The children have never been enrolled in school, and it remains unclear exactly who all their parents are, as Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson described it as an “intra-family case.”
Officials said the children were living squalor for at least four years cramped in the 12-by-12 room that was littered with human waste.
“It really looked third world. It is not something we are used to seeing in America. I cannot get the smell off of me,” Wilson told reporters Wednesday.
Seven of the children were hospitalized in the Columbus area, including two who were taken to trauma centers.
Siders is due in court Tuesday over the initial indecent-exposure warrant, with all four suspects facing up to 16 counts of child endangerment and $300,000 bonds each.
If found guilty of all charges, the defendants each face a maximum sentence of up to 192 years in prison.
