🚨 BREAKING: A SH0CKING NEW TWIST HAS JUST EMERGED IN THE CASE OF THE 16 CHILDREN RESCUED FROM THE OHIO “HOUSE OF HORR0RS”… AND THIS LATEST DETAIL IS SENDING THE INVESTIGATION IN A DIRECTION NO ONE SAW COMING…
Concerns about the schooling of six of the 16 children found living like ‘feral animals’ in a rural Ohio home had been raised by a juvenile court nearly five years before they were rescued.
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16 children were found living like ‘feral animals’ inside the Ohio home(Image: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Concerns about the children found living in horrifying conditions in an Ohio home were raised five years before they were discovered living like “feral animals,” court documents reveal.
Elizabeth Siders, 33, her husband Gary Siders, Jr., 36,, and his parents, Gary Siders Sr., 73, and Christina Siders, 66 were arrested on numerous child endangerment charges earlier this month after 16 children from the same family were rescued from a dilapidated home in rural Vinton County.
Authorities had been carrying out a search warrant in connection with an investigation into alleged acts of public indecency by Gary Siders Jr. when they found the children, aged 18 months to 18 years old, living in wretched conditions with human waste all around while confined to just one 12-by-12-foot room.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson noted that law enforcement described the children as being “almost feral” from severe neglect. “Some of these children couldn’t even speak,” Wilson said.
“This is terrible. They looked like almost feral animals. It was terrible. So when we’re talking reading, writing and education, we’re talking a whole other level of expectations here. It’s hard enough just to get these kids to be able to – the 18-year-old can’t spell her name.”
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Elizabeth Siders, the mother of the children, was named in complaints about her children failing to attend school in 2021(Image: Vinton County Sheriff’s Office)
Now, authorities are facing questions about why the children were not rescued sooner as it emerges that concerns were raised for them years earlier.
Elizabeth and Gary Siders Jr. were summoned to court for their children in another county nearly five years ago. The Siders family was originally from Gallia County, the county south of Vinton.
Records show they moved to Vinton County about four years ago. Prior to the move, children’s services had been looking into the Siders family, dating back to 2021, Law & Crime reports.
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The children were found while police were executing a warrant in relation to public indecency allegations against Gary Siders Jr.(Image: Vinton County Sheriff’s Office)
The juvenile court in Gallia County searched for the Siders family after the older children didn’t show up for school. The Siders’ home at that time was on Honeysuckle Drive in Cheshire, according to an address listed on court documents.
Records show that in October 2021, complaints had been filed against Elizabeth and Gary Siders Jr. because six of their children were considered truant.
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Court documents show that a juvenile court in another county attempted to locate the Siders over concerns for their children’s schooling in 2021(Image: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The complaints state that the parents “failed to cause said child to attend some school or class as required by law. The child has been absent from school without legitimate excuse for the entire 2021-2022 academic year to present, an amount in excess of 72 hours for the school year; and as such is therefore a habitual truant.”
The complaints were for six of the Siders’ 16 children. At that point, some of them wouldn’t have even been born yet. The eldest would have been 13.
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Christina Siders, 67, was among the four adults arrested (Image: Vinton County Sheriff’s Office)
In the state of Ohio it’s illegal to not send your children to school. Parents whose children are determined to be habitually truant can face fines or even child neglect charges.
However, the complaints were terminated in January 2022, with a document stating Elizabeth Siders was unable to be served as her whereabouts were unknown. The same document was filed for Gary Jr. The court was unable to find Gary, Elizabeth or the children.
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Gary Siders Jr., 73, was also arrested(Image: Vinton County Sheriff’s Office)
It’s unclear whether the family had already moved to Vinton County at that point. Despite the complaints about the children not showing up for school, their horrifying living conditions continued to go undetected for years.
Since being rescued, all of the children have been put in foster care. Ohio officials will also provide $1 million in state emergency funds to Vinton County to provide treatment and care for the 16 children.
“The kids are safe. They’re being cared for. They’re receiving treatments,” said Joel Potts of the Ohio Department of Children and Youth. “We expect there will be a lot more services these children will need to address the traumas they’ve received. And some of these things they’ll probably be dealing with for life.”
SOURCE: https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/bombshell-new-detail-emerges-after-1937793?int_source=nba
