🚨 THE GRANDPARENTS WERE ALWAYS WELL-DRESSED AND CLEAN… — A DOLLAR GENERAL EMPLOYEE SPEAKS OUT ABOUT THE GRANDPARENTS IN THE OHIO CASE INVOLVING 16 CHILDREN… NOW, WHAT THEY REVEALED IS LEAVING MANY PEOPLE OUTRAGED
A disturbing case in the US has reignited the nation’s child marriage debate after 16 suffering kids were rescued from a “House of Horrors”.
Hell has a new address: 182 Ohmer Street, Hamden, Ohio.
That’s where 16 suffering children aged between 18 months and 18 years were rescued last month from what authorities called a “House of Horrors”.
“Most of our livestock was kept in better conditions than the children,” exclaims Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain.
“Just a disgusting scene.”
“They looked like almost feral animals,” adds Ohio Attorney-General Andy Wilson.
“It was terrible.”
It stands within Vinton County, about 130km south of Ohio’s capital, Columbus.
The house sits amid scattered scrub on the outskirts of the village, facing a railway embankment. Discarded boxes are piled around a wrecked child’s bike and an infant’s chair in the unfenced front yard. Its windows are blocked with stacks of rubbish, children’s toys and more boxes.
He left his wife at the gas station to play a prank on her, and she has been missing for years.Tips and Tricks
Police say all 16 children were kept in a single 3.5m by 3.5m room.
Neighbours insist they had no idea.
“My grandkids and my kids, we’ve all walked up and down that street; there’s never been a sign of any child,” a Hamden resident told the state’s WOWK 13 News network.
“As a mother and a grandmother, I just don’t understand the logic.”
Seven of the children have been evacuated to different hospitals around the state for observation. Two were flown to medical trauma centres. One was in a critical condition.
Ohio authorities say some cannot speak.
The 18-year-old girl cannot write her name.
None were in school.
Elizabeth Siders. Picture: Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail
Gary Siders Jr. Picture: Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail
“The scene is horrific, and these are horrific allegations,” Sheriff Cain adds.
Investigations are proving difficult, investigators say, as all the children have communication difficulties.
Officials defined the case being built against the four adults as “intrafamily” – a term often applied to incest.
The arrest of their two parents and one set of grandparents has sent the states of West Virginia and Ohio into shock.
And it has revived controversy over child marriage laws.
“It looks like [the mother] got married with her parents’ consent in West Virginia when she was 15 and was seven months pregnant,” retired local prosecutor Tommy Pope told News Nation.
“It almost seems like the worst of circumstances. To her credit, they kept the child, and they chose life. But it seems like she’s been locked in that cycle, obviously, based on the number of kids.”
House of Horrors
Police attended the property in connection with an unrelated search warrant on June 30.
Gary Siders Jr had been accused of indecent exposure in May.
None of the defendants entered an appeal when appearing before a court last week on child endangerment charges. The judge submitted not-guilty pleas on their behalf.
Child and legal advocacy groups are demanding to know how such a large family apparently went unnoticed for so many years, and how state and federal welfare programs failed to detect the abuse.
The children were rescued from 182 Ohmer Street, Hamden, Ohio. Picture: Google Maps
Elizabeth and Gary Siders were married in Mason County, West Virginia, in 2008.
Child marriage was permitted with the approval of a judge and the minor’s parents.
The judge did not investigate the circumstances of the marriage, despite the obviously pregnant 15-year-old being in a relationship with a legal adult. And court records appear to show Elizabeth’s parents approving the contract.
Why they crossed the Ohio-West Virginia state line to obtain the marriage certificate is unknown.
Both states, at that time, allowed child marriage.
Elizabeth gave birth just two months later.
But unconfirmed reports indicate Elizabeth had her first child at age 13.
She is believed to have had a total of 20 children, including three sets of twins.
Only 16 children were rescued from the house. And hospital records indicate a further two (co-joined twins) died shortly after birth in 2022.
Elizabeth’s lawyer, Thomas Stolly, says all 16 children were biologically hers.
Elizabeth, now 33, and Gary Siders Jr, 36, had been living with grandparents Gary Siders Snr, 73, and Christina Siders, 67, in their Hamden home for the past four years.
The family was living in squalid conditions. Picture: Google Street View
Vinton is the smallest of Ohio’s 88 counties with just 12,600 residents. Hamden, lost among the 1075-square-kilometre Appalachian expanse, features just one traffic light — and one general store.
Investigators say the home was so squalid and filled with rubbish that several of its rooms were inaccessible.
“These folks were pretty good at hiding these kids,” adds Ohio Attorney-General Andy Wilson.
Villain or Victim?
“I thought it was telling that her first concern was not, ‘When can I get out of jail?’ but was ‘Are my children OK?’” Stolly told local media.
The role Elizabeth may have played in the alleged abuse is now the centre of debate.
As is her own marriage at 15.
The scene was described as ‘horrific’. Picture: Google Street View
“I think what this case highlights is the devastating repercussions that can follow a child marriage,” argues Unchained At Last anti-child-marriage campaign group director Fraidy Reiss.
“If this does not re-wake up legislators to the importance of that, I don’t know what will.”
There was no age limit in West Virginia at the time Elizabeth was married to Gary Siders Jr. It has since been raised to 17 (with the consent of a judge and the parents).
Ohio’s has been similarly modified.
But America is in the grip of a fierce debate as numerous states seek to update, or defend, their marriage laws.
Some express concern that minors essentially become the property of their spouse as they have no legal rights before age 18. This includes access to services ranging from health care to legal representation.
Others say restrictions infringe upon parents’ rights to raise their children under their own authority.
Gary Siders Sr. Picture: Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail
Christine Siders. Picture: Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail
A new law (Senate Bill 341) remains deadlocked in Ohio’s parliament. It seeks to prohibit marriage, under all circumstances, for anyone aged under 18.
But a group of West Virginian Republican Senators is making a stand.
“It’s a little personal with me,” Republican Senator Sandra O’Brien told NBC4.
“My mum was 16. My dad was 22. They couldn’t get married because of her age, so they went to Indiana and were married.”
Democrat Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio has a similar story. But a different conclusion.
“My grandma Antonio was 15 when she got married,” Senator Antonio said.
“It was a different time. We outlawed child labour, too.”
Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer
SOURCE: https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/it-was-terrible-sixteen-children-rescued-from-squalid-ohio-house-of-horrors-as-family-face-charges/news-story/5559d41fee7d5c51a4bfec70123d4d8e
