16 children found at Ohio home, trapped in one room for 4 years, police say

Police in Ohio have rescued 16 children from a home in a condition that a state lawmaker described as being “beyond comprehension” in a statement on Wednesday.

The children are believed to belong to the same family and were discovered on Tuesday morning during a court-authorized search warrant executed at a residence in Hamden, a village in Vinton County about 357 km south of Cleveland, as part of an ongoing investigation involving allegations of domestic abuse and child neglect, police said in a Facebook statement.

Officers charged Gary Siders Jr., Elizabeth Siders, Gary Siders Sr. and Christina Siders with 17 counts of endangering children, each a second-degree felony, in what Vinton County prosecutor William Archer stated was an “intra-family situation” and did not involve human trafficking.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Archer said there was no risk to other children or members of the public.

All four adults were arraigned in the Vinton County Court this week in Common Pleas court and remain in jail on a $300,000 bond, police said.

The 16 children were removed from the home and taken to local hospitals for evaluation and treatment, the police statement continued, and are currently in the temporary custody of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.

Some of the children were treated and released, while at least seven were transported to elevated medical care in more serious condition and remain hospitalized, Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said during the same press conference.

When asked whether Elizabeth was the mother of all 16 children or if there was evidence of sexual abuse, Wilson said he would not answer as those questions were part of an “ongoing investigation.”

Wilson added that evidence collected from the home continued to reveal the “unimaginable conditions these children were forced to endure,” describing what investigators encountered as “pure evil.”

“Our focus remains on protecting these children, supporting their recovery and ensuring everyone responsible is held fully accountable under Ohio law,” Wilson continued, noting he had “never seen anything like I saw today with respect to those kids.”

“It’s the type of thing we’re not used to seeing here in America,” he continued, saying that since they were found, the physical, mental and emotional well-being of the children remains the “number one priority” of the authorities.

Speaking at the conference, Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain noted an “extremely high presence, I’m sure, of bacterial and human feces” inside the home, adding, “I’ve seen livestock mostly kept better.”

The children were contained in an area of the home roughly measuring 12 feet by 12 feet for most of the last four years, he continued, with Wilson later adding that neighbours and other members of the community told police they had no idea any children lived in the house.

Without providing the children’s ages, Cain said they fell within a range that posed a slew of legal hurdles, limiting what information could be shared.

One of the children is 18, Archer confirmed, but is believed to be developmentally disabled and was unable to spell her own name, and is therefore considered “developmentally still a minor,” he said.

As the investigation progressed, investigators learned that members of the Siders family have lived in multiple Ohio counties since 2008, but appear to have been in Vinton County for about four years, Wilson stated.

Investigators believe the family largely avoided establishing medical and other government records since 2008.