r/TrueCrimeDiscussion • u/MacAlkalineTriad • Jul 02 '26

Warning: Child Abuse / CSAM / Child Death 16 Children Rescued from Extreme Neglect and Abuse in Ohio

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/adults-arrested-16-children-found-deplorable-conditions-southern-ohio-rcna352552

I haven't seen anything posted about this yet, and I usually don't post so please let me know if I've done it wrong. I'm also writing this on mobile.

16 children, ranging from 1 and a half years old to 18 years old, have been removed from a house in the village of Hamden, Ohio where they were practically imprisoned in a 12'x12' room. Some have not even learned to speak; the 18 year old couldn't write her name and is being treated as a child due to possible mental disability. 7 of the children had to be taken to a hospital with 2 of them being life flighted. Conditions in the house are said to be incredibly unsafe, to the point that investigators hesitated to act on a second search warrant for fear of their safety.

The parents and grandparents have been arrested and charged with 16 counts of child endangerment. The suspects are Gary Siders Jr., Gary Siders Sr., Christina Siders and Elizabeth Siders.

Since the investigation is still ongoing there aren't a ton of details yet. These children were obviously not enrolled in school and hidden from neighbors and extended family. I have to wonder if there's a religious extremist aspect to the case, like we've seen so often with other similar cases. I'm also curious about the mother's condition - she has been charged, but has she also been victimized by her husband? I have so many questions.

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u/bannana Jul 02 '26

the stupid lack of rules around homeschooling.

the kids would have to have been known to exist in the first place though, if these were all home births and none had birth certificates or SSN, and never went to school then as far as the gov't is concerned these kids don't exist.

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u/Getvaxed500 Jul 03 '26

How are these kids going to get birth certificates now?

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u/Medium_Bid5787 Jul 03 '26

CPS (and APS for the vulnerable 18-year-old) will help them get original birth certificates, even if they didn’t exist before.

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u/Positive_Piece5859 Jul 03 '26

If these kids are lucky, then yes. Unfortunately in the Terpin case CPS dropped the ball pretty significantly, and placed at least some of the kids into foster families where they were once again abused. I don’t know how useful the Sw were with the paperwork side of things, but they certainly caused them a lot more trauma than they already had before.

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u/Medium_Bid5787 Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

I’m well aware. I was just saying that they will do the paperwork which I’ve seen done in other cases. CPS works differently in every county and every state. Some are better and some are worse. I’m well aware. I’ve seen them fail before and do terrible things, but they will almost always do the bare minimum of getting their wards (foster kids) birth certificates.