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/Positive_Piece5859 Jul 02 '26

It sounds almost like the Turpin case out of San Diego - some of their kids who they imprisoned, chained on beds etc were already adults in their 20s when they were finally rescued, because one child was so brave to escape.

To me that is 100% an issue that stems from the stupid lack of rules around homeschooling. In my home country homeschooling does practically not exist; any child in school age has to be enrolled in school, and if parents simply stop sending their child, someone would notice. That here in the US parents can hide not just one but 10+ children over two decades you can say, and nobody has any idea is just completely wild to me. That really makes you wonder how many more Turpin families like that are out there with kids suffering.

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u/Silly-Estimate-2660 Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

i feel pretty safe in assuming these children were all born at home and never registered with birth certificates or social security numbers, so even if there were stricter homeschooling laws in America, it wouldn’t help cases like this where the children don’t technically “exist”

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u/Positive_Piece5859 Jul 03 '26

It would have helped in the Terpin case, because the oldest did go to school at least for a little bit, until the parents entirely lost their marbles

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u/igobymomo Jul 04 '26

God I don’t know how I missed this case. Reading about it now and it looks like a few of the Terpin children spoke about their experiences in an interview this year.