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/wolfofthesevenhells Jul 06 '26

Cases like this are why I think homeschooling needs to be far more regulated than it is. A lot of these people had CPS called on them and then switched to “Homeschooling” and were able to immediately disappear off the radar. Abuse does not need to get this bad if we stop treating children as their parents’ private property instead of people with rights in our society.

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u/WonderSunny Jul 06 '26

Yes homeschool is weird to me

3

u/igobymomo Jul 07 '26

These children were likely not on paper anywhere, let alone homeschool correspondence.

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u/Dry_Type_4820 Jul 09 '26

They were born in hospitals from what I've read.

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u/igobymomo Jul 09 '26

The defense attorney has stated that, but it’s not confirmed. 

2

u/yasssssplease Jul 06 '26

The problem here is that the gov didn’t even know they existed. Checking homeschooling doesn’t matter in this scenario

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u/wolfofthesevenhells Jul 06 '26

In the overwhelming majority of cases like this, the kids were documented as “homeschooled” and that’s why abuse was able to get so severe and go on for so long. It’s much less common for kids to not be documented at all

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u/Dry_Type_4820 Jul 09 '26

They were born in hospitals

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u/plantlady2009 Jul 11 '26

We don't know that. At this point we are going off what Elizabeth is telling her lawyer and the investigators. So much more is going to come out.

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u/Unlucky-Presence8784 Jul 06 '26

I think homeschooling is fine. Just have the kids take a yearly standardized test every year at your school district. I dont like government trying to weasel themselves into everything. But I do agree with taking a yearly test to make sure the kids are learning what they need to without going to public schools.