Julie Carr Smyth and John Seewer
Hamden, Ohio: Sixteen children from the same family who were rescued from a dilapidated house in rural Ohio were living in squalid conditions surrounded by human feces, confined to a single room for the past four years, authorities said.
Some of the children diagnosed could not speak and one – an 18-year-old who was developmentally disabled – could not write his name, investigators said Wednesday (Ohio time).
“Many of our pets were kept in better conditions than the children,” Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said. “Just a disgusting incident.”
The children’s parents and two grandparents were charged with child endangerment, the prosecutor said.
Authorities found the children while conducting searches in an unrelated investigation, Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said.
Officials said it appeared that no one outside the family knew about the children, who were not enrolled in school.
“We didn’t know there would be 16 kids there,” said Wilson, who was at a loss for words to describe what officers found in the small village of Hamden, which is in one of Ohio’s poorest counties.
“It’s the kind of thing we’re not used to seeing here in America,” he said.
The sheriff said it appeared the children spent most of their time in the room which was about 3.5 meters by 3.5 meters. He did not disclose how the children were kept inside the home, but said authorities did not find any cages inside the home.
The children ranged in age from 1.5 years to 18 years and included both boys and girls, officials said. Seven were transported to Columbus hospitals and two were transported by helicopter. One was in critical condition Tuesday while several others were hospitalized, Wilson said.
“They looked like wild animals,” Wilson said. “It was bad.”
The children were in the temporary custody of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Vinton County Prosecuting Attorney William Archer said the four adults were charged with second-degree felony child endangerment because it involves “great physical harm.”
Gary Siders jnr, Gary Siders snr, Christina Siders and Elizabeth Siders appeared in court on Wednesday, where a judge entered a not guilty plea on their behalf and set bond at $300,000 each. They have not yet been assigned lawyers.
Steve Irwin, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, would not say whether the children were all siblings or how they were related.
The house where the children were found sits on a road set along a steep railroad embankment, where the tracks carry the trains that roar through Hamden. The immediate neighbors are separated by trees and thick brush, but the house is easily visible from the road.
An open door revealed bits of junk inside, while the wooden deck and backyard were littered with discarded tires, a high chair and other debris.
Investigators said members of the family had moved around southern Ohio over the past two decades and apparently avoided keeping medical records with the state.
“These people were very good at hiding these kids,” Wilson said.
Investigators were checking whether the family had been reported to any child welfare agencies in the past.
Neighbor Joseph Stewart, 60, said he had seen “absolutely no children” since the family moved three houses down and that he could see the house and yard as he walked past.
“It’s a sad situation,” he said. Stewart has lived on the street for six years and calls it a “quiet neighborhood”.
On Wednesday, the doors and windows of the house stood open in the heat. A series of discarded children’s items – two ripped bicycles, a plastic play table, a beach bucket and two baby carriers – stood in a pile in the yard.
Hamden has a population of less than 1000 and is located about 100 kilometers southeast of Columbus.
The discovery of the children is reminiscent of past horrific cases of family violence.
In 2019, David and Louise Turpin pleaded guilty years of torture and abuse that included handcuffing some of their 13 children to their home in California, starving them to death and giving them little education.
They were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. The couple was arrested in 2018 after their 17-year-old daughter ran away from home and called 911.
AP
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