Authorities revealed that when they went to the Siders’ Ohio “House of Horrors” in June, where they found 16 children, they were there to serve a warrant on one of the adult residents. The disturbing discovery led to the rescue of children ages 1 to 16, and the arrest of four adults.

Disturbing Discovery

On June 30, 2026, officers arrived at a home in Hamden, Ohio, unsuspecting of what they would find. They were there to serve a warrant on Gary Sider Jr. for four counts of indecent exposure, but found 16 children, some of whom needed hospitalization due to their current state. 

Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said the children were living like “feral animals.” Wilson described the situation as “pure evil” and “beyond comprehension.” He confirmed that authorities were unaware that children were living in the home.

Siders Family Charged

Police arrested four adult family members: 73-year-old Gary Siders Sr., 36-year-old Gary Siders Jr., 67-year-old Christina Siders, and 33-year-old Elizabeth Siders. The lot was taken into custody and charged with 17 counts of child endangerment. 

Gary Siders Jr. was charged with indecent exposure in addition to the child endangerment counts. Junior allegedly exposed himself on separate occasions in May and June outside of his home, and is expected to appear for a pretrial hearing in court on July 9, 2026.

If convicted on all 17 counts of child endangerment, the adults could face up to 192 years behind bars each.

Distant Relatives Receive Death Threats

Family members of the arrested Siders have been receiving death threats due to the situation, although they claim to have had no idea what was going on in that home. Ronnie Fletcher is married to one of Gary Siders Sr. and Christina Siders’ daughters and claimed they were “horrified” to learn of the atrocity going on behind closed doors.

“It’s been awful for the people that had no idea that was going on in the house that are related to this family,” Fletcher told WOWK.

“I mean we’ve had death threats – we’ve been told that we need to be put in front of an execution line of guns and… killed and burned.” The father of three reported that his children have been targeted by the threats and said the entire family has had to live like “hermits” since the news broke.

“It’s to the point we’ve had our pictures taken off our accounts, and we’ve had to delete all our social media. It’s been awful,” he said. “My wife’s not being able to go to work because she works within the public and she’s scared.” 

“So all this is taking money off our table because we can’t live our normal lives because the way these people are trying to treat us on something we didn’t have nothing to do with,” adding that they are “Hermits right now. Not trying to be out there.”

They Would Have Done Something

Fletcher explained that had they known someone was going on inside their family member’s home, especially under such extreme conditions, they would have taken action. He assumed there were only 10 children in the home, but there were actually 16.

“If we would have known that it was like that in that home, we would have done something about it, even if it was just to go there and take the kids ourselves or give them money,” he said. “Them girls would have went there and cleaned the house themselves if they’d knowed it was like that.” 

Squalid Home Conditions

The children were forced to live in a 12-by-12 room covered in feces with no one on the outside knowing. The oldest child in the home was 18, and the child of Elizabeth Siders and Gary Siders Jr., born in May 2008. 

All of the children are reportedly developmentally disabled, as they were never enrolled in school, leaving them without the ability to write their own name. “One of the investigative challenges is that [the children] are limited,” Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said. “They can communicate, but it’s extremely limited and some not at all. The scene is horrific, and these are horrific allegations.” 

William Archer, the Vinton County prosecutor, clarified that “This is an intra-family situation. This is not human trafficking.” The children were taken to various hospitals across the state of Ohio, some having to be airlifted to trauma centers, and one intubated. 

According to court records, the children’s ages are: 16, 15, 14, 13, 11, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4-year-old twins, 2-year-old twins, and 1-year-old twins.