A new detail has emerged in the Ohio “House of Horrors” case following the June 30 arrest of Elizabeth and Gary Siders in connection with keeping their 16 children in inhumane conditions.
According to court documents released on July 14, the parents, aged 33 and 36, had previously been charged with truancy-related offenses after failing to send six of their children to school.
In Ohio, a child is considered truant if they miss 42 hours of classes in one month.
Per authorities involved in the investigation, the children are developmentally disabled, with some of them unable to communicate “at all.”
Elizabeth and Gary Siders faced truancy charges years before their child neglect case came to light
Image credits: Yaroslav Muzychenko/Unsplash (not the actual photo)
The Siders children were enrolled at Adaville Elementary School in Gallia County, about a five-minute drive from their residence at the time.
Those identified as truant were between the ages of 7 and 13.
Court records show the parents had been notified by officials from the concerning school district about the children’s absences, but no action followed.
Image credits: Anita Austvika/Unsplash (not the actual photo)
Truancy charges against Elizabeth and Gary Siders were filed in the Juvenile Court Division of the Gallia County Court of Common Pleas on October 19, 2021.
On October 26, 2021, the Gallia County Sheriff’s Office was granted authority to serve the couple with court summonses and copies of the complaints filed on behalf of each of their children.
An arraignment was scheduled for November 15, but deputies sent to serve the couple reported that the house was vacant.
The case was terminated on January 7, 2022, because the defendants could not be located.
Image credits: WBNS
The eldest Siders sibling, now 18, is unable to write her own name, according to authorities.
Their developmental disabilities also affect other forms of communication, creating what Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain described as an “investigative challenge.“
Elizabeth and Gary Siders have remained in custody since their arrest
Image credits: ABC News
The Siders family—comprising the parents, their children, aged 18 months to 18 years, and grandparents Gary Sr. and Christina—lived in a 1,850-square-foot home with five bedrooms and one bathroom.
According to investigators, all 16 children lived together in a single 12-by-12-foot room that “reeked of cat urine and feces” for four years.
Pictures circulating in the media show mountains of trash piled throughout the home.
The walls, once white, are now gray.
In the basement, a dining room chair and a bicycle wheel are among the only distinguishable items amid a massive mound of crumpled plastic containers, discarded boxes, moldy clothing, and other debris.
Authorities also found the home infested with cockroaches
Image credits: Amie Mimi Troche
Gary and Elizabeth often stopped by to order pies at Papi’s Pizza and “smelled like cats, like cat p*ss. Bad,” John John, who runs the business, told the New York Post on July 16.
“They both stunk. They needed a shower,” he added.
“You could walk behind them and smell them,” his wife, Corissa Gonzalez, agreed.
The couple said they had never seen the pair with any of their children and described Elizabeth as eerily quiet.
“You tried to talk to her, and she didn’t say anything. I don’t think she was allowed to talk,” John said.
“You would have never been able to tell she had so many kids. She was a skinny girl,” Gonzalez added.
According to their marriage license, Elizabeth and Gary married in March 2008 when they were 15 and 18 years old, respectively.
Netizens sympathized with the children, calling their survival a miracle
Image credits: Jess Zoerb/Unsplash (not the actual photo)
“My heart breaks for these kids. What kind of future are they looking at?” one person commented, while another speculated, “They must have developed severe mental health problems.”
“How come they didn’t get food p**soning and d*e? It’s amazing what the human body can survive,” remarked a third.
Many also called for the house to be demolished.
“All that house needs is a matchstick,” one user wrote.
“You couldn’t pay me to spend 2 seconds in there,” another agreed.
Several others blamed authorities for being “too late” in rescuing the children.
Social media users kept dissecting the news of Siders children living in inhumane conditions
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