{"id":554,"date":"2026-07-06T00:21:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T19:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=554"},"modified":"2026-07-06T00:21:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T19:21:14","slug":"officials-had-no-idea-16-children-were-living-in-feces-filled-house-of-horrors-till-unrelated-warrant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=554","title":{"rendered":"Officials had no idea 16 children were living in feces-filled house of horrors till unrelated warrant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F07%2F133387487.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Authorities<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/01\/us-news\/ohio-adults-arrested-after-16-children-found-in-deplorable-conditions-inside-home\/\"> were unaware<\/a> there were 16 \u201calmost feral\u201d children living in a feces-filled house of horrors in Ohio and only stumbled on them last week while serving a man in the home a warrant for indecent exposure.<\/p>\n<p>Police faced shock and horror when serving the<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/03\/us-news\/16-children-rescued-from-repulsive-feces-filled-ohio-home-in-scene-that-smacked-of-pure-evil-ag\/\"> warrant against Gary Siders II <\/a>at the Vinton County home and finding the 16 children ranging in age from 18 months to 18 years \u2014 raising questions about how the situation went unnoticed for so long.<\/p>\n<p>It is now a challenge to unravel the case, given that the children \u2014 allegedly kept isolated in a 12-foot by 12-foot room \u2014 can barely speak properly, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbc4i.com\/news\/local-news\/central-ohio-news\/16-ohio-children-found-in-squalor-what-we-know-and-when-answers-might-come\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NBC4 reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Police arrested (clockwise from top left) Gary Siders Sr., Christine Siders, Gary Siders Jr. and Elizabeth Siders. <span class=\"credit\">Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The family allegedly crammed 16 children into a small room inside their Vinton County, Ohio, home. <span class=\"credit\">nbc4i<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cOne of the investigative challenges is that [the children] are limited. They can communicate, but it\u2019s extremely limited, and some not at all,\u201d said county Sheriff Ryan Cain.<\/p>\n<p>The oldest child \u2014 the 18-year-old \u2014 is developmentally disabled and unable to even write her name, according to authorities.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Siders, his wife, Elizabeth Siders, 33, and his parents, Gary Sr., 73, and Christina, 66, were arrested last week and face multiple charges of endangering children. <\/p>\n<p>Siders was 18 years old and had only finished ninth grade when he married Elizabeth in 2008, who was 15 at the time, according to records in Mason County, W. Va.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Police were serving a warrant against Siders Jr. when they found the 16 kids, many of whom have trouble communicating and were describe by officials as \u201calmost feral.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">WSYX ABC 6<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Because Elizabeth was underage, both her parents, Brian Russell and Lori Ann Raines, had to sign the marriage certificate along with Siders\u2019 parents.<\/p>\n<p>Their 18-year-old was born two months after the marriage, NBC4 reported.<\/p>\n<p>Along with the oldest girl, court records show the other children\u2019s ages as 16, 15, 14, 13, 11, 10, 8, 6, and 5, along with 4-year-old twins, 2-year-old twins and 1-year-old twins.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Police say the home was kept in deplorable conditions, with human feces filling the room where the children stayed. <span class=\"credit\">WSYX ABC 6<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The children have never been enrolled in school, and it remains unclear exactly who all their parents are, as Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson\u00a0described it as <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/01\/us-news\/children-found-in-deplorable-ohio-home-are-part-of-same-family\/\">an \u201cintra-family case.\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Officials said the children were living squalor for at least four years cramped in the 12-by-12 room that was littered with human waste. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt really looked third world. It is not something we are used to seeing in America. I cannot get the smell off of me,\u201d Wilson told reporters Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Seven of the children were hospitalized in the Columbus area, including two who were taken to trauma centers.<\/p>\n<p>Siders\u00a0is due in court Tuesday over the initial indecent-exposure warrant, with all four suspects facing up to 16 counts of child endangerment and $300,000 bonds each.<\/p>\n<p>If found guilty of all charges, the defendants each face a maximum sentence of up to 192 years in prison. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Authorities were unaware there were 16 \u201calmost feral\u201d children living in a feces-filled house of horrors in Ohio and only stumbled on them last week while serving a man in the home a warrant for indecent exposure. Police faced shock and horror when serving the warrant against Gary Siders II at the Vinton County home&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/133387487.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}