D!sturbing Discovery: Chilling w@rning signs em3rged before the 16 “f3ral” ch!ldren were f0und inside the 12-by-12 ro0m as new details about their parents’ past come to light

DISTURBING details have emerged about the weekly routine of the parents and grandparents of the 16 children rescued from a house of horrors.

Before her arrest on June 30 alongside her husband, son, and daughter-in-law, Christina Siders, 66, would make weekly trips to a local food pantry to gather groceries for her 16 grandchildren.

Police tape surrounds a home where authorities removed 16 children and arrested four adults in Hamden, Ohio, about 80 miles southeast of ColumbusCredit: AP

 

 

For the past two years, Christina would visit the food bank in Hamden, Ohio, and stock up on as much produce as she was allowed to take.

The grandmother would take everything from vegetables, fruit, pasta, and as much as six pounds of meat.

“She came here every week for two years and she took as much food as I allowed her to take,” a local pastor told the Daily Mail, describing Christina as “cordial and sweet.”

The pastor, who declined to be identified, said Christina told those at the food bank that she had 16 children, which workers were skeptical of at first.

“When she first came, she told us she had 16 kids and we were giving her extra food,” he added.

“Then we got to thinking, ‘Come on, no one can have that many kids in that house.’”

But after learning about the details of the Siders family’s arrest, the pastor has found it difficult to comprehend the circumstances.

“It’s very difficult for me to understand. When you have people coming to you, like Mrs. Siders was, and she was getting as much food as she could get to take to her family, that makes you think that she cared,” he told the outlet.

“Then when you see the other side of this, you shake your head and go, ‘How, why?’

“I was oblivious to what was going on in the house, and when I found out, I was astounded.”

Officials with the Vinton County Sheriff’s Office stumbled upon the grim scene by sheer coincidence, executing an arrest warrant for dad Gary Siders II, 36, who was wanted on unrelated indecent exposure charges.

Inside, authorities found 16 children, most of whom were barely able to speak, with the eldest, an 18-year-old female, described as developmentally disabled and unable to write her name.

“We didn’t know there were going to be 16 kids there,” Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said at a news conference on July 1.

“Most of our livestock was kept in better conditions than the children. It was just a disgusting scene.”