🚨 Newly Released Images Reveal Inside the Ohio Home at the Center of the 16-Children Investigation—A First Look at What Authorities Found

Disturbing images have revealed the inside of the Ohio home where authorities found 16 children living in shocking conditions.

The pictures, obtained by The New York Post, show piles of rubbish filling much of the roughly 1,850-square-foot property in rural Hamden, with trash, mouldy clothing, and plastic containers scattered throughout the home.

The only visible furnishings in the front room seem to be a stained chest freezer and a framed painting of a tiger, while the walls are discoloured and covered in filth.

Basement and exterior covered in debris

On June 30, officers executed a search warrant at the home as part of an unrelated criminal investigation.

Newly released images show the property’s basement almost completely overtaken by junk, with only a dining chair and a bicycle wheel seen among the piles of trash.

Outside, there is more garbage surrounding the five-bedroom, one-bathroom house.

Only a handful of children’s belongings, including a broken bicycle and a copy of the children’s book Jonathan James and the Whatif Monster, hint that children allegedly lived there.

Two neglected cars parked outside the property were also filled with cigarette ʙuттs, food wrappers, and other garbage.

Authorities describe the scene as “deplorable”

Vinton County officials revealed that the children, ranging in age from one to 18, were living in “deplorable” conditions.

Police allege they spent at least the past four years largely confined to a cramped 12-by-12-foot room filled with human waste.

Officials have previously described the scene as “third-world” and said that local livestock were kept in better conditions than the kids.

Following the rescue, the children were taken to hospitals across Ohio. Two were airlifted to specialist trauma centres, at least one child required intubation, and several others were listed in serious condition.

Investigators also claim the kids had never been enrolled in school, and that several struggled to communicate, while some were reportedly unable to speak at all.

The oldest child, an 18-year-old who investigators say is developmentally disabled, was allegedly unable to write her own name.

The owner of local food truck Papis Pizza said that the alleged parents, Elizabeth Siders, 33, and her 36-year-old husband, Gary Siders Jr., regularly visited to order food.

“They just smelled like cat…like cat piss. Bad,” the owner, who identified himself as John John, said. “They both stink. They both needed a shower.”

His wife, Corissa Gonzalez, agreed, adding: “You could walk behind them and smell them.”

The couple said they never saw them with any of their children.

“You tried to talk to her and she didn’t say nothing… I don’t think she was allowed to talk,” John added. “You would have never been able to tell she had 16 kids. She was a skinny girl.”

Gary Siders Jr. and and Elizabeth Siders have been handed child felony charges. Credit: Southeast Ohio Jail

Family faces child endangerment charges

Elizabeth, Siders Jr., Gary Siders Sr., 73, and Christina “Lynn” Siders, 67, have each been charged with 16 counts of felony child endangerment. All four defendants have pleaded not guilty.

The mom was 15 years old when she married Gary Jr., then 18, in 2008, while seven months pregnant. Their oldest child was reportedly born two months later.

Elizabeth’s attorney, Tommy Stolley, has previously said his client “repeatedly” told him that she and her husband “wanted a big family.”

“She said that kids are a gift from God and that she was open to that,” he said.

Law & Crime has also reported that Elizabeth previously gave birth to conjoined twin girls, Bailey Lee Siders and Faith Lee Siders, in November 2022.

The babies were born at 24 weeks’ gestation and shared organs after being joined at the chest.

Records show both infants died the same day they were born, with the cause of death listed as respiratory failure linked to extreme prematurity.

The outlet has also claimed Elizabeth is currently pregnant with what would be her 19th child, although no official confirmation has been provided.

Gary Siders Sr., 73, was also arrested but he has been released. Credit: Vinton County Sheriff’s Office

Elizabeth, Gary Jr., and Christina Siders remain in county jail on $300,000 bonds.

Meanwhile, Gary Siders Sr. was released on a recognizance bond after suffering what prosecutors described as a “serious medical condition.”