TROUBLING details have emerged in the case of 16 children who were found living in squalor conditions as authorities arrest four adults on abuse charges.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson was aghast when explaining the conditions of the home, describing it as “one of the worst environments that I’ve seen in my career.”
“What we saw down here today is pure evil,” Wilson said at a news conference on Wednesday.
“It really looked third world. It’s the type of thing that we’re not used to seeing here in America.
“[It’s] almost indescribable.”
Vinton County Sheriff’s officials arrested four relatives identified as Gary Siders, 73, Christina Siders, 66, Gary Siders II, 36, and Elizabeth Siders, 33.
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Authorities have not confirmed who the parents of the children are.
However, it’s believed Siders II and Elizabeth are parents to some, if not all of the 16 children, who range from ages one-and-a-half to 18.
The elder Siders and Christina are believed to be the children’s grandparents.
Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said authorities discovered the inhumane conditions while executing a search warrant at the property related to a separate, unrelated investigation.
Investigators said the Siders family “bounced around” a lot and only recently moved to Hamden in Vinton County, roughly 80 miles southeast of Columbus.
“We didn’t know there were going to be 16 kids there,” Cain said at the presser.
“Most of our livestock was kept in better conditions than the children. It was just a disgusting scene.”
Authorities said some of the children were unable to speak at all and the eldest, described as an 18-year-old, was described as developmentally disabled and could not write her name.
The conditions inside the home were something out of a horror film.
The children were found living in a room “no larger than 12 feet by 12 feet,” with a high presence of human waste and excrement.
Investigators believe the children were kept in the cramped space for “most of the last four years.”
The conditions in the house were so decrepit that the children were “literally about to fall through the floor,” Wilson said.
Items including a high chair, tires, food, and insect killer were visible at the dilapidated property.
A pile in the yard was filled with a plastic play table, a beach pail, and two infant carriers.
The attorney general said no one outside of the four relatives knew about the children, who weren’t enrolled in school.
“They looked like almost feral animals. It was terrible,” Wilson, the attorney general, added.
NBC affiliate WCMH-TV reported that there are three sets of twins among the 16 children.
Wilson said seven of the children were taken to Columbus Hospital, and at least two of them were life-flighted.
Siders, Christina, Siders II, and Elizabeth were each charged with 16 counts of felony second-degree child endangerment.