Sixteen neglected children found in Ohio home, four relatives arrested

Authorities in southern Ohio discovered sixteen severely neglected children, aged between one and a half and eighteen years, in a house in Hamden. Four family members including the parents and grandparents were taken into custody.

Sixteen neglected children found in Ohio home, four relatives arrested

Law enforcement in the small community of Hamden, southern Ohio, made a horrifying discovery on Tuesday when they found sixteen children living in severe neglect inside a residential property. The siblings range in age from approximately eighteen months to eighteen years.

According to Svenska Dagbladet, citing the Associated Press, several of the children were in a critical state when found. Some were unable to communicate verbally.

Four individuals have been arrested in connection with the case. Those taken into custody include the parents, thirty-six-year-old Gary Siders Jr. and thirty-three-year-old Elizabeth Siders, as well as the grandparents, seventy-three-year-old Gary Siders and sixty-seven-year-old Christina Siders.

Andy Wilson, the state prosecutor for Ohio, described the situation in stark terms.

– They looked like wild animals, he said, according to AP.

Wilson also characterized the circumstances as pure evil. The case has raised questions within the community about how such conditions could have persisted for an extended period without detection by neighbors or authorities.

Source: Svenska Dagbladet