Four adults face felony child endangerment charges after 16 kids were found living in squalid conditions inside a home in Hamden, Ohio.
Law enforcement arrested Gary Siders Jr., Gary Siders Sr., Christina Siders and Elizabeth Siders, identified as the children’s parents and grandparents.
The children, ranging in age from 18 months to 18 years, spent most of their time in a 12-by-12-foot room contaminated with human waste, Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson told NewsNation local affiliate WCMH. Wilson described the children as almost feral.
Neighbors in the small Vinton County community said they had no idea the children were living in the home, and the children were not enrolled in school, according to the Associated Press.
How did 16 Ohio children go unnoticed for years?
On NewsNation’s “CUOMO,” former FBI special agent Jennifer Coffindaffer and criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos broke down how the family may have hidden that many children for so long.
“You get away with it because you conceal it by moving over and over again,” Coffindaffer said. “You don’t let the children out of the house, and you keep them in that basement.”
Geragos said the range of ages among the children stood out to him most.
“I think probably the thing that strikes me the most is the span of the ages,” he said. “Eighteen months to 18 years is just stunning in terms of that.”
Authorities have used the word “feral” to describe the children’s condition, a characterization Geragos said he found accurate.
“That’s actually a pretty good use of the word,” he said. “It’s not civilized, is, I guess, the best way I’d put it.”
Coffindaffer also raised the possibility that investigators could pursue additional charges tied to the ages of the children and their relation to one another.
“I think there are going to be other charges,” she said. “I believe these older children, the females that were able to be of childbearing years, I think they’re going to have to do full DNA.”
The investigation remains ongoing, and officials have not said whether the family was previously known to any children’s services agencies.
