Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Another Chilling Property Linked to Ohio 'House of Horrors' Case

Episode Date: July 23, 2026

The Vinton County Prosecutor, William Archer, has provided an update on the 16 children who were removed from a home in Hamden, Ohio, that could foreshadow the depth and scope of the criminal case. Archer told county commissioners the county is asking for permanent custody of the children. The news comes as more information about the Siders' past homes in Gallia County, and the condition they were left in, has come to light. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy talks with a former prosecutor about the custody issue and what it could mean in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Mark Piepmeier https://x.com/mrkppmrCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When I've come to ask for some help, the cases create getting a life of its own, the hidden kids of Homer, that is what it's all about is they're hitting these kids. A major update on the 16 Siders children rescued from the so-called House of Horrors and how long they could be in foster care as the investigation moves forward and grows and more clues are uncovered at the many homes where the Siders used to live. I have the new details. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and this is crime fix. Let's get into it. We have a major update on the 16 Siders children that law enforcement found inside that home on Omer Street in Vinton County more than three weeks ago. Vinton County's prosecutor, William Archer, has actually given an update on the status of the children. And from the information Archer provided to county commissioners, it sounds like the Siders family may never be reunited with their

children. I'll get to that very shortly. This update comes as questions remain about the physical and emotional condition of the children. That is information we just don't have at this time. We know that all of the children are out of the hospital and in therapeutic foster care. I'll get to what prosecutor Archer said in this update to county commissioner shortly and how the investigation into the family and the children is growing. The parents of the children, Gary Siders Jr. and Elizabeth Siders, and their grandparents, Gary Sider's Sr. and Christina Siders, all face child endangering charges. They've pleaded not guilty. Gary Jr., Elizabeth, and Christina all remain in the Southeast Ohio regional jail. Only Gary Sr. has been released from jail. He's receiving treatment for a

serious medical condition. We're going to go through the new information that we've learned, and we're going to look at why Gary Siders Jr.'s attorney asked for a continuance in his public indecency case. Gary Jr. is accused of exposing himself to someone who wasn't his family at the House on Omer Street four times between May 23rd and May 31st. He was scheduled to appear in court this week, but Jr.'s lawyer asked that the hearing be continued. Former Ohio prosecutor Mark Piedmeyer will join me very shortly to discuss that request for a continuance, his thoughts on the case, and what is likely going on behind the scenes in this investigation.

But first, let's talk about the houses where the ciders lived before they made the move from Galea County to Vinton County in 2021. From the records we've gathered, it appears the Siders moved from Galead of Vinton in 2020 or 2021. Birth records show that Gary and Elizabeth Siders lived at five different addresses beginning in 2015 when the first child was born. The last known address for Gary Elizabeth and their children was in Cheshire. The house sits on Honeysuckle Drive, a neighbor who did not want to appear on camera, told us he remembers the family. He said he thought there were nine children. This would have been in 2020 or 2021.

The neighbor said the family kept themselves, and while he saw children outside at times, mostly they just stayed in the house. A woman who works nearby told us the house was absolutely trashed by the ciders. She knows the man who owns it. And we previously told you that the man who rehabbed the house told ABC6 in Columbus that the house was full of urine and pet and human feces. The man also said the attic was full of children's clothing, as if someone was living in it. The woman who works nearby told us that Gary Jr. actually used to come into the store where she works to buy scratch-offs. She said Gary Jr. didn't buy anything else but scratch-off lottery tickets, and he tipped her $10 bucks one time. Another house where the Siders lived was on Garfield Avenue and Gallup Police.

Records show the Siders lived in that home in 2019, possibly for a brief time before moving to the home in Cheshire that we already showed to you. Another family already appears to live here. The Siders had a third address in Gala Police. The family lived here in 2008, according to records. This is where they lived when Elizabeth gave birth to the couple's first child. That was obviously a very long time ago, so the property may look different than it did then. But the home is surrounded by other mobile homes. And finally, the Siders lived at a property on Poplar Church Road in Bidwell. The family lived here for several years from at least 2009 to 2014. Gary Jr. and Elizabeth moved to Vinton County and lived in this home in Hamden for some period of time. Then they made the move to the house on Omer Street, where the search warrant was executed on June 30th, and that's where the children

were found. All of the children remain in foster care after Vinton County was granted temporary custody of the children. Now, the investigation into the Siders' children and their family keeping them off the radar continues, but prosecutor William Archer has told the Vinton County commissioners that the county is seeking permanent custody of all 16 children. Permanent. Meeting notes from the July 14th County Commission meeting state, prosecutor William Archer attended the commissioner's meeting asking for $20,000 additional money to help with the cost of the Ciders case. If all of it is not used, it will be returned. He has some help from the state, but it will not cover all. The children's services cases will be another expense as the county

is asking for permanent custody of the children. The commissioners will discuss and determine where the money will come from. Now, audio of the meeting was also recorded. Take a listen. I'm making a request for a separate line item for the Ciders case. I'm asking for $20,000 if we don't spend it. We'll go right back to you guys. But I'm going to have overtime things that I'm going to have to.

Each of this magnitude is not an easy thing. do and I can't ask anica staff to do work and the AG's office is providing some assistance they've got their own case loads as well and just so you know this is not just about the criminal case there's also the Children's Services case which we will be asking for permanent custody of all 16 kids so we've got that case our related cases that started all of this that's going to be involved as well and then we may do some something about the house and the people who are trespassing into the house. So it really has

got a like of its own. And so I'm asking the county's commitment to help me with that. This is a weekly meeting that takes place. It was open to the public and it's not uncommon for a prosecutor to update commissioners on a high profile criminal case, especially when they're asking for more funding. And there was discussion about the scope of the investigation and the resources it's requiring for this small county. Obviously, my salary is what it is, and I'll work the hours that I need to work. But my staff, I need to be able, when they're doing the administrative and helping with my other cases, because the other cases will still go on.

The Ciders case is not the only case the county. So that's my pitch. I'm happy to answer questions or just let you guys debate it, but that is why I am here. I do have a meeting with the assistant with the help to special prosecutors at noon today and we'll talk a little more about the case, obviously. But you got to, you know what's going on. It's not anything that I've created. It's out there on its own.

There was also discussion about the cost of the public defenders representing the four-siders family members and whether they had practiced in the county previously. If we did do that, put line on them so we could keep track, hopefully get reimbursed on the state. I would say to you, as we did, when it's all first started, strike while the iron's hot, we lost to care money. Good. Don't be afraid to ask him for more. This is, there's unprecedented as far as I'm being told. And I'm not, I know we're in Port County.

I know resources are tight, but don't be afraid to ask them. They've all made public comments about this case. Tell them to put their money. And they have partly. Tell them put their money where their mouth is and help us out. Might be a good time to bumper. Maybe. Well, one of my colleagues with the prosecuting attorneys association said,

I think you might be able to get your jail now. Tim's going to have a heart attack. I just said that for his benefit. So he's got five months of your kid. He's got five months. But I appreciate you guys. And I will tell you, I work Sunday, and Tim came in to check on me and make sure I was all right. I appreciated that.

Or not Tim, Kevin came in and checked on me to see how I was doing. See that trucker on myself. He was working on. Five time in or not. No, he wasn't happening. No. He wasn't happening. We were rocking on some tunes, though, while we were working.

Thank you, guys. Okay. Thank you. All right. So to dig into the very latest details on this case, I want to put. bring in Mark Pete Meyer. He is a retired former assistant chief prosecutor in the Hamilton County prosecutor's office in Cincinnati, Ohio. Not too many hours away from where this case is unfolding. Mark, thanks so much for coming on. I appreciate it.

Glad to talk to you with, you, Janet. Tell me if you would, your thoughts on Gary Jr.'s Attorney seeking a continuance on this misdemeanor public indecency case. Why do you think he did that? I could see one thing is if he pleads him guilty, I mean, there's evidence that could be used against him in the future on other crimes. And a public indecency is a weird charge, the fact that people are outside is exposing themselves. And if there's some kind of sex offenses coming down the road that you wouldn't want to have your client already admit to a sex offense and then they can bring that up in the other case.

That's one possible thing. The other thing is just it's a small county. I'm sure everybody's following this case. And again, if he would go to court on this case, it's gonna keep him in the mind of the public and they're gonna remember that down the road if there's more serious charges that he has to go to trial on. So I can see him not wanting to do anything on the case

until he knows everything that he's facing. You know, it's so interesting to me that out of nowhere, it seems we have this investigation into this family. And they won't, tell us what the initial search warrant was for that they they went there for but they said it wasn't related to these 16 children they were shocked when they went in there but obviously somebody reported and we don't know who it is somebody reported that gary junior was exposing himself

at the home address on four different occasions in the last week of may so in my my mind i'm like well what took so long because that's a pretty unless somebody there was a last and reporting it, what do you think could be behind that? Again, it's a smaller county. It's got a smaller police department. That's a weird charge, but maybe they had bigger things they had to take care of at the time. Or maybe it's a situation where it's my understanding the kids have not been going to school. You know, that's one thing they have to look at.

Now you've got the dad exposing themselves. And maybe somebody decided, you know, there's probably more there than we're seeing. So maybe that's why they geared up. They got in BCI. They got the attorney general involved and probably did a good job on the search warrant. So when they went in there, they could get everything they wanted. So again, it's probably limited resources is a big part of why there was a delay. Interesting.

Because if you got somebody outside, and we still don't have the exact details on that, but they're basically saying he's outside. He's at the home address. And he's exposing himself. I mean, that's, you know, concerning to say the least. it's four times within an eight day period allegedly. Let's talk now about this family just kind of moving around. I mean, the allegation here is that these people just were not sending their kids to school.

I mean, we have at least four prior addresses that we visited in Gallia County. And the one house that they lived in before they moved to Venton, it was trashed, we were told, like absolutely trashed. human feces, pet feces, urine, kids' clothes in the attic. I mean, what on earth? Have you ever seen anything like that, Mark? No, I have not. And I've, you know, I've prosecuted for 44 years. I did specials in a lot of counties across the state. I've seen bad things, but no, I personally have never been involved in a case involving kids, except a big sex offense case involving kids that has those kind of details. I can't imagine how horrific that was. What reason would anybody have to keep their kids out of school?

I mean, there's been some rumors and talk that maybe they were homeschooled, but you have to register with the state if you're homeschooling kids. You can't just keep them home and say, we're keeping them home and we're just going to do it ourselves. I mean, there's a process there. Yes. To me, if you're not sending your kids to school and you're not homeschooling them, you don't want the people at the school to see these kids. And if a kid is physically or emotionally or mentally somehow abused, people are going to pick up on that real quick at school, the classmates are going to go home and tell their parents.

You know, so-and-so came to school today and either she told me this or I noticed this about her and word's going to get out. So I think that would be the main factor. These parents don't want people to realize what's going on in the house. And the best way to do it is to keep the kids at home so no one can see them or talk to that. You know, we had been told very early on that children's services in Gallia County had had some type of contact with the family. We didn't know the exact nature of it, but then I was able to kind of verify that. So I've got that from at least two sources that Gallia County CPS had kind of had some type of contact with this family and then boom, they take off. That in it of itself is pretty concerning because they moved just one.

County North. Well, I don't know how the county children services agencies communicate with each other, but you mentioned four different moves. If there's one visit from a children services agency and things are bad and you know they're bad, I can see why the family thinks, you know what, we got to get out of town. We got to move on to someplace else. And maybe that's the reason why they kept moving around because they knew that Children's Services Agency is going to come back knocking on the door again and we don't want to be

here when they do that. I mean, to me, that would be a good reason for the parents to keep moving around. Be like gypsies. The prosecutor in Vitton County, William Archer, he briefed the county commissioners on this case recently. And he said that the case is expanding. So this case, it's not getting smaller. They're apparently finding out more. And he said that the county is seeking permanent custody of those children. So what does that tell you? I mean, if you're seeking permanent custody, and that is granted through a dependency action, those people are never getting those kids back. No, no. And it sounds like, and again, I had a similar case in Hamilton County, the crafts, Robin and I forget the dad's name, but that we both went to trial on both.

of them. They were sexually abusing their kids and putting it over the internet. And those kids, Hamilton County, got permanent custody of those because there's no way they were ever going to give them back. And in fact, the parents will both die in prison because of the sentences they got. So it's a very unique situation to seek permanent custody because the main goal of children protective services is to reunite the kids with the parents. But if a situation is that bad that you should never do it. And to do it that quick, it tells me it had to be a horrible situation. Yeah, and that's what's shocking to me, because that is what the courts, you know,

that's basically what they err on the side of reuniting the children with the parents and what is in the best interest of the child. And they always seek to reunify Elizabeth Sider's lawyer, Tommy Stalley, wrote in a motion that her goal is to get out of jail and be reunited with her children. But we're very early on in this. We're just a little more than three weeks in. And they're saying we're seeking permanent custody. Well, that tells me that these kids must be permanently damaged.

And I've had situations like that where even though they're young kids, you can tell, they're never going to recover from the abuse they've been going through, emotional, physical, sexual, whatever it is. And I don't care what these parents do in the future. there's no way we can in good conscience ever let these kids go back with those, I'll call them, animals that we're raising them. So it's got to be pretty bad right out of the gate, yes. Yeah, I do want to be clear with our audience, you know, we don't know the nature of the initial investigation. You brought up this prior sex case that you were involved in.

We don't know if there is a sexual abuse component to this. The authorities haven't commented on that. However, you're just speaking from your experience as an expert on these issues. So we're going to wait to see what unfolds. But obviously these children are, they're being hidden, the AG said. They're being abused by not being sent to school and being kept in squalor and being kept isolated. I mean, that's neglectful. Yes.

And I know originally I read or I heard that a couple of these kids had to be immediately given emergency medical attention. And I don't know if they're out of the woods on that yet or not. But, you know, I look at a situation like the Marcus Faisal. case where, you know, he was, he was the kid in Claremont County that was left in the closet over the weekend, and he died as a result of that. And something else, if one of these kids would die as a result of this child abuse, that's felony murder. And that was a, I want to say recent, but within the last 20 years in Ohio, they made it a crime that if you commit a serious felony, and even if you don't intentionally kill someone, they die as a result. That's a murder charge.

So that's something else that could be coming down the road. If one of these kids doesn't recover from physical abuse and dies as a result, these charges could be as serious as murder. So that's, again, hopefully it won't come to that, but that's another possible thing that could happen out of this situation. Yeah. It's just unbelievable to me that you'd have 16 kids. And it doesn't seem that they all have bedrooms or share bedrooms because they're in this house that's 13 to 15. 200 square feet. They don't have, I'm assuming they don't have 16 beds in that house. So how they were actually living is just beyond me. And we'll find out more information about that in the future.

What do you think is going on with this investigation right now? There's been talk about downloading electronic devices. There's been talk about a computer crime section with the AG's office being involved in this case. And plus, you know, the interviews, interviews of many family members. I think number one they're doing physical and mental examinations of the kids just trying to see how seriously they are abused if they are doing computer searches on them then that tells me again just from my experience I know you said it too we don't know what what is out there but the only reason you would be doing that in my experience is looking for some kind of either sex videos that they're downloading and sharing with the kids or maybe sex videos that they're producing with the kids. And again, I've had cases like that before where the parents are physically having sex with two and three and four-year-old kids and then posting that online and sharing it with

other people who will share their similar videos with them. And those kids are ruined for life that are put through that. Again, just from my experience, it's hard to recover from that kind of abuse. And you're going to turn out to be that kind of abuser in the future. Again, from my experience, that if that's how you're brought up, if that's what you're taught, that's going to be your life. And that is so incredibly awful. And I hope to God, we don't find out that that's what's happened here. But, you know, we have to wait and see what the investigation reveals. You know, this case is going to go to a grand jury. The Vinton County prosecutor said that. They were trying to get it to the grand jury. They only have grand jury every like month and a half out there in Vinton County. It's not like a

bigger city where or bigger county where they have it every day. That could be an ongoing process, though, because often these grand juries are used to issue subpoenas and investigate cases. Yes, I dealt with that in the Lucasville Prison Riot. It was a Saudi County, a lot bigger than Vinton County, but still a lot smaller county. Their grand jury met periodically. And, you know, we subpoenaed a grand jury and presented our first group of cases, but we were presenting cases for the next six months. So we had a big enough pool that if some of them couldn't make it, we had enough to fill in. I also remember, you know, one lady came to grand jury with a baby, she was nursing, and it came time for the grand jury to vote. And I said, ma'am, I'm sorry,

but technically your baby can't be in the grand jury. So I had to hold this crying baby outside of the grand jury's deliberating because I didn't want to down the road have somebody say, hey, you had somebody in the grand jury that wasn't a sworn member. So that's something else you'll deal with in the smaller counties. They got, you know, transportation problems, just different things that come up that you're not used to, that you have to just kind of improvise on the spot. I wish I had a video of you holding that baby out in the hallway. I'm thinking out, geez.

What's next? Yes. Okay. So do you think this could take some time then? Do you think that presenting this to the grand jury could take a long time? And they would have to maybe subpoena or, you know, send out summons for a special grand jury of sorts. I would think they would do that. You would have a grand jury that, you know, that's the only cases you're going to hear. Plus, if you don't have the same grand jury and, you know, two months later, you want to present more cases, now you've got to bring them up to speed on everything you've already presented. And it could be very time consuming and difficult to do. So to me, I would think that that's going to process they'll use.

And again, enough grand jurors that, you know, you might, you know, normally have, we have 11 people, you know, vote on a grand jury. And you need, you know, so many to indict. But, you know, you might have 20 or 30 grand jurors brought down. And if you have that many show up, just say that we're going to let all of you sit in there. But when it comes time to vote, you know, we're only going to have, you can, and Hamilton County does it. You know, every time it comes up to a vote, a couple of them will step out. So I would think they'd do something like that. They'd have, you know, so they're not shut out of people that, you know,

you nine sit in here this time and then next week we'll have a different nine that can vote on the matters. But yeah, I think a special would be called for him. Elizabeth married Gary Jr. when she was 15. So she was pregnant right as she turned 15 or while she was maybe around 14 years old. You know, they go to West Virginia to. get married. We've heard different stories about her demanding to do this and other things. I mean, either way, the parents had, her parents had to sign off on this. You know, there's been so much talk about this. Out that way, we've heard from a lot of people who get married, who had been married

or got married at age 15, which just stuns me. What are your thoughts on that? It's just a different society. Again, I'm, you know, I was 21 when my wife and I, we got married. So nowadays, that almost seems young. But to be 15 years old and actually being carrying kids and getting married, it would take a rare individual to me to be able to do that and then grow into normal adulthood. I mean, I'm sure there's some that do, but that's just a subsection of society that still exist. But yeah, to me, a 15-year-old is not prepared to be a mom and a wife. Mark Pete Meyer, thank you so much for coming on. We look forward to having you back. We'll do. See you. Bye.

Now again, the Sider's family members have pleaded not guilty to the 16 child endangering charges. Also, the judge presiding over the cases has granted a second gag order. This one at the request of Christina Sider's attorney. It's less restrictive than one Judge Rogers previously signed off on in Gary Jr's case. Caring for the 16 children has been taxing for the Children's Services Agency. and there's been an outpouring of support for the children. The South Central Ohio Job and Family Services posted on Facebook a list of items that they need for the 16 children for people who want to donate. It includes toys, art supplies for coloring or drawing, journaling and scrapbook items, fidget toys, magnetiles, puzzles with handles, baby dolls and plush stuffed toys, push behind walking toys, learning and sensory toys for infants and toddlers, especially engross and fine. motor skills. Preschool through 12th grade learning materials such as flashcards, books,

learning games, children's clothing, all sizes, diapers, all sizes, pull-ups, all sizes. It says we will not be releasing clothing or shoe sizes to the public. Donations received at this time will be prioritized to the children you are requesting to donate to. Any remaining items will be provided to other children in care. Again, thank you for your compassion and interest in helping our children. The donations can be dropped off on weekdays at the South Central Office of Job and Family Services. That address is in the description for this video. It's on Western Avenue in Chilacothe, Ohio.

And we're going to keep an eye on this case and let you know where it goes. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Angieette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back for next time.