Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Ohio 'House of Horrors': Are The 16 Kids Alright?

Episode Date: July 17, 2026

The 16 children pulled from the home on Ohmer St. are now in foster care, but information about their conditions has been kept private due to Ohio law. The child endangerment investigation into their parents and grandparents, Gary Siders, Sr., Christina "Lynn" Siders, Gary Siders, Jr,, and Elizabeth Siders, is continuing. But even some Siders family members are raising questions about how this happened. And state legislators are asking questions about how the children may have fallen through cracks. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy talks with State Rep. Mark Johnson about what he has learned in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: State Rep. Mark Johnson https://www.facebook.com/markjohnsonforohio CRIME 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.

All you can do is try to imagine and wonder what makes four adults agree that this is okay. That's the big question. The 16 children rescued from the so-called House of Horrors in Benton County are now safe, but even Siders family members are raising questions about how this could have happened, and they have ideas about what was going on in the family. We're digging into all of it. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and this is Crime Fix. The Ciders kids are safe, but are they all right?

The 16 Ciders children, ranging in age from one and a half to 18, are with foster families more than two weeks after law enforcement says they found them living in absolute squalor in a house on Omer Street in the village of Hamden. Mark Johnson is the state representative for Vinton County and parts of other Ohio counties. He's going to join me in a moment to discuss the very latest on the children, the case, and the investigation. Those parents of the children, Gary Siders Jr. and Elizabeth Siders remain in jail charged with 16 counts of child endangering. They've pleaded not guilty to the charges. The grandmother of the children, Christina Lynn Siders, has also pleaded not guilty to the same charges and remains behind bars. Gary Sr. is out of jail, receiving treatment for a serious medical condition and his competency is being evaluated. He has pleaded not guilty as well. Now, no one, and I mean no one, can understand. understand how 16 children were in a house, not enrolled in school, and how no one seemed to know about them, not even distant family members. One family member wrote on Facebook, first, I am the niece of Gary Sr. and Lynn Siders. Yes, I love my uncle and aunt. I was raised up knowing them as clean, respectful, and lovable people. I know the three oldest girls. I know of Gary Jr., but I really

don't know them, too. I can remember going to their house. It would be clean, and I can remember smelling lavender. Yes, there were toys on the floor, but it wasn't dirty. My aunt and uncle would not harm a child in their right state of mind. I haven't seen them for over six years, and I feel really bad because maybe I could have reached out and maybe tried to help them. Those babies didn't deserve none of this, but my heart is telling me that my aunt and uncle's health was deteriorating from cancer, strokes, and dementia.

Please remember God is with us all, and he knows the truth. I believe in my heart that Gary Jr. was abusive to them. Please leave the family alone. Let the court do its job. There's also new information coming to light about other homes where the ciders had lived. I told you earlier this week that the ciders lived in this house in Gallia County. When the school district filed complaints about six of the oldest children not attending school in the fall of 2021, those children were considered habitually truant by the school district and were in danger.

of being deemed unruly children under the law. The case never proceeded because the courts couldn't find Elizabeth and Gary to serve them with the paperwork. A man rehabbing that house in Cheshire actually told ABC 6 News in Columbus that the house was in bad shape. He told the outlet that he found a lot of kids' clothes in the attic as if someone was living in it. And the entire house had urine and human and pet feces in it. He called it rough. Records show the ciders once lived in this house on Poplar Church Road in Gallia County many, many years ago. The sighters have at least four prior addresses in Gallia County. Then in 2020 or 2021, it appears the family made the move to Vinton County. Gary and Elizabeth lived in this house on Main Street until they moved into the house

on Omer Street, where investigators said they found the 16 children living in squalor on June 30th. The prosecutor, William Archer, said during a press conference last week that he was only aware of the grandparents receiving government benefits. Now, I've been asking the question, where Elizabeth and Gary Jr. receiving state benefits like food stamps or other public assistance, state agencies, they can't answer that question directly because of privacy laws. But at a hearing this week, the issue came up indirectly. For 40 years, I've never seen anything like this. This is to have kids that would be off the radar. A child off the radar is terrible enough. 16 kids and one family and one household and to be off the radar is something that I've just not seen.

So I do think that as we go through and do our investigations and we talk to these kids and we really start looking at things, we'll have a much better sense about how we can certainly improve the system. But I do think that the community, you know, they do report things. they do request help or support for kids, and we want them to continue to do that. And we'll, I'm sure, have a much better sense of just where things could be better and where we can improve them as we go down.

So it does not appear that Gary Jr. and Elizabeth were receiving state benefits for their children. The attorney general said the ciders were actually hiding the children. The question is, how could something like this happen? and can it be prevented from happening again? Money is certainly a problem, but it's not necessarily the problem. And I think we are asking you for an investment. And we need to ensure those investments are working. I think in this day and age, certainly we can do a better job with communications.

We can do that through electronic communications. We can do that through monitoring. I think defining kind of the role of the state and the county is better to look for things, to look for patterns, to understand how all of these things do piece together. and having information. We can service families better if we know all the systems that are involved in and we can look at it for their betterment, not as an idea of Big Brother, as an idea of how there, again, individuals are already out in our system.

And I think having the type of dialogue, having, like I said, having those uncomfortable conversations, it's time to be here. And, you know, Benton County is very, very small. There aren't a lot of resources. They do have a local levy, but you couldn't have a levy in a small county big enough to handle a circumstance like this. But look at those types of emergency situations and look at how we respond and identify best practices. Look at our systems, you know, to free up caseworkers to actually allow them to do casework and not paperwork, I think would have a huge impact. So I think there are a lot of things out there that we could recommend now.

And I think that at this point, if there can be any silver lining outside of, making sure that all of those children are finally, hopefully, can get the support and care that they need is that this isn't just a one-off. It's not just a horrible situation, but to me, the worst case of what's happening of possibly under a crumbling house. So the thing I don't fully understand is, or that I can't rip my mind around is how could this ever get to this point? of that many children for that long, how, and I don't know all the details, could that even take place? It almost was if we stumbled upon it by accident, and so could you help us understand who is responsible on the investigative or prevention side between the county and the state? I know that when we find children in that state, the counties are responsible, and that is what we've been trying to fund, especially with the remarkable work that your department has been doing to get the child wellness campus up so we actually have longer-term placements but could you speak to about the

system of actually finding these cases and I just don't know how anybody could say that this going on for as long as it did that our systems are working as needed and I call all of my colleagues that we have to do more and we cannot outlook away. And we cannot just say that these are the counties and they do enough. And I'm sure there's going to be investigation, but if something is structurally wrong, if it's policy, if it's more money, but could you speak to directly? What is the state's role when it comes to actually finding these kids or making sure that departments are doing their jobs? What role do we have? So in general, without talking specifics of this case, our role, we do provide technical

assistance we have individuals that go out there they've been there every day in vetton county working specifically on these circumstances but they do go out we do new monitoring and compliance reviews we do provide guidance direction whenever those questions and those types of things come up but as you're saying centering there are a lot of different places that are involved with these kids we need more eyes on children if you see something say something so I like to bring in Representative Mark Johnson. He represents in the Ohio legislature, the district, that covers all of Vitton County. So Representative Johnson, thank you so much for joining me.

Not a problem. I'm happy to be here. You know, this is a horrible case. I wish we were talking about something more joyful, a little happier. But thank goodness, these 16 children are safe and they have been indeed placed in foster care. Is that your understanding? That is correct. are they you know outside of vinton county because vinton county is a small county it's the least populous county in the state i can't imagine that there are enough families there who are foster parents that that they could all remain in that county i i can't imagine it either uh so one would can only assume at this point in time because i truly i don't know i would assume that at least some of them have gone outside the county. I truly don't know where they're at. And I don't know if that type

information is ever released, you know, being juveniles. So I truly don't know. And, you know, so I guess time will tell on that. There are so many questions surrounding this case. You're a member of the state legislature. You're a part of allocating funding here. A lot of people are asking, was children services, you know, involved with this family. We have information that Gallia County had visited them. We've seen the truancy complaints. Obviously, they weren't in Gallia County anymore and hadn't been for many years, but they were up in Benton. Is this a, the state dropped the ball situation? Did this family seek assistance? And when I say this family, I mean Gary Jr. and Elizabeth for their 16 children. Are you aware of that?

The only assistance that I'm aware of is they've all the children, all 16 of these children, plus there was a set of twins that was still born, were born in area hospitals. And I think the last set of twins or so was born in Columbus. And the majority of them was in Gallupilis. Some was over in Athens. And, you know, they've been transit. They've gone from Gallia County. I think they was in Jackson County at one time. They was in Pike County at one time.

And then they came to Benton County somewhere along the line over three years ago. Yeah, it looks like they've been in Benton from what we've been able to trace through records for at least three years, maybe longer. Yeah, and my only assumption is they've never lived anywhere other than this home in Hamden, which is, is on a dead end road with only one other home on the other side of them. There's woods and foliage all around this home. And then in front of the house is a railroad yard. And so it was somewhat very secluded. The one neighbor says, I don't recall seeing a child.

You know, I haven't talked to him myself, but, you know, not seeing nobody seeing 16 children. And, you know, or anybody imagine somebody having 16 kids in our modern time. But it is what it is. There's multiple sets of twins here. And so that probably drove the number up. So, but, you know, it's mind-boggling. You know, I drove, I've been there myself. You know, I wanted to see the home, you know, so I could better represent and have some knowledge.

I'm just like everybody else. you know, all you can do is try to imagine and wonder what makes four adults agree that this is okay. That's the big question, you know, that. And then I talked to the hardware store. He said, Gary Jr. had been in there one time, bought some plumbing. That was up well over a year ago. And he said, other than that, we never seen any of them. I'm told that they went to the Dollar General,

and when they did go to the Dollar General, it's after 9.30 p.m. Or somewhere close to dusk or after dark, you know, or the last customer there. None of it makes any sense to be quite honest. And when you try to reason why, you have four adults think that this is okay. The children was not enrolled in school.

That in itself, is an issue. You know, was they running from the truancy issues and running from CPS? Maybe. I mean, they packed up and moved quite often, which is for no good reason that anybody can tell, you know, that they had a home base down in Gallia County is my understanding. Joel Potts, the head of the Department of Children and Youth, was in front of the controlling board earlier this week. And you all sent a million dollars, allocated a million dollars to send down there to help care just for these children.

Obviously, there may be more money needed. Did Mr. Potts say anything about, you know, what was your understanding from Mr. Potts' testimony or his discussion in front of the controlling board about? whether his agency erred here or anything to that effect? I question Mr. Pots and myself, I said, did anybody drop the ball or anybody not doing their jobs? And the answer was no. You know, we can't really figure this out why somebody with 16 children didn't ask for help. To my knowledge, they didn't ask for SNAP benefits or, or, any type of public assistance on that type of nature, which doesn't make sense to start with if you're

not working or care about your children. But I find that this whole thing, very troubling, very hard to reason with here. You know, Vinton County is a small county. It has an $8 million operating budget. This is not a wealthy county by any stretch of the imagination. However, I went down there and I thought it was like a cute little place, the village of Hamden. You know, most of the houses are kept up. There are some that aren't, you know, aren't kept up as well. But what we saw on Omer Street is not the norm in Benton County. So I'm kind of at a loss for, you know, was anybody trying to work? Are there good paying jobs available down there? I mean, I drove by Jackson and there was a Walmart in Jackson and that's only.

like 15 minutes up the road. Of course there's jobs available. And there's a Pillsbury has a large food processing manufacturing. They have over 1,000 employees within five miles of Hampton. It's right there in Wellston.

You go over in Jackson, there's quite a few industrial jobs over there. There's all kind of construction jobs that's available. A lot of County residents, they come to Chilacothe to work. You know, Chilacothy has the Kenwork Truck Assembly plant there, several work there. But it's the second tier suppliers to the Kenworth, which makes up about 1,300 people that work in these second tier supply houses.

They employ a lot of Benton County people. The employers really like Benton County people. They're dependable, they're hardworking. We can count on them. They'll come back tomorrow. And that's pretty much the type of people they are. You know, I've grown to be friends with the Hamden Fire Department. We're down there quite often.

And if you go to their fire department, they operate on a weekly bingo. They do all this with volunteers. And they answer their calls that they're given. and, you know, just dried by their fire department. That's a statement in itself. It's one of the best fire departments in my district, you know, and my district goes from prosperous Appalachian counties to to Benton County. You know, but I don't believe anybody didn't do their job.

Can we do better as far as communication between counties? I think that's something we need to look at. If we knew we had a truancy problem in Gallia County, did that get passed on to Jackson Pike and Benton County? You know, I don't know. That's some low-hanging fruit that the state needs to address is how better we can communicate. And I don't think anybody will have a problem with that. You know, Ohio children and youth, they've already got... it's a database that they keep track of calls and complaints and can we better get that to better serve us.

You know, that's a possibility. You know, all this information, you know, we're going to work with Joel Potts and others and law enforcement. And I'm sure that we're going to have more information come out of this case that we can look at better. You know, right now with an ongoing prosecution, you know, there's little that law enforcement

can talk about at this time or the courts. And, you know, for the most part, we're going to have to let the courts be the courts and work themselves out. I believe we have a good judge in Benton County. I believe our prosecutor

has requested help from the Ohio Attorney General. And we've got some assistant prosecutors there. So I'm confident that the people will get a fair trial. They're entitled to a fair trial. And we'll have more information will come out on this. And, you know, the only income that we can see is, is grandma and grandpa was on Social Security and got a Social Security payment.

Yeah. That's, and we're still digging on that too. but you're saying it's your understanding they did not have any state assistance when it comes, at least Gary Jr. and Elizabeth, SNAP benefits and things of that nature. Not that I'm aware of. I mean, there may have been some there that I don't know about, but I'm not aware of them having any type of assistance there in that nature, far as SNAP benefits or or a weekly or a monthly stipend of any kind. Yeah.

Well, it's a confounding case. You know, I know you've been around a while. We hear about child neglect cases, Representative Johnson, but, you know, kids being kept in the house like this, if this allegation is indeed true that they weren't allowed outside, the kids are in bad shape, they're given phones to hang out on social media, the older ones, they're not going to school. It is disturbing and it boggles the mind as to why nobody was asking for any type of help whatsoever. Right. And I assume that the family members, they communicated through social media is my understanding. You know, it's all rather bizarre. But I think more information will come out where we can address some things as far as the legislature. And, you know, I think Senator George Lang said it best. I'd rather err on putting too much funds into children's services than not enough. and but I think we will take a hard look at things come the next operating budget on funding on that side of it

you know can we have more visits when somebody does file a complaint more checks you know until somebody files a complaint children's services is not aware of anything and that's an issue and when you isolate yourself and come out at dark, nobody, not even your neighbors knows you have children.

I don't know how anyone could expect a government service to deal with something, a case similar to this. Let's just hope that we never have such a case. Let's hope that parents care about their children a lot more than this and see to it that they do go to school and we take care of it

and because, let's face it, that generation is the future of this country. No doubt. No doubt. I'd like an update on how the children are actually doing, too. But we know that there are privacy issues there and everything. Representative Johnson, thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate it. I'm not happy to do this.

We'll see you. Gary Jr., Elizabeth and Christina Ciders remain in jail. They have not been able to post bail. They've all pleaded not guilty. Christina Sider's attorney is actually asking for a non-dissemination order to limit what can be said or released by officials about the case. A gag order issued in Gary Jr.'s case is being challenged at the Ohio Supreme Court. And we're of course going to keep an eye on this case. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or drop them in the comments.

That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Janette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.