Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Ohio 'House of Horrors': Bombshell Twists Rock Case

Episode Date: September 10, 2026

Gary Siders Sr., the grandfather of 16 children found in a home in Vinton County, Ohio, has been found incompetent to stand trial. An independent forensic reviewer determined that Gary Sr. could not be restored to competency. This development comes as four of Siders Sr.'s other family members face sex crimes charges. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks at the new developments in the cases in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guests:Dorian Baum https://www.facebook.com/BaumLawOfficeLLCJon Getson   https://www.facebook.com/BaumLawOfficeLLCCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Van DinhGuest 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.

So the findings of the competency evaluation are not surprising to me. They're somewhat expected. A major development in the case of the grandfather accused of neglecting his grandchildren. Gary Sider Sr. appears in court as concrete answers about his mental state are revealed. Plus, an update on the sex crimes case against Gary's senior son-in-law and the hearing kept secret involving senior's grandson. We have all of the new details. I'm Ann Janette Levy, and this is Crime Fix. From the very beginning of the child endangerment case involving the 16 Siders children,

questions have been raised about the mental state of one of the family members. Now we know what experts think about the mental condition of Gary Sider's Senior. Attorneys for all four Siders family members, Gary Sider's Senior, his wife, Christina Lynn Siders, their son, Gary Siders, Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth Siders, have raised questions about their competency. They've all requested evaluations to determine whether they can understand the charges they face and the court proceedings that they're a part of. Competency questions come up in criminal cases from time to time. Well, now the results are in for Gary Sider Sr. His attorney was the first to raise this issue back in July. Without not trying to hide the ball here, but I think everyone

saw Mr. Sider. And so I don't think it's a, I don't think it's a surprise that anyone might be concerned about his competence. I mean, he obviously understood a person greeting him. But again, as I noted in my motion, he definitely had some confusion about the process, about what was going on. He had an inability to discuss with any sort of sophistication, the legal process, whatever one's roles were, which again, as I've said here and elsewhere, competency is a bedrock, it's a bedrock preconditioned to be able to move forward to any criminal case. And if you don't have that, you just simply can't. You know, I'm going to circle back around to what you already asked also.

You know, is he a danger to community? I would have suggested he's never been a dangerous community. And certainly in his present condition, he isn't. He is not dangerous. What I would consider him to be as a sad and sympathetic character, primarily because of his general level of confusion and both the mental health and physical issues that I was sort of seeing. Gary Sr. is 73 years old.

He's the patriarch of the family found living in the house on Omer Street back on June 30th. In fact, Gary Sr. and his wife, Christina Lynn Siders, were the legal tenants of this home. Christina Sider's attorney has said she was paying the rent. So we're left to assume that Christina and Gary Sr. welcomed their 16 grandchildren and their son and daughter-in-law into the home as guests. The four adults had lived in this home in Gallia County with nine of the children back in 2020. In booking footage from the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail, we could see that Gary Sr. needed help getting around. When the deputies tried to get him out of the sheriff's van, they had to get a wheelchair for him.

When it was time to search him at the wall, a standard procedure, Senior needed help getting to the wall. Then he spent the entire time he was being booked into the jail in the wheelchair. At one point, he crossed his leg one over the other. At his first court appearance the next day, Gary Sr. appeared to, to not understand what was going on. While his physical appearance has now improved slightly, a family member pushed Gary Sr. into the courtroom as he sat in a wheelchair.

He looked much healthier after receiving medical care and hopefully decent meals. And the results of the competency evaluation were revealed. All right, is there any action you intend to take today? Thank you, Your Honor. At this time, we would ask for it, except the finding of the state in the offense was both stimulating to the report. It was filed by Forensic Diagnostic Center in District 9.

The report is regarded Mr. Siders. I'm going to look for the date, one that's on there, the specific date, but, excuse me dated on July 29th, 2026. At this time, we asked the court, accept the report. The report except the findings of the report that Mr. Siders is at this time not common understanding. and try and more restorable and then we would ask the court to be maintained those. Thank you. State's decision.

Thank you, Your Honor. At this time, the state would simulate into the report as well as the findings. We, at this point, are looking at our options at this point, we would not object to the court to continue the bond until we have an opportunity to see what steps we can now take next once the new competency and non-restroarital. has been found. Thank you. Anything else from anyone? Your Honor, Your Honor, we want to ask is we can follow us up a written motion necessary. We'll make the law on motion that this report to be kept under seal. We know that's the typical

standard this court is to hold such motion or such evaluation under seal. We have to the court specifically making an entry to that effect. It is in fact already under soon. So no need to file a motion. Thank you. That is our customary procedure for anyone who received synodiation and the signature. Right. And bond has maintained gone. Yes, bond is in the name. Thank you, everyone.

So Gary Sider, Sr. was then wheeled out of court by a caregiver. I think it's pretty self-evident. And in my discussions with him, as I've sort of spoken about previously, it's clear to me that I would rarely get direct answers to very basic questions. you know, there were concerns about whether or not he had a grasp of what was going on, his memory was clearly an issue, and all indications from what I've seen, both from the evaluations as well as my interaction, as well as my discussion, the family members, is that there's been a pretty steep decline over years.

So it's not really a surprise to any of us that he's not been found competent at this point. But guess what? Dorian Bown's involvement in these cases is far. from over. If you love digging into details of true crime cases as much as I do, you have to download the Law and Crime Plus app. If you haven't checked it out already, here are three reasons you should jump on board today. Number one, you get complete access. Watch the best shows from both law and crime and court TV completely ad-free. Number two, you get the case files, deep dive access to raw trial evidence, including body camera video, 911 calls crime scene photos, and more. And finally,

binge-worthy true crime. Dive into a huge library of true crime series, documentaries, and cases whenever you want to. And right now, we have a special offer with my promo code Fix Fall. That's Fix Fall. Get your first three months of Law and Crime Plus for just $2.99 a month. That's 50% off the regular monthly price. All right. So to discuss this major development in the case of Gary Sider, Senior, I'd like to

to bring in his two lawyers, at least his lawyers for now. Dorian Baum and John Getson. Dorian and John, thank you so much for coming back on. Thank you for having us. Appreciate it. Thank you. Dorian, I'll start with you on this one. Your client, Gary Sider's senior, has been deemed incompetent to stand trial.

And it sounds like he cannot be restored to competency. So go through this with us. What did the examiner find? So, yeah, once again, thanks for having us back on here. Do appreciate it. And we can't go into everything that the evaluation found because obviously a lot of that's confidential. There's certain specific medical issues that Mr. Sider suffers from.

But as generally speaking, when a person's found incompetent and not restorable, it basically means that at this point, they don't understand the proceedings that are going on, and there's no way to restore them to the point where they could potentially understand what's going on right now. So it's probably been obvious to most people who have been following this and who watched Mr. Sider Sr. at his initial appearance, as we've discussed on multiple occasions here and elsewhere, he clearly seemed to be confused, clearly seemed to be a person who was not aware of what was going on, was not aware of the questions being asked, was hard of hearing. He's obviously been discharged for some time on our cognizance bond to address his serious medical issues.

So all of that taken in totality, you basically left you with a person who, as I have said, essentially from the beginning, I had very concerns, very great concerns about his competence, his competency, his ability to participate in this hearing or any other hearing, the ability to assist in his defense, which is the very definition of whether he is competent. And then once he's found to be incompetent, the next step of the evaluation, of course is to see if there's anything that can be done for restoration services. Can he go to an inpatient facility and can, you know, that facility either prescribe him medication or give him some sort of mental health treatment that would allow him to be restored?

And the evaluation was quite clear in stating that, no, this is a person who cannot be. And as such, there's really nothing left for the state to do because we are not allowed to prosecute for good reason, those are incompetent. So, John, is the prosecutor going to just dismiss this case then? What's going to happen? Well, that would be up to Mr. Archer to decide. But basically, he has three options in one of these cases, which would be to ask for a second opinion to either just outright dismiss it or to go to the probate court and ask for a civil commitment. And once that civil commitment is filed or that paperwork is filed, that, relieves this court of its jurisdiction and therefore the case gets dismissed. So it's anticipated that it will be dismissed one way or another, but at that point, or at this point, it is Mr.

Archer's decision on how to proceed. Dorian, you have done cases with Bill Archer many times in the past. You've said that. So what do you think that Bill Archer is going to do? Have you had discussions with him about this? Well, as John noted, he could ask for a second evaluation. But having stipulated to both the report and the findings of the report yesterday, that essentially at that point, there's no need for a second evaluation because he's already accepted the fact that Mr. Siders is both not competent and not restorable. And once he's stipulated to that fact and when the court found that to be the case, there's really nothing to be done there.

So that avenue is gone, which means literally at this point, it's either dismiss outright or file for a civil commitment. As we've talked about on several occasions, and again, as I've spoken about elsewhere, where based on how this whole thing started and how the media even got involved in the first place when you had a specific office making statements that were quite incendiary and basically brought to the attention to the media. That made it difficult on everybody such that now Mr. Archer is in a position where he may otherwise have just simply dismissed for expediency's sake. He probably needs to take a closer look at what is most appropriate in this case. One way or another, Mr. Seider's senior is already receiving care.

We're all aware of that. Everyone's on the same page with that. The question is just whether or not the probate court needs to step in. For what it's worth, our office is on the back channel, kind of trying to get a guardianship process started for him, which might make something of a civil commitment moot or unnecessary because once a guardianship is taken place in which someone takes guardianship over him, there's really no need for a civil commitment because someone has already essentially taken that role over.

I know that Mr. Siders is receiving that care. So based on my discussion with Attorney Archer, I know he will be diligent with it, but I think his focus is primarily now moving on to the other co-defendants. Sure, of course. Right, because he can't be prosecuted. You know, on just a human basic level, it's quite sad that Gary Sider, Sr. was obviously in a home in really bad shape, physically. we now know mentally. He was suffering from a serious medical condition that has not been disclosed.

We know there's been a lot of chit-chat about that on social media, but we don't know his exact condition because you haven't disclosed it to us. But very sad that he may have just been sitting in this house and just deteriorating for God knows how long. Is there any information you've been able to gather or glean about how long he's been in such a condition, mentally? to where he doesn't really get what's going on and he's just sitting there. Well, again, Jeanette, I mean, you and I last time we were on here talked specifically about this issue and the fact that if he is in fact deemed incompetent, that really should change the narrative around at least Mr. Sider Sr. This is an individual who himself may be a victim of being

in a home where he doesn't know what's going on. Now, do I know exactly how long, as I said yesterday, I'm not a medical doctor, so I'm not going to try to prognosticate a, you know, oh, it was this time or is that time or he's been for this long. But it's clearly been a decline from my understanding with other family members speaking with them. It's been a, it's been a years long process where it's been a slow and significant decline, which has more rapidly, there's been a more rapid decline over the last, I would say, probably year to two years. So how long has he been there? I don't know. You know, I wasn't inside this house on a day-to-day basis. I don't know whether this house always looked like this.

I don't know whether this house has gotten worse in a certain amount of time. But clearly Mr. Sider Sr. was suffering from both significant issues, as you mentioned, medical, you know, mental and physical issues for a significant amount of time. And he was in a location where obviously based on his current diminished mental capacity and obvious physical issues, he really wasn't free to leave on his own. He didn't have the capacity either physically or mental. to leave on his own. So now we're left in a situation that is, at least as it pertains to Mr. Sider Sr., extremely sad, which is what I've been saying from the very beginning of this case.

But there were able-bodied adults in there who could have been providing care for him. And so it appears that he also was neglected and potentially abused. I don't want to say whether he was being specifically abused or specifically neglected. Again, I wasn't in the home. It's my understanding that there were efforts. whether those were insignificant or whether those were significant, there were efforts to care for him. But bear in mind again, and I know I've mentioned this, I'm not trying to make this an excuse,

but perhaps more an explanation. This is clearly a very poor family with a, by all accounts, low educational level, low level of general understanding. I'm not sure what their resources were. Could they have done more? I mean, obviously, certainly there were things that could have been done, certainly for Mr. Sider, Senior, there could have been additional attention paid to him, both medical attention, physical and mental health. But we are where we are. And as everyone who

probably saw him yesterday, he certainly looks to be in at least better physical condition than he was in the booking photos and at the initial appearance. So it does appear that he is starting to get the treatment he needs, which is obviously a good thing. Yeah, it certainly looks like he's getting better food, I'm sure, and whatever the medical treatment is. that he's receiving. Let's pivot now, John, to Brandon Henderson. You and Dorian are now representing Brandon Henderson, one of the subjects of what's been labeled Investigation One by the Vinton County Prosecutor and the Attorney General's Office, and he's facing some serious sex crimes charges. So, John, are you able to explain to us how you all are able to step off?

Gary Seider's case or at least be on there for a little bit longer and then take on this other case. Sure. So obviously the way it was put in the attorney general's press release, these are two separate investigations that kind of one led to another, but they are in no way similar crimes that are being alleged. So they are separate enough. that there is no conflict there. It's not being alleged that Mr. Henderson is a co-defendant of Mr. Sider, Senior. So for those reasons, and given the limited amount of attorneys that are on the list in Vinton County, our office has been appointed to represent him.

Dorian, how can that work? Obviously, these are two very separate investigations. I mean, Brandon Henderson is charged with child endangering, but it's not regarding the 16 children on Omer Street, different addresses. different sets of allegations. So how can you kind of step off one and then jump to the other? Can you go into that a little bit more? Yeah. I mean, it's pretty much exactly as you explained it. So well done. But basically, you know, as John mentioned, one case specifically involving, you know, not talking about the other charges that Mr. Seider's co-defendants may have regarding other individuals. Specifically, I know that Elizabeth and Gary Jr. have other charges that are also

sexually charged. But Mr. Sider Sr. was only charged with allegations of endangering children, 16 counts for only the basically condition of the home on Omer Street. Mr. Henderson is charged with crimes having no alleged relation to that house, no alleged relation to anything other than Mr. Henderson is sort of tangentially related to the Ciders family just through marriage, having children, et cetera. But this would be the equivalent of you have an OVI and your uncle has a criminal damaging. I could represent both of you because they have nothing to do with each other, just because your family related. Or even if, you know, the OVI, they followed you home when you were driving drunk and found somebody else allegedly breaking into someone's home. You know, just because

the investigations dovetail or they sort of have some similarity in time doesn't mean that they're actually similar in nature. So because of that, we're able to take on the other appointment. Also, not for nothing. I've had to have, I've been able to have some discussions with Mr. Henderson directly and specifically brought this up to him. And he specifically indicated he did not have any concern about this to not believe there was a conflict and asked us to remain on as his attorney. So unless any specific conflict is raised and I'm not sure who could other than Mr. Anderson, it's anticipated that we will continue to represent him. Sure. You haven't received discovery yet. You filed the documents asking for the discovery.

But, I mean, these are serious charges. He's facing some serious sex crimes charges, also charges of child endangering related to other children. These are not the 16 Siders children. These are serious crimes, Dorian. So what do you have to say on behalf of your new client? Well, first thing I want to say is you'll recall in some of our other prior discussions, I mentioned specifically how the case that they initially brought in the Cider's household was not what I consider to be an unbelievably serious case. It was concerning, obviously, but there were other matters that I was aware of that were sort of also being investigated. This is one of those cases where there are actually fairly significant charges, serious allegations. We've been made aware of these. serious allegations. We've had some discussions with the prosecutor about when discovery might be provided to us, but I think it's a bit premature to start talking about whether or not, you know, there's any admissions or there's any thing of that nature. I have not been made aware of any admissions in my discussion briefly, Mr. Henderson. It appear that he denies whatever the allegations

are. Again, I haven't seen discovery, so I haven't been able to have a real substantive discussion with him, but generically or generally speaking, he has denied whatever allegations been made against him. So until we get more information, until the prosecutor gives us the discovery, so we at least have some of the details that are being alleged, it's hard for me to say one way or another, whether the state has a strong case, whether I think they have a weak case, how we expect to proceed. Really, the next step is reviewing the discovery as it comes in. I've been digging into Brandon Henderson and looking into the case and the allegations. And it appears that he was married for all intents and purposes, not legally, but living his husband and wife with one of the daughters of Gary Sr.

And Christina Siders and they had children together. And it's my understanding that the daughter, Virginia, is now in some. type of incapacitated state and Brandon is now remarried to another woman. So is all of that true? What I would say is, you know, I don't know how I would characterize their relationship. I think you're right. They probably at least held themselves out as a couple. They certainly had children together. It's my understanding that the daughter of the elder Ciders is in some sort of care facility. my understanding is speaking of Mr. Henderson is that, you know, he, he still has some communication with, if not that facility or not heard directly. Some understand that,

because again, that is the mother of his children. So he is still keeping aware of that. But yes, my understanding is that he has, he is in a different relationship now, which is not terribly unusual. And it's also not any part of this case. You know, that would just be, I suppose, some superfluous detail. As far as this case goes, obviously. it's really just the allegations. But my understanding is that, yes, that is how he's connected to the Sider's family. But you're saying Brandon Henderson, who's pleaded not guilty, he remains in jail, that he denies these sex crimes allegations and allegations of child endangering. Because it sounds like children were discovered in a dollar general sometime in 2025, the fall of 2025. And that's how

this investigation unfolded. If that's how the investigation unfolded, if that's how the investigation unfolded you may know more about than I do at this point. I mean, yes, to be clear, Mr. Henderson to this point, he's pled not guilty. He denies the allegations against him. You know, obviously as we get discovery and we discuss things with him, it's hard for me to say how things are going to progress from there. But at this point, to date in my discussion with him, he has denied any of the allegations against him, and that's why he pled not guilty. How these allegations came about, again, my understanding is that the investigation sort of relates to the allegations against, I believe, Mr. Siders Jr.

And that's how they sort of, again, dovetail in some way. And that's how they're quasi-connected. But they are, in my understanding, entirely separate investigations, entirely separate alleged victims. And so until we get more information and I don't really want to do guesswork, you know, I don't want to guess what's going to happen. I'd rather have the actual hard facts in front of me. John, I know that you don't represent Josh Saunders.

however you do practice in vinton county josh saunders was scheduled for a pretrial in bitton county on the same day as his grandfather gary siders senior uh keeping all these relationships you know together is often difficult but we're doing it um but he was scheduled for a pretrial and the media and the public were not allowed inside for that joshua saunders is pursuing an insanity defense uh according to paperwork filed by his lawyer. Explain to me how that pretrial process happens and unfolds in Benton County because I think people in the public and in the media were surprised they weren't allowed in for this pretrial hearing. Sure. So it's really up to the individual court and could be on a case-to-case basis as to how they proceed with the pretrial. Some courts go on the record for

everything. And some just have a pretrial conference in chambers. I obviously wasn't present for this hearing, but my guess would be that they held the pretrial conference back in chambers between the attorneys and the judge. So there was no real need or anyone in the courtroom that would be present for anyone to view. So moving forward, you'll be representing Brandon Henderson, representing, you know, basically whatever happens with Gary Sider Sr. And just awaiting discovery, right, John? That's correct. All right.

Well, we are going to keep a close eye on it. I appreciate both of you coming on again. Appreciate your time. Thank you so much. And we hope you'll come back. Thanks for having us. Certainly. Thank you, Ant for that.

Gary, Sr. remains free on bond, either in the care of a family member or a health care facility. His wife, Christina Lynn Siders, has a bail hearing this month where her attorney will argue that she should be released. She faces 19 counts of child endangering related to her 16 grandchildren. Those are a mix of felonies and misdemeanors. Gary Jr. has pleaded not guilty to the sex crimes charges he faces related to allegations he abused a family member who was not his child. His wife, Elizabeth Siders, has not yet entered a plea on the child endangering and sex crimes charges she now faces, both remain in the southeast Ohio regional jail, as does Brandon Henderson, the de facto brother-in-law of Gary Jr., and son-in-law of Gary Sr. and Christina.

And of course, those 16 children ranging in age from 18 to one and a half who were found in the house on Omer Street, they remain in therapeutic foster care. We just, we don't have an update for you on how they are doing. We can only hope they're getting the care and the help that they so greatly need. We'll keep an eye on all of this and let you know what happens as it unfolds. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.