Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Ohio 'House of Horrors': Bruises, Roaches and More!

Episode Date: August 25, 2026

Gary Siders, Jr., and his wife, Elizabeth, face 19 felony and misdemeanor counts of child endangering related to alleged abuse and neglect of their 16 children. However, years ago, children's services workers in neighboring Gallia County opened investigations into the the Siders went they had nine children in 2020 and 2021. New records detail what case workers found and how they tried to help the family along with a number of red flags. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the new, disturbing details in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: 👉 Download Cash Giraffe now using my link https://t2m.io/L_C_Aug26 and get up to 3,999 gems to kickstart your journey. Play your favorite games and earn rewards 🏆Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Dr. Daniel Bober https://www.instagram.com/drdanielbober/CRIME 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.

It's really incredible when you think about it. I mean, there were so many red flags here, and there were so many opportunities to intervene and to remove the kids from the home when it was obviously an unsanitary, unsafe environment, but they didn't do it. New details about the 16 Siders children found hidden in a so-called House of Horrors in Ohio.

Social workers found bruises, roaches, gnats, and much more. Many years ago, major red flags. So what happened? I'll explain. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and this is Crime Fix. For nearly two months, I've been telling you that children's services workers in Gallia County had contact with Gary Siders Jr. and Elizabeth Siders and their children before they ever moved to Vinton County. Well, now we're finally getting to see the records that detail what caseworkers found and why even doctors and school administrators were so concerned. We obtained the records

right after Gary Jr. and Elizabeth were indicted by a grand jury in Vinton County on sexual battery and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor charges. The sex charges are not related to the Cider's immediate family members, but Gary and Elizabeth were also indicted on a mix of felony and misdemeanor counts of child endangering for their 16 children found in that house on Omer Street on June 30th. When they were first arrested, Gary Jr. and Elizabeth had actually, actually faced 16 felony counts of child endangering. Those were all felonies in the second degree. But the concern about Gary and Elizabeth's children actually goes back years to 2020. At that time, they had nine children and lived in neighboring Galea County. Children's services in Galea County

started investigating the ciders because records show the online school where they were enrolled reported them. At that time, the family was living in this house on Garfield Avenue in Gallup Police. Children's services considered the children neglected. A juvenile court record reads, this agency initiated an investigation on January 15th, 2020, regarding a Cider's child whose name is redacted. The child was seven years old. It was reported the child was enrolled in Ohio Virtual Academy, OBA, in late fall of 2019, but was entered with no prior schooling. but presented significant developmental delays, an inability to speak in complete sentences or initiate conversation. It was reported that the child has not been to a pediatrician for evaluation

of any medical and or developmental delays. During the initiation of the case, Christina Siders, the paternal grandmother, stated that the above accusations were true, but then retracted her statement on a later date. So that last part says that Grandma, Christina Siders, The Siders confirmed the information was true, but later retracted her statement. Interesting. And there were concerns about the other Siders' children. The caseworker wrote, at the beginning of this agency's investigation, concerns about another child, age 13, not completing school through the OVA, was raised due to her being enrolled on January 6th, 2020. But as of February 4th, 2020, she had not logged into the account to complete schoolwork. On February 4th, 2020, she was officially with,

withdrawn from the OVA. OVA considered the child to never have started based on no records being provided except those collected during enrollment. After further investigation, it was determined that the child was enrolled in Gallia Digital Academy program on December 12, 2019, but no completion of schoolwork can be provided. The OVA program stated that the Ciders family is not an appropriate fit for their program and believes that a traditional brick and mortar school would be in the best interest of the children. The social worker wrote that the concerns were about all of the cider's children. At that point, there were nine, as I mentioned, and the person who was having contact with the school about the children, it wasn't the parents. Guess who it was?

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following subjects, math, literature, Mark 12, social studies, history, and science. The oldest child was given an assessment on January 19th, 2020 by her teacher, who found that she is a non-reader. The child knows 14 out of 26 lowercase letters, 21 out of 26 uppercase letters, and zero out of 26 letter sounds, and the only pre-primer word one knew was and. In addition to struggling with the alphabet, one child can count one through 12 before making mistakes. On February 28, 2020, it was reported that the child was given an assessment that found she had not made any academic progress within the last 10 weeks. Neither Gary nor Elizabeth were employed at this time. Gary Jr. listed himself as self-employed and the records show they qualified for Medicaid and food stamps. Their hygiene was poor and they always wore the same clothes. The caseworker wrote, Elizabeth Ciders, the mother and Gary Ciders, the second father, are non-compliant with following the recommendations of the school. Medical examinations, physiological examinations, physical examinations, speech therapy, vision,

slash hearing screenings, and participation in intervention programs. Based on interactions with the family and specifically the children, there are concerns that all of the children need to be assessed for delays, developmental disabilities, and other educational needs. Additionally, it appears the parent slash caretakers are either unwilling to or are not capable of assuring the children's well-being when it comes to educational, developmental, and mental health needs. A shelter care hearing was held later that month, and that's where a court determines whether children should remain with their parents or be placed in a shelter. That means with foster care. After the hearing, the court found, as stipulated to by the parents, there are reasonable grounds

to believe that the child is in danger from her surroundings and that protective supervision of the child is necessary to prevent the child's physical and or emotional harm. The child is in the care and custody of her parents, Gary Siders, the second, and Elizabeth Siders. Children's services began working with the family on January 15, 2020, after receiving a report that a child had been enrolled in Ohio Virtual Academy for school in late fall of 2019 with no prior schooling. She presented with significant developmental delays, inability to speak in complete sentences, or initiate conversation. She had not been seen by a pediatrician for evaluation of any medical and or developmental delays. There were also concerns that the other school-age children in the family

were performing well below grade-level expectations after they had allegedly been homeschooled. Likewise, the other children have not been evaluated. The Sider's children were placed on protective supervision status, meaning a caseworker drops by unannounced for visits and ensures that the family follows a case plan. The children were not removed from the ciders home. They were allowed to stay with their parents. By October 2020, the judge presiding over the case found that reasonable efforts had been made to keep the children from being removed from their parents. And the case, it was closed. The court's order states the court further finds that it is in the best interest of the child to remain in the custody of her parents, the protective supervision be terminated,

and that this case be closed. It is therefore ordered that the child remain in the custody of Elizabeth and Gary Lee Siders Jr. It is further ordered that protective supervision be terminated. It is further ordered that this case be closed. That's it. Case closed. But the contact with the Siders and the nine children was far from over.

In December of that same year, just two months later, the Siders and their nine children had moved into the house on honeysuckle and shuddle. Cheshire, we've shown it to you before. And children's services opened a new case this time over concerns that four of the children had high levels of lead in their systems. Caseworker Aaron Cantor wrote, there were concerns that parents Elizabeth and Gary were not completing medical follow-ups. The medical staff had reported that high levels of lead can lead to developmental delays. During the initiation on December 8th, 2020, caseworker Cantor, was denied access to the home and asked to come back because the children were sleeping.

There were a number of red flags in caseworker Aaron Cantor's affidavit. She was denied access to the children at times and the conditions in the home were disgusting. Canter wrote, At the beginning of this agency's investigation, caseworker Cantor was allowed access into the home on December 9th, 2020, but access to the children was denied. While in the home, concerns were raised due to a high population of roaches, flies, and gnats. After further investigation, the family has now become compliant with medical appointments, but medical staff are concerned that the family will stop coming to appointments once the case is closed. As this happened, the last time the family had an open case. The children's medical provider and caseworker Cantor are in contact often

regarding the well-being of the children. The physician has stated the children have an odor, but seem to be in good health. The physician is concerned about teeth as they are not in good condition. Caseworker Cantor is also worried about another child's speech as she is almost five years old and cannot speak any clear language. Caseworker Cantor would like the child to have a speech evaluation to address this concern. Caseworker Cantor believed the children were at risk for harm independency and again requested court-ordered supervision of the children. This time, she saw potential signs of physical abuse that couldn't be explained. Canter wrote, though the concerns of medical neglect have been addressed and resolved, the refusal to access the upstairs of the home

and the children raises new concerns due to their being circular, linear bruising on the back of one child's thigh and the lack of being able to see the children. Caseworker Cantor now has concerns of possible abuse and or severe neglect. Caseworker Cantor also saw insect bites on another child's arms along with scratches. The child also was tugging her ear and scratching her head profusely. The parents were questioned regarding the bruising. They became agitated and stated they were unaware of any bruising. The parents also stated that the child has one cavity on her baby tooth and are not concerned about it. Caseworker Cantor has noticed the parents are always in the same clothing and do not have consistent hygiene, nor do the children. Despite all of this,

Galea County Job and Family Services did not seek custody of the children. The agency requested protective supervision, even though Gary Jr. and Elizabeth were described as uncooperative. By June 2021, the court found the caseworker had helped Gary Jr. and Elizabeth complete their case plan and the court determined it was in the best interest of the children to remain with their parents. The case was closed. Later that year, the children were supposed to attend Ataville Elementary School, but guess what? They didn't show up. The ciders had disappeared. If you love digging into the details of crime cases as much as I do, you have to download the Law and Crime Plus app. If you haven't checked it out yet, here are three reasons to 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 those case files, deep dive access to raw trial evidence, including body camera video, 911 calls, crime scene photos, and more. And finally, it's free for a whole 30 days. We are giving all of our viewers a full month to test it out completely risk-free. So head on over to law and crimeplus.com, enter the promo code, crime fix, and start exploring today. So to break down of what we are now learning, I want to bring in Dr. Daniel Bober. He's a forensic

psychiatrist. He has been following this case with me from the very beginning and he can offer some insight into this case. Dr. Bober, thanks so much for coming back on. Thanks, Ingena. Dr. Bober, first of all, I want to get your reaction. Let's start with the indictment. Gary, Jr. and Elizabeth being indicted on sexual battery and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor charges. What are your thoughts on that? You know, this case has really evolved in a lot of ways and a lot of new evidence has come to light. So it seems like every day there's a new twist and turn. So it was obviously pretty shocking. Yeah, very shocking. And you know that this is somebody who was a child,

some type of family member, not one of their children, but nonetheless, a family member. And with the sexual battery charge. You know, that's somebody who more than likely you were either coercing the person to engage in the sex act according to the statute or you were in a position of authority over that person. In these cases, you know, you always look at the people that are closest to so-called intimates of the person. So it's not surprising because these are the people that have the most access to the child. So in that regard, it fits a pretty standard pattern. Let's move on now to the children's services records that we're seeing. You know, I had been told very early on in this investigation that the reason that this family moved from Gallia County up north, one county to Vinton County, was because children's services had been sniffing around, had had some contact with them.

And now we're learning exactly what that contact was. In 2020, the school district went to children's services and said, these kids are not logging on to school and their grades are awful. and there was really a serious concern that they were falling behind. It's really disturbing when you consider that there was an element of foreseeability here. The authorities were actually involved and they were actually looking at the case. But it seems that in every case, the children were left in the home. There was some kind of parenting or case plan that was initiated. Supposedly, the parents made some progress on that plan.

And then eventually the supervision was called off and the case was closed. And I know in these types of cases, we always try to keep the kids with the family, but it seems like there were definitely some red flags. And I don't know how much of a deep dive these caseworkers did. But it seems like something was really missed. And we know that these agencies very often have huge caseloads with people who are poorly trained, underpaid, undermotivated. And then, of course, there are other ones that do a tremendous job.

So I guess we just really don't know exactly what they saw or how much effort was made into really figuring out what was going on. What is so stunning to me is the fact that the allegations made by the caseworker in these affidavits. And our first complaint was in 2020. You know, the investigation started in January of that year. And then in March, there's an affidavit filed. And it seems like there's a lot of detail in discussing the children and how far behind they were in school. And the condition of the home.

What I found. Yes. I mean, it was very detailed. Squalered. knew that's flies poor hygiene yeah and they left the kids there they left the kids there and they initiated a plan and they had what was called protective supervision and i'm assuming that means okay the caseworker just kind of pops in and shows up randomly yeah random checks like i'm just going to show up and not tell them i'm coming and see what's going on um also what i found interesting

Christina Siders, grandma, she's the one, according to this caseworker, who's having contact with the school. Not the parents, not Gary Jr. and Elizabeth. It's grandma. And then grandma says, yeah, according to the caseworker, grandma says, I know, I know they have really bad, I know they're having a bad time in school.

You know, I know, yeah, I get it. They can't read very well, et cetera. But then she retracts the statement. So it seems like we have an element of potential enabling here. Yeah, it's really incredible when you think about it. I mean, there were so many red flags here and there were so many opportunities to intervene and to remove the kids from the home when it was obviously an unsanitary, unsafe environment, but they didn't do it.

I just can't say what these caseworkers saw when they walked in there. But if they were making surprise random visits, it seems difficult to believe that, that the family could have put on a show with no notice, and they wouldn't have seen something that seemed off. So that's what is baffling to me. It's baffling that they probably went in there. They see it's disgusting. There's no way that that's normal.

I mean, I've heard some things about out that way and about children's services workers who do go into homes, and they do see people living in really bad conditions. It seems to me it takes a whole heck of a lot to actually remove somebody's children from them. And so we are obviously seeing that in this case. They knew they said Gary and Elizabeth had poor hygiene. The kids had poor hygiene. And so this case proceeds through the year of 2020. You know, January the investigation starts, March it goes to court. Gary and Elizabeth get a lawyer.

There's a plan put in place. They complete these plans that they're supposed to complete. And then the case is closed in late 2020. But then, Dr. Bober, we have a new case opened in December of 2020, where the medical staff contacts children's services and says, these kids have high levels of lead, and that can cause developmental delays. And so then they go back to the house, you know, and there's like gnats and roaches. And this is when the concern about the lead comes up. And they leave the kids there again. They leave the kids there again under protective supervision. So is this a change in policy that needs to take place? Because obviously the threat of losing their children, it just spurred them to do the bare minimum the first time. And the second time, it looks like the case was then again closed after six months, because in June of 2015, they completed the plan and it was closed. And then they skiddle. They take off. They leave. Gallia County. So they're never to be heard from again.

Right. And there's probably no central database in the way that there is, if it's a criminal conviction or an arrest warrant, where the case would follow them to a different county. So they were essentially absconding and just leaving it behind them so it wouldn't catch up with them. So yeah, it's actually very scary. I don't know what their policy is. I don't know what they're sort of, this is our hard line. If we see XYZ, the kids, are out of the house, it's just, it's just mind-boggling. One red flag that stood out to me was there was a five-year-old girl and she was not speaking well. And there was something they saw, the caseworker Cantor saw on the little girl.

And it was like bruising on the back of her thigh. And there was a huge red flag, Dr. Bober, because Cantor goes to the house, this caseworker, and they won't let her up to the top floor of the house, which seems insane to me. because if you're a caseworker, you're like, I'm going up to the top floor of the house. Yeah, I'm going anywhere I need to go. Right. Yeah, I'm going in and I'm going up. And so they said when she questioned Gary and Elizabeth about the bruising on the back of the thigh of this child, they got very agitated and they wouldn't talk about it.

And then they're like suspecting abuse, actual physical abuse. Right. So it's like how much more do you need, you know, between the unsafe, unsanitary conditions, the lead and the blood. potential signs of abuse. I mean, there were red flags all over it. So it's hard to imagine that they did everything they needed to do. Their reaction was very underwhelming and I think potentially unsafe. So you see some balls potentially dropped here by Children's Services in Gellia County. That's the way it looks. You know, I didn't see what the caseworkers saw. I didn't fill out those reports. I don't have the information that they had. But when you look at this from an

outsider's perspective, it seems like there were many opportunities here to intervene and prevent this tragedy from occurring. And it seems like a lot of balls were dropped from the outside. And now those children are in protective custody. They are in therapeutic foster care. And Dr. Bober, the county is seeking permanent custody of these children, which means the ciders, and especially with the legal jeopardy they're in, if the county, to get permanent custody of these children, the ciders will never get them back. And, you know, given everything that's happened, it shows you what a high bar they need to terminate those parental rights. You know, even after everything that's happened, finally, you know,

these kids will not go back to that home. And I guess this is what needed to happen. But it seems like something could have been done a lot sooner with earlier intervention. It seems like there would have been a better outcome. And I hate to make this leap, but it makes you wonder, too. If there had been something more done, would the, you know, alleged sexual abuse of the other child maybe not have happened? Yeah, we can only speculate, but it's definitely a question that would come into my mind as well. Well, we're going to keep an eye on it and see if we learn a whole lot more. Dr. Daniel Bober, thank you, as always, for your time and your expertise.

My pleasure. Gary and Elizabeth have not yet been arraigned on the new sex crimes charges they face or the new child-endangering charges that will have. happen at a later date. And remember to check out the case file on law and crime plus. You can check that out anytime and we'll stay on top of this case for you. 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.