Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Ohio 'House of Horrors': More Secrets and Silence

Episode Date: July 16, 2026

The attorney representing Gary Siders, Jr., asked the judge presiding over his case to issue a sweeping gag order preventing public officials from discussing it. Judge Laina Fetherolf Rogers signed an order provided by attorney R. Lee Roberts without hearing from the prosecution. The Columbus Dispatch is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to bar the judge from enforcing the order as the attorney for Christina Siders also asks for a non-dissemination order. The flurry of paperwork comes as questions mount about whether the Siders were trying to get government assistance. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the latest developments in the case in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Mark Weaver https://x.com/MarkRWeaverCRIME 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.

We saw down here today is pure evil. It's just a disgusting sentence. Those comments from Ohio's top cop and a sheriff have attorneys from members of the Siders family fired up. It's led to a drastic request and an attempt to shut down information that could lead to answers about how 16 children ended up living in squalor and no one seemed to know about it. We're digging into all of the new information. I'm Antoinette Levy and this is Crime Fix. It's been more than two weeks now since 16 children were found in that house in Vinton County, Ohio

in conditions described as disgusting, deplorable. The sheriff said animals aren't even kept that way in Vinton County. The parents of those 16 children Gary Siders Jr. and Elizabeth Siders, they're in jail. They're facing 16 counts of child endangering. Gary Jr.'s parents, Gary Sr., and Christina Lynn Siders, they face the same charges. All have pleaded not guilty. Only Gary Sr. is out of jail receiving care for a serious medical condition that could have bankrupted the county. That's how small and poor Vinton County is. Caring for an inmate with a serious medical condition could bankrupt the state. County. We've been covering every development in this case closely because it's an important case

and there are serious questions that need to be answered here. Were Gary Jr. and Elizabeth receiving state benefits like food stamps or financial assistance for themselves and their 16 children? If they were, was anyone checking in with them? We've told you that children's services in neighboring Gallia County had had some type of contact with the ciders and we showed you the truancy complaints filed against Elizabeth and Gary Jr. after the Gallia County School District said their six oldest children didn't attend school. The children were at risk for being labeled unruly, and the district said they were habitually truant. I'm looking into whether Elizabeth Ciders may have tried to get other financial benefits from the government, and was she denied? There are indications that that may have happened. But it's inconceivable to most people how 16 children could be kept in a home in a room with feces and roaches, and no one seems to know about it. The case is receiving international attention, and one defense attorney doesn't like it. The attorney for Gary Jr., R. Lee Roberts, filed a motion for a gag order this week. He doesn't want anyone associated with

this case, or any public official at all talking about it. Here are some of the comments that have upset Roberts. Our livestock was kept in better conditions than the children. It was just a disgusting. like saying some of these children could even speak. They looked like almost feral animals. It was terrible. And I've been doing, I've been doing these types of cases for a long time. I spent a big portion of my career dedicated to prosecuting these, these types of cases. And I can tell you this, this is pure evil. What we saw down here today is pure evil. That's what the attorney general, Andy Wilson and the sheriff, Ryan Kane, said about what they saw and what they said they smelled coming from the house. Kids kept in squalor, feces, bugs, trash, everywhere. Attorney Roberts

wants everyone to stop talking. In his motion for a gag order, Roberts wrote, these statements have resulted in a substantial probability that the defendant's right to a fair trial will be prejudiced by publicity, and a gag order can prevent further damaging statements. The case revolves around the state of the children at the time this case was filed. The descriptions of the children that have been issued by the public officials involved in this case seek to do nothing other than inflame the heart and passion of the potential jurors. These concerns are amplified by the nature of the small community in which the instant case occurs. There are no other reasonable alternatives available to adequately protect defendant's right to a fair trial. Unfortunately, a

gag order is the only mechanism available to the court and defendant to preserve his constitutional right to a fair trial. Attorney Roberts says his concern is possibly a tainting of the jury pool in Vinton County about 13,000 people live there. It's the smallest county in the state. Roberts submitted a proposed order to Judge Lena Featheroff Rogers with language for the gag order. Now this was a proposed order. But Judge Orders, she signed it on the spot. Without hearing from the prosecution or holding a hearing. The order reads in part,

The court finds given the publicity thus far that any statements made to media by the Ohio Attorney General's Office, the Vinton County Prosecutor's Office, Vinton County Clerk of Courts, and the Vinton County Sheriff's Office, and any other party related to the investigation or prosecution of the alleged crimes, including defense counsel, would create a reasonable likelihood of prejudicial pre-trial publicity, which may impact the ability to impanel an impartial jury. The court finds the following least restrictive and reasonable constraints are necessary to avoid any potential prejudice, whether real or perceived to protect the judicial process. Therefore, in the administration of justice and to protect

the rights of the defendant from prejudice during this proceeding and interests of the state, The court hereby prohibits all parties to this action. Any attorneys and respective staff connected with this case in any manner, all court personnel, and any public official from disseminating information and or commenting, discussing, or otherwise opining on the merits, defenses, facts, or any other matters relating to this case outside of the hearings in this matter and or pleadings to be filed in this matter. The order bars all public officials from talking about the case, and already, there is pushback. The Columbus Dispatch has filed a complaint with the Ohio Supreme Court asking that High Court to bar Judge Rogers from enforcing the order.

Attorneys for the dispatch cited case law writing, Therefore, a gag order may issue only if specific findings are made, demonstrating that there is a substantial probability that the defendant's right to a fair trial will be prejudiced by publicity that the gag order would prevent. and reasonable alternatives cannot adequately protect the defendant's fair trial rights. The complaint continued, because the motion was not supported by any evidence, respondent could not have established a substantial probability that Cider's right to a fair trial will be prejudiced by publicity that the gag order would prevent, or reasonable alternatives could not adequately protect the Cider's fair trial rights.

Attorneys for the dispatch argue that the case law is on their side, and I can tell you, in my experience covering high-profile cases for many, many years, it's unheard of that a judge would grant a gag order without the prosecution weighing in or a hearing being held. And now the attorney for Christina Siders is also asking for a non-dissemination order, the same thing as a gag order. It reads, defendant requests this court issue an order restricting the dissemination of information, by the parties in this matter, subject to reasonable limitations, and in accordance with applicable legal authority. Defendant requests this court issue an order prohibiting the party's release of information regarding the merits, facts, evidence, materials in discovery, or information

otherwise collected by the parties in preparation for trial, or any opinion regarding the character, reputation or credibility of the defendant, witnesses or alleged victims to the public, the media, or any person for the purpose of public dissemination. This also comes as photos and videos from inside the home have begun to circulate online. The prosecutor told WBNS TV that some of the photos may be AI and some could be real. He's investigating and criminal charges for trespassing or obstruction could be coming against anybody who went in the house. So let's bring in Mark Weaver.

He's been on many times. He's a former deputy attorney general for the state of Ohio. He works as a special prosecutor. Sometimes he works as a judge in the state of Ohio, Mark. You believe that this gag order signed by Judge Rogers, requested by Gary Jr.'s lawyer, is too sweeping and too broad. I do.

I'm not involved in the case. I know many of the players. A lot of good. people, they're all trying to do the right thing. I'm not suggesting otherwise. But I taught media law at the Ohio State College of Law for many years, so I know about gag orders. I argued the seminal case in the Ohio Supreme Court on gag orders. I know gag orders. And when I read that the judge had signed this without having a hearing, I knew immediately that this was contrary to Ohio law. And then when I read the, it says,

proposed order, but when I read the order, it appears to ban all public officials from commenting, not just those, like the prosecutor or the sheriff, the governor of Hawaii is a public official. Right, exactly. The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert Kennedy Jr. is a public official. I don't think she meant to gag people who are not involved in the case, but the, the wording of the order is overly broad. Technically, Mark, you could be considered a public official because you work as a prosecutor for the state of Ohio at times.

I can be held a contempt. I can be held in the gam. Right. You may have just violated the gag order. But we're being silly here a little bit and we're poking fun, but that's what the language says in the order. So technically, Mark, you could be violating the gag order right now. As soon as I'm done, I'm going to call my own lawyer and make sure that I'm kidding.

Here's probably what happened. I don't think anybody involved in this process is a bad person. I'm not suggesting anybody is stupid. None of that. What's likely happened is the lawyer who filed the gag order simply doesn't know much about gag orders, other than that they exist, and wrote out some language of whatever came natural to him. And he probably meant to say the public officials in the case, you know, the prosecutor, the sheriff, etc. But he didn't. People who are watching this may not know that when one side files a motion

with a judge asking a judge to do something, it's typical to include what's called a proposed order. This is, dirty little secret, a way for the judge to save time. Hey judge, if you don't want to write up your own order, here's a handy-dandy version of an order you can use. Some judges will take that and write their own. Others will just sign it. This judge signed it. How do I know that? Because what she signed still says proposed order at the top of it, where an order of a court would normally simply say order at the top of it. And how many times, Mark, have you been in court? And I've covered cases where the judge, depending on which side they want to do something or what have says, okay, who wants to draft the order? And basically they point to either the prosecution or the

defense and then one will say, I'll draft the order. And then they review it and sign it. What should have been done was the judge, in my experience, and I've been, you know, a part of these cases for a long time and have had to fight these types of restrictive gag orders in the past. the judge should have pumped the brakes, reached out to the prosecution and said, you need to file a response to this. And then a hearing could have been held. And both sides could have come together and maybe tailored something or just come to an agreement without intervention of the court to not make so-called prejudicial public statements about the case. Am I right? You are.

I think the judge needs to add you as a law clerk to her staff because you just summarized the law. Some of your viewers know, and I know you know that I prosecuted the high-profile death penalty case along with the great Chris Tennell up in Ashland County of a serial killer named Sean Great. Long Crime Network covered the trial. This is a few years ago. In that case, prosecution, our side, and the defense of the serial killer agreed there should be a gag order. And the judge signed it. When that happens, according to the Ohio Supreme Court, there's not a hearing that's necessary.

Now, there are some among the lawyers who represent media, they would quarrel with that. They would say, just because the prosecutor and the defense lawyer say it's okay, doesn't mean the media shouldn't have a say. But the Ohio Supreme Court has said, if you agree on it, no worries. But the prosecutor, at least I've looked at the docket, and I've checked a little bit behind the scenes, did not agree to it. It was one lawyer for one of the defendants filing this motion. and the judge simply signed it. So the judge has a way out. And I mentioned it, I wrote an op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch

about this exact topic. People can read it online. It's on my X-Feed. And if you want, you can retweet it, people can see it. The judge has a way out, and here's what I said in the op-ed. She should simply revoke her order, call for a hearing, at that hearing, allow both sides to introduce evidence, not opinions, not guesses, but evidence as to,

why we can't have a fair trial without a gag order. People always point to, well, you know, the jury will hear about this case. Everyone in Vinton County knows about this case. That's not the standard for jury selection. The standard is if you know about it, can you set aside what you learned about this case and be fair? So there's a way forward for this judge. Yeah, most definitely there is. I was shocked when I went on the docket and I saw the motion.

and then saw that it said proposed order, and I clicked on the document, and she had signed it. I couldn't believe it, with no response, no written response from the prosecution. What's also concerning about this, Mark, is that this is a case of public interest, not because it's a crime and it's so shocking to the conscience that 16 children could be kept in a house like this in the conditions described. I mean, that's shocking enough and should be an interest.

to all people because our children deserve better than that. But also there are a lot of very serious questions in this case that the public and the government, I think, are required to answer. Were these people receiving benefits? If they were, what were the checks and balances on that? And had they had contact with this family before? And if they had or hadn't, and we've been reporting that Gallia County did have contact with them, what happened? What fell through the cracks? Why was there no effort to find them? I mean, these are

serious questions that I think government agencies should be required to answer in this case. I think that's right. I've seen this issue from a variety of angles. In one high-profile case, I've represented a newspaper wanting more disclosure, so I understand that angle. As a prosecutor, I know that I don't want everyone to know every bit of evidence I have other than my discovery. requirements, which I give to the other side. And as you mentioned, I sit as an acting judge in municipal court sometimes when the judge is out on vacation. And as a judge, I want the trial to be fair, as fair as it can possibly be. Having said that, there is that consideration that you just said, which is the community has a right to know, is there some larger threat here? Was something else

happening here? And there's been very little disclosed so far, and I think some more sunlight is needed. And they say that sunlight, of course, is the best disinfectant. And just the fact that 16 children could be in a home and be kept like this, possibly, you know, from the world, in conditions like this, you know, there are a lot of questions that need to be answered here. And, you know, we know that the Ohio Department of Children and Youth is conducting a review of this case. We already know that's going on. So there may be some questions that need to be asked there, some hard questions, and there might be some really tough answers that come out of those questions about this family. That's certainly true.

Your viewers may not know this, but the Ohio controlling board, which spends money for Ohio tax purposes, just approved a million dollars just for this case to take care of these children. I've never seen this before. I've been in and around controlling board business for many years in Ohio. To have them set aside from the state budget, a separate million dollar expenditure simply for this children. I'm not saying they don't deserve it. I'm not saying that at all.

What I'm saying is that's very unusual. That's how big a deal this case is. The state budget now has a separate line item to help take care of these children. That's remarkable. And that kind of makes me wonder if, they realize that the children's services in this area might be severely underfunded. That's another key question here. Yeah, I have prosecuted cases in that region.

In fact, I don't think I've ever done a big urban county prosecution. My prosecutions have tended to be in small to medium-sized rural and ex-urban counties. And so I know the region, well, you mentioned Gallia County. You and I have discussed a high-profile case I did last year there, a child sex abuse case. So I know the region, and I know some of the folks down there, they're all flummoxed by this. Nobody has seen this fact pattern before. Nobody has seen 16 children kept in a room without anybody knowing about them off the radar of the schools and the authorities. This is a remarkable case.

We all should be praying for these children because first and foremost you want these children to recover and have as normal a life as they can. but there also needs to be justice done. And that's what comes back to the gag order, and justice is done in open court. Yeah, most definitely. I'm hoping she revokes the order. It's being challenged, as you mentioned, in the Ohio Supreme Court. And we'll hope that that's expedited here. But still a lot of questions in this case, Mark.

You've investigated high-profile cases before. The Vinton County prosecutor had said more than a week ago that they should have some news on a possible grand jury, proceeding, even though it's secret, he said maybe in a couple of weeks because they only have grand jury down there like once every month and a half or two because it's a small county. It's not like one of the bigger cities in Ohio where they have grand jury every day. How long do you think this is going to take with the electronic devices that need to be downloaded that they've mentioned and things of that nature to get this case through grand jury? Because you don't want to have to keep

going back to the grand jury for additional superseding indictments. Sure. Yeah, grand juries meet less frequently in smaller counties because there are fewer crimes. But the rules for how fast a trial has to occur once somebody has been arrested and taken into custody and charged, they don't change between small counties and big counties. Those timing schedules still exist. So unless the defense is willing to waive their speedy trial rights, we still have speedy trial considerations here so you can't dodle too much and even though a grand jury only meets every so often you can ask for a special meeting of the grand jury the your last point though is the final thing I would mention is it is difficult to

get the evidence you need processed by the crime labs that are overwhelmed with evidence particularly digital evidence so if they're using phones or devices to find out what happened it could take some time to get all that having said that they're gonna need to move quickly because of the speedy out consideration. And we are going to keep a close eye on this case. Mark Weaver, thanks so much for your time and your expertise, as always. Good to be with the end of you, Ann Jeannette. At the time of this recording, there's been no response from the judge to that request about the gag order to the Ohio Supreme Court. Gary Jr., Elizabeth and Christina Siders, they're all still in jail. They're being

held on that $300,000 bond. Gary Sr., as I mentioned earlier, is in the hospital receiving treatment for medical care. All have pleaded, not guilty. to these charges the next step in this process, a grand jury will hear the case. So stay tuned. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Annette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.