Ohio deputies serving an indecency warrant for Gary Siders Jr were led to a “house of horrors” in Hamden, where 16 children were allegedly kept for years in a bug-ridden room
A dad accused of keeping 16 “almost feral” children trapped in a bug-ridden, faeces-strewn house was wanted by cops for alleged perverted behaviour, it has emerged.
Deputies arrived at the family’s Ohmer Street home on June 30 to serve an unrelated warrant for father Gary Siders Jr, only to stumble upon what officials later described as one of the most appalling child-neglect cases they had ever seen in Ohio, US.
The 36-year-old was wanted on charges of public indecency after neighbours complained he had repeatedly exposed himself outside the property over the course of a week in May, according to Vinton County court documents.
Records allege Siders Jr flashed four times; on 23 May, 27 May, 29 May and 31 May 2026, to people outside the home. A formal request for his arrest was filed on June 29 and deputies went to execute the warrant the next day.
Siders Jr is due to appear in court on the separate misdemeanour public indecency charges on July 23, WOWK 13 News reported. But when officers stepped inside, the arrest warrant quickly became secondary to the nightmare they uncovered.
Investigators believe all 16 children – aged from 18 months to 18 years – had been confined to a single 12-by-12-foot room for nearly four years. Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson called the scene “pure evil”, while Sheriff Ryan Cain said the home was infested with bugs and littered with human and bacterial faeces, NBC News reported.
He added that livestock in the area were kept in better conditions than the children. The youngsters were described as being in an “almost feral” state. They had reportedly never been enrolled in school, several were unable to speak, and the eldest – an 18-year-old with developmental disabilities – could not spell or write her own name.
Medical staff warned that if the children had been left inside for another 24 hours, multiple deaths could have occurred. Seven were rushed to hospitals in Columbus, two were airlifted to level-one trauma centres, and one child needed to be intubated.
Four adults living at the home were arrested: Gary Siders Jr; mother Elizabeth Siders, who has reportedly been pregnant almost every year since 2008; and grandparents Gary Siders Sr, 73, and Christina Siders.
All four have been charged with 16 felony counts each of child endangerment involving serious physical harm.
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