MCARTHUR, Ohio — The eldest of four adults charged with child endangerment after authorities removed 16 children from a dilapidated Vinton County home has been released from the hospital and appeared in court Monday on a $300,000 recognizance bond, court records show.
Gary Siders, 73, signed paperwork Monday agreeing to remain a law-abiding citizen, notify the court of his contact information and residence, appear at all future hearings, provide DNA and fingerprints to Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain within 24 hours, submit to drug and alcohol screening, and wear a GPS tracker paid for by the state. Records indicate he is no longer hospitalized.
Siders is the only one of the four defendants free from custody. He was arrested June 30 along with his wife, Christina Siders, 67; their son, Gary Siders II, 36; and daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Siders, 33. Each faces 16 counts of endangering children. Authorities said the children, ranging in age from about 18 months to 18 years, were found living in severely neglected conditions, largely confined to a roughly 12-by-12-foot room in a five-room home on Ohmer Street in the village of Hamden. Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson described the scene as “third world” and the children as “almost feral,” noting many had limited communication skills. Seven children were hospitalized initially, with two airlifted to trauma centers in Columbus. The children remain in the care of the state.
Within a week of his arrest, Siders suffered a fall while being transported for a court appearance and was taken to OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital in Athens. Doctors identified a serious medical condition requiring specialized care at a larger facility. Vinton County Prosecutor William Archer said the original $300,000 cash-or-surety bond was converted to a recognizance bond so the county would not be responsible for medical costs that “could potentially bankrupt Vinton County.”
Siders’ attorney, Dorian Baum, said that his client received significant medical treatment over a prolonged period and was “capped,” though privacy laws limited what he could disclose about the care or location. Baum said he has significant concerns about his client’s mental state and wellbeing. He also noted that all four defendants have received online death threats and urged the public to allow the legal process to unfold. A court-ordered competency evaluation for Siders remains pending.
Competency evaluations have also been approved for Christina Siders and Gary Siders II to determine whether they are fit to stand trial. Elizabeth Siders’ attorney has said one is under consideration but has not yet been requested. Christina and Elizabeth Siders have both sought bond modifications similar to Gary Siders’ so they can be released under GPS monitoring; a judge has not ruled on those requests. All four adults are awaiting possible indictment by a grand jury. The other three remain held on $300,000 bonds.
School, court and other records provide a more detailed picture of the family’s history and limited contact with public systems in the years leading up to the June 30 rescue.
The six eldest children were enrolled in Gallia County Local Schools on Aug. 26, 2020, at Addaville Elementary. They were unenrolled on April 12, 2022, after attending zero days of the 2021-22 school year. Gallia County Local Schools confirmed the students did not attend any classes that year. A truancy complaint was filed Oct. 19, 2021, noting the six children had missed the first eight weeks of the school year, which began Aug. 25. The case was dismissed Jan. 7, 2022, because authorities could not locate or serve Gary Siders II and Elizabeth Siders with court papers. Their whereabouts were listed as unknown at the time.
Superintendent Phillip Kuhn said the district could only provide enrollment dates for the 2020-21 school year and confirmed the children did not attend during 2021-22. Two other school districts tied to the family’s addresses reported no records of the children. The family has been linked to multiple addresses across southeastern Ohio over nearly two decades, living in at least three school districts at different times.
Adult family members also had intermittent ties to Gallia County schools. Christina Siders, then Christina White, enrolled at Hannan Trace High School in 1975 after transferring from Point Pleasant Junior High in West Virginia and attended only the first semester of that school year. According to a contemporary newspaper report, she and Gary Siders applied for a marriage license around July 23, 1978, when they were 19 and 25, respectively.
Elizabeth Siders, then Elizabeth Russell, had a longer record in the district. She attended Addaville Elementary, Kyger Creek Middle School and some classes at River Valley High School. Records show she withdrew to “home instruction” on April 29, 2008. One month earlier, on March 31, 2008, she and Gary Siders II were married at a West Virginia courthouse. She was 15 and in her freshman year; he was 18. Court records state she had finished eighth grade and he had finished ninth by the time of the marriage. One month after withdrawing from school, she gave birth to the first of the children later rescued from the Hamden home.
Gallia records show Elizabeth Siders re-enrolled in October 2008 during her sophomore year, finished that year, and then withdrew again to home schooling on Aug. 26, 2009, at the start of her junior year. Kuhn said the district searched warehouse records and yearbooks from the period when Gary Siders II would have been in school but found no indication that either Gary Siders or his son attended Gallia schools.
Wilson has said the family was “pretty adept at keeping these kids out of sight and out of the eyes of investigators.” Birth records exist for most of the children, yet their whereabouts were largely unknown to authorities until the June 30 search, which began as a parallel investigation into other allegations involving one of the adults. The adults have pleaded not guilty. The investigation remains ongoing.