‘Normal Americans’: Family member shares details about grandparents of 16 kids found in Ohio

An uncle has shared some more details about the grandparents, Gary Siders Sr, 73 and Christina Siders, 77, of the 16 children found living in “deplorable” conditions in a rural Ohio home last week.

16 kids aged between one and 18 were found living like “feral animals” in “third world” circumstances at a house in Hamden. They were discovered trapped in a tiny 12-foot room, surrounded by human waste, by authorities who were responding to another incident and had no idea the children were in there.

Neighbours claim they never saw any children, and the family kept them hidden from the world. The children’s parents and two grandparents, Gary Siders Jr, 36, Elizabeth Siders, 33, Gary Siders Sr, 73, Christina Siders, 77, have been arrested and charged with 16 counts of second-degree felony child endangerment. They have all pleaded not guilty.

An uncle, who is married to one of Gary Jr’s older sisters, gave some more insight into Christina and Gary Sr’s life, claiming they are great people who raised brilliant children, but their health has declined in recent years.

Credit: Southern Ohio Regional Jail

Ronnie Fletcher told WOWK 13 that Elizabeth and Gary Jr got married in 2008, when she was just 15 years old and he was 18, and they didn’t have a very good home life when they got together, so she moved into Christina and Gary Sr’s house to “escape”. He said it was a normal American home, and they raised good kids who went to school.

“She’s willingly there at the home. She did not have a very good home life when they got together, and she escaped to Lynn [Christina] and Gary’s house, which like I’ve said, was back then a normal American home,” he said.

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“You’ve got people out there saying that Lynn and Gary raised their kids that way, and they was not raised that way. I’ve known this family since grade school. I’ve been with their daughter for 20 years. Gary and Lynn did not raise their children that way. The four daughters that got out are successful members of society. We’ve raised our children. Our children have college degrees, and for us to be put into this that there’s ‘generational incest’ and all that going on, it’s just not true. This is all in that one home.”

Credit: Southern Ohio Regional Jail

Fletcher thinks the problems began after Christina and Gary’s health declined in recent years. Gary Sr suffered a stroke, which has affected his ability. He claims that without the grandparents, the kids would likely be in an even worse position.

“Lynn and Gary is the reason why them kids are probably still there and had the means they did. I think once the health failed of them two and they wasn’t able to maintain the home is what caused this to get to the point where it’s at,” he said. “We just got word that he’d had a stroke and that his cognitive functions and ability to move around had been damaged by the stroke. I don’t even know if Gary even knows what’s going on because of his stroke. I mean, I really don’t.”

The uncle said he and his wife would have taken in the children themselves after finding out what had happened, but they have already taken in kids from another relative and don’t have the means to do so right now. He wants them to know that the family do care. “Hang in there and stay strong and know that there’s distant family that does care,” Fletcher said.

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Featured image credit: Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson and Southern Ohio Regional Jail