Vinton County residents waive preliminary hearings as new reports show twins previously died

The four Vinton County residents charged with child endangerment after 16 children were removed from a Vinton County home waived their preliminary hearings on Tuesday, shortly before they were set to appear in court.

The waived hearings follow new reports that indicate that twin girls related to the 16 children died in 2022 shortly after they were born. Reports indicate that the twins, born on Nov. 20, 2022, died from “birth complications.”

According to reports, the twins, born at 24 weeks, were conjoined thoracopagus twins, joined at the chest, and their death was ruled natural. They were reportedly the siblings of 16 children ranging in age from about 18 months to 18 years old, who were discovered in a Vinton County home, and authorities said some were locked in a 12-foot-by-12-foot room.

Authorities have charged four in connection with the alleged abuse: Gary Siders Jr., 36; Elizabeth Siders, 33; Gary Siders Sr., 73; and Christina Siders, 67. Each was being held on $300,000 bond.

Gary Siders Sr. and Christina Siders are the parents of Gary Siders Jr., who married Elizabeth Siders on March 31, 2008, at the Mason County, West Virginia, Courthouse. He was 18, and she was 15, and Elizabeth Siders’ parents reportedly signed off on the marriage as she was underage.

The Siders Family

Authorities told various outlets that the Siders family has lived in multiple Ohio counties since 2008. Their current house, located roughly 80 miles southeast of Columbus, was apparently part of the trust of a woman who died in April 2025.

“Our livestock are kept in better condition than these children,” Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain told WOWK-TV. “It was an extremely high presence of bacteria and human feces. Just a disgusting scene…. A large number of the children were kept in a roughly 12-by-12 area. It seems like that’s where they’ve spent the most of the last four years.”

Officials initially charged the four with 17 counts of endangering children, though one count was subsequently dropped against each defendant. Gary Siders Jr. also faces four unrelated counts of public indecency.

“Some of these children couldn’t even speak,” Attorney General Andy Wilson said, per WOWK-TV. “This is terrible. They really, they looked like almost feral animals; it was terrible. So when we’re talking reading, writing and education, we’re talking a whole other level of expectations here. It’s hard enough just to get these kids to be able to – the 18-year-old can’t spell her name.”

According to the Associated Press, Gary Siders, Jr., and Elizabeth Siders are the children’s parents. The oldest child removed from the home was born two months after Gary Siders, Jr., and Elizabeth Siders married.

Elizabeth Siders’ Attorney Speaks

“I don’t think she would classify herself as a victim,” Elizabeth Siders’ lawyer, Thomas Stolly, told WSYX-TV/ABC 6. “I asked her that question in a couple roundabout ways, and she did not have a typical victim-minded mindset when answering.

“She did say that she misses her kids, and that’s one of the things that shocked me was the first question that she asked me was, ‘are the kids okay? When can I see the kids, and do you know anything about where they are?’” Stolly added. “That was the first series of questions that she asked me, which kind of surprised me. Usually, when people are in jail, they ask, ‘Can you get me out of here? When can I get out?’ So, I think that was telling.”

According to The Columbus Dispatch, Dorian Baum, who is representing Gary L. Siders Sr., asked a judge to either change his client’s bond to a recognizance bond or set a hearing to consider a lower cash bond.

“We ask that the community at large, as well as anyone who might have an interest in this case, to take a deep breath, step back, and let the case play out and the facts play out,” Baum told The Associated Press.

Stolly told the Associated Press that he did not “see any malice in Elizabeth.”

“Evil requires malice, and I did not see any malice in Elizabeth,” Stolly told the Associated Press.

“I think that this is more so a case of isolation than a case of evil, and I think that there’s an important distinction there,” Stolly added. “Because if that’s all you know — and you have to think someone at 15 years old doesn’t know a whole lot about being an adult, about being a mother, about being a wife — and that’s been your worldview for the past 17 or 18 years, you get shaped by that.”

The Community Speaks Out

Vinton County tax records show the single-family home has a living area of 1,336 square feet and five rooms. The most recent tax payment on the house, for $960.88, was made on Feb. 18, according to records.

“The house seemed abandoned,” Vinton County resident Josh O’Dell told WCMH-TV/NBC4. “It was a shock because we had never seen or heard anything from that house. I had never seen a child in that yard.”

If convicted on all charges, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of up to 192 years in prison, the New York Post reported.

“You wouldn’t think that they were any different than anyone else other than they kinda had a little bit of smell to ’em,” Carissa Gonzalez, owner of Papi’s Family Pizza in Hamden, told WOWK-TV. “They didn’t really mess with anyone. No one really knew nothing about ’em because they didn’t talk to nobody. They just went and got the stuff they had to do and then went back home about their day.”