Elizabeth Siders, Ohio Mom Of 16 Kept In Squalor, Is Pregnant Again As Charges Pile Up

A room that reeked of cat urine

On June 30, investigators entered a rental home in Hamden, a small community in Vinton County, Ohio, and found 16 children confined to a single room measuring roughly 12 feet by 12 feet. People.com reports the children ranged from 18 months to 18 years old; the New York Post reported their ages spanned 1 to 18.

Authorities said the children had been kept largely confined to that space for at least four years. The New York Post described them as "almost feral" and said the home reeked of cat urine.

Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said the children were found in "deplorable conditions," according to People. Some of the children needed medical treatment, and two were airlifted to a trauma center.

Four adults were arrested that same month: Elizabeth Siders, the children's mother; her husband, Gary Siders Jr.; and his parents, Christina and Gary Siders Sr. Christina owned the home where the children were found.

Four adults, two separate cases

All four adults were initially arrested on child endangerment charges tied to the 16 children. The New York Post reported each adult initially faced 16 felony counts of child endangerment — one for each child.

A later indictment reshaped those charges for Elizabeth and Gary Jr. People reports the couple is each now charged with 19 counts of child endangerment — 12 felony and seven misdemeanor counts.

Elizabeth and Gary Jr. also face a second, separate case: two counts of sexual battery and two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. People reports the victim in that case is not one of the 16 children rescued from the home.

All four adults have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

"The fact that this evaluator conducted both of these evaluations at the same time via Zoom, and essentially spent approximately an hour and a half with my client — that is simply not enough to understand her mental condition," — Thomas Stolly, attorney for Elizabeth Siders, to WOUB

Who is fit to stand trial, and who isn't

The case has splintered into separate competency questions for each defendant. Last month, a judge ruled Gary Siders Sr. incompetent to stand trial and dismissed the charges against him without prejudice — meaning prosecutors could refile them later. He remains under the court's jurisdiction unless a civil commitment is filed in county probate court, according to the New York Post.

On Monday, Nov. 9, Christina Siders — the children's grandmother and the homeowner — was ruled incompetent to stand trial by Judge Laina Fetherolf Rogers. A Sept. 29 report by Dr. Brian P. O'Reilly found she "has several risk factors for cerebrovascular dementia, and that a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation is required to determine whether her cognitive impairment is the result of symptoms of dementia," according to People. Because her evaluation found she could potentially be restored to competency, she will be sent to an inpatient facility for treatment.

About an hour after Christina's ruling, the same judge found Elizabeth Siders competent to stand trial. Elizabeth's attorney, Thomas Stolly, had sought a separate evaluation to explore an insanity defense but did not object to the competency finding itself.

Gary Siders Jr.'s competency evaluation is still pending, and no hearing has been scheduled. A gag order covers all six cases tied to the family, according to People.

The pregnancy her lawyer confirmed in court

Elizabeth Siders is pregnant again. Her attorney, Thomas Stolly, confirmed the pregnancy to People after Monday's hearing.

The New York Post reported that Siders denied being pregnant when she was booked into the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail back in June. Stolly did not provide a due date or any other details about the pregnancy, according to WOUB and the New York Post.

That means the question of what happened to the 16 children found in that house — a case that remains open against Elizabeth — is still being decided in court as she expects another child.

What her attorney is arguing

Stolly has pushed back on how Elizabeth's competency evaluation was conducted. "The fact that this evaluator conducted both of these evaluations at the same time via Zoom, and essentially spent approximately an hour and a half with my client — that is simply not enough to understand her mental condition," he told reporters after the hearing, according to WOUB.

In a motion seeking a second evaluation, Stolly wrote he wanted to determine "if she is not guilty by reason of insanity, because she was suffering from a condition which would produce legal insanity at the time of the alleged offenses," according to People. He said after spending extended time with Elizabeth, he came to believe she "may be suffering from significant mental health issues" and that her "competency may be an issue and a clear impediment to [her] ability to assist in her own defense."

Stolly told WOUB that a proper evaluation "is going to take hours and hours of time to interview not only Elizabeth but her family to get a complete understanding of how she grew up, what the conditions were like in the home when she was growing up, and potentially what these conditions were like when she was in the family with the rest of the Siders."

An initial report found Siders has depression and anxiety but no documented history of mental illness, according to the New York Post.

What happens next

Stolly is seeking a second, more extensive mental-health evaluation for Elizabeth to pursue a possible insanity defense, and he's said that process could take hours of interviews with her and her family. Christina Siders is set to begin court-ordered inpatient treatment with the possibility of being restored to competency and later facing trial. Gary Siders Jr.'s own competency hearing has not yet been scheduled. No trial date has been set for Elizabeth, and the coverage does not say when her baby is due.