Lawyer reveals chilling first impression of Ohio 'house of horrors' mom after arrest
Thomas Bamford
Featured Image Credit: Court TV
Sixteen children aged between one and 18 were found confined to a single 12-foot room in rural Hamden, Ohio, last week, in what is being called the house of horrors.
Officers described the conditions as comparable to the 'third world', and Ohio's Attorney General Andy Wilson called the situation 'pure evil', saying the children looked like 'almost feral animals.'
The discovery in rural Hamden last week has shocked the US, after authorities responding to an unrelated incident stumbled across the children, aged between one and 18, confined together in squalid conditions officers likened to the 'third world'.
Seven were rushed to hospitals in Columbus, with two flown to level one trauma centres by helicopter.
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Four family members, believed to be the children's parents and grandparents, Gary Siders Jr, 36, Elizabeth Siders, 33, Gary Siders Sr, 73, and Christina Siders, 77, have since been arrested and charged with 16 counts of second-degree felony child endangerment. All four have pleaded not guilty.
Now, the attorney representing Elizabeth Siders has broken his silence on what she was actually like in the immediate aftermath of her arrest, and it's a description that doesn't match the 'pure evil' headlines that have dominated the story so far.
Thomas Stolly spent an hour and a half with Siders straight after she was taken into custody, and told Criminally Obsessed she was 'timid', 'exhausted' and 'fragile' throughout their meeting.
"I had no idea what I was walking into. I saw the same headlines everyone else did. At one point, the term 'pure evil' was used to describe Elizabeth and the home, and at another point, there was a comment that livestock had been treated better," he explained.
"I met a woman who was timid and who was exhausted. It looked like she had been crying quite a bit. She looked distraught. And she was willing to talk to me. Able to talk to me."
Stolly revealed he deliberately avoided bringing up the wall-to-wall coverage of the case during their conversation, after realising Siders had no idea how the story was being reported.
"We sat down for about an hour and a half to go through the basics of this case. I asked her if she had seen any of the coverage that has been online for the better part of a day now. She hasn't. She does not know how the home, the conditions, the investigation is being described."
He said he made the call not to share those details with her given how "fragile" she appeared to be in that moment.
Stolly went further, insisting the woman he sat across from didn't fit the narrative that's built up around the case. "[She's] not someone who comes across as 'pure evil,' because evil requires malice," he said, before adding: "The person that I saw there, Elizabeth, she doesn't have that in her eyes."
The case is still under investigation, with all four family members due back in court.
UNILAD has contacted Thomas Stolly and the Vinton County Prosecutor's Office for comment.
Gary Siders Jr, 18, and Elizabeth Siders, 15, are married in Mason County, West Virginia with the consent of Elizabeth’s parents
The couple’s eldest child is born. More children are born in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2022 (twins), 2024 (twins), and 2025.
The superintendent of the Gallia County Local Schools in southeast Ohio told WSAZ3 there are records from this year showing Gary Jr. and Elizabeth were parents with a local school at the time.
Elizabeth Siders prematurely delivers conjoined twins, who die an hour after they are born. Named Faith Lee and Bailey Lee Siders, they were joined at the chest, face-to-face, according to birth certificates obtained by WCMH.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said the Siders family moved to Vinton County, again in southeast Ohio, around this time.
A criminal complaint against Gary Siders Jr accused him of ‘recklessly exposing his private parts’ on two occasions on these dates.
An arrest warrant is issued for Gary Siders Jr related to four alleged counts of public indecency.
Police attend the Siders’ home in relation to this investigation and find 16 children living in what police describe as deplorable conditions.
Authorities claim the children were confined to a 12-foot by 12-foot space for four years.
Gary Siders Sr, 73, Christina Siders, 67, Gary Siders Jr, 36, and Elizabeth Siders, 33, are arrested and charged with 16 counts of endangering children, second degree felonies. All have since entered not guilty pleas.
All four of the defendants waive their right to a preliminary hearing, meaning the case will now go before a grand jury.
They will decide whether to indict the four accused family members.
On the same day, Gary Sr.’s legal team ask for his $300,000 bail to be waived. They argue it is excessive, saying the 73-year-old has ‘significant health issues’ and ‘very limited mobility’, and doesn’t have the capacity to post any bail money.
His lawyer, Dorian Keith Baum, says Gary Sr. ‘has denied any and all allegations against him’ and has ‘a vested interest… to clear his name’.
Baum also says he has concerns about Gary Sr’s competency to stand trial.
That day, Gary Sr. is transported to OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital in Athens. If released from hospital, he will be required to wear a GPS monitor. His bond is changed to a recognizance bond, which means he doesn’t have to pay the money upfront.