HAMDEN, Ohio (AP) 鈥� Just days after authorities from a squalid home and arrested their parents and grandparents, the question looms over their southern Ohio village: How could this have happened, for years, unnoticed, right here?
Neighbors of the family in tiny Hamden, employees at local stores where they shopped and even the investigators who have been left to wonder that aloud and to themselves, and the limited information shared by investigators doesn’t offer a full answer.
The children weren’t enrolled in school, the family moved around over the past two decades, and neighbors said they鈥檇 never spotted the kids. The children remained mostly confined to a small room in the house, investigators said, under deplorable conditions.
鈥淩ight under our noses and nobody was able to help them sooner,鈥� said Emily Collins, 27, owner of VC Farm & Floral in nearby McArthur, as she lamented how the case goes against the grain of the tight-knit community.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just crazy with all the wonderful things going on in our little Hallmark town and this is what puts us on the radar. It鈥檚 really sad,鈥� said the mother of three, who pulled out her chalk and decorated the sidewalk in front of her shop with bright flowers and stars drawn for the Fourth of July to cheer herself up.
Authorities said they had gone to the home Tuesday on an unrelated investigation and discovered the children 鈥� ages 1 1/2 to 18 years old 鈥� some of whom were unable to speak.
Seven were taken to hospitals, including one who was in critical condition, investigators said. Their current conditions weren’t immediately known Thursday. Child welfare officials have temporary custody of the children.
Lawyers: Let the case 鈥榩lay out鈥�
Four people who are the children鈥檚 parents and grandparents were arrested on child endangerment charges. Gary Siders Jr., 36, Gary Siders, 73, Elizabeth Siders, 33, and Christina Siders, 67, pleaded not guilty to child endangerment. Bond was set at $300,000 each.
The children’s mother, Elizabeth Siders, married their father Gary Siders Jr. when she was 15, and all of the children are theirs, her attorney, Thomas Stolly, told The Associated Press. She was 鈥渃rying and exhausted鈥� when he met with her on Thursday, Stolly said.
鈥淚n fact, my client’s first question to me when I walked into the jail and introduced myself was about her kids. She asked if her children were OK, she asked if I knew where they were, and she asked when she鈥檇 be able to see them again,鈥� Stolly said.
He wasn鈥檛 able to answer those questions, 鈥渂ut I thought it was telling that her first concern was not, 鈥榃hen can I get out of jail,鈥� but was 鈥楢re my children OK.鈥欌��
Stolly said his client told him that all of the children were born in area hospitals and she considers herself a full-time mom. She left high school after the 11th grade, he said, and Gary Siders Jr. was driving for Door Dash and looking for another job, he said.
Stolly said the prosecutor鈥檚 office has not yet shared their evidence with him, but so far he hasn鈥檛 seen anything that supports Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson鈥檚 description of the family as 鈥減ure evil.鈥�
鈥淓vil requires malice, and I did not see any malice in Elizabeth,鈥� Stolly said.
He added: 鈥淚 think that this is more so a case of isolation than a case of evil, and I think that there鈥檚 an important distinction there. Because if that鈥檚 all you know — and you have to think someone at 15 years old doesn鈥檛 know a whole lot about being an adult, about being a mother, about being a wife 鈥� and that鈥檚 been your worldview for the past 17 or 18 years, you get shaped by that.鈥�
Stolly said Elizabeth didn’t characterize herself as a victim, but 鈥淚 think it may be too early to actually determine what was going on there.鈥�
鈥淲hile the headlines may be sensational, there鈥檚 a real human component to this and so I would ask people to give this process time to play out,鈥� Stolly said.
An attorney for the elder Siders also urged the public to wait before passing judgment.
鈥淲e 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,鈥� Dorian Baum told The Associated Press.
Attorneys for Siders Jr. and Christina Siders declined to comment.
Little traffic on home鈥檚 rural road
A man who lives three houses down from the Siders family said he had seen 鈥渘o kids at all鈥� there.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a sad situation,鈥� said Joseph Stewart, 60, who has lived in the 鈥渜uiet neighborhood鈥� for six years.
Authorities wouldn鈥檛 publicly share the nature of the other investigation that led them to the house Tuesday. However, court records show a warrant was issued for Siders Jr. that day on misdemeanor indecent exposure charges related to alleged incidents on four days in May. He has pleaded not guilty.
On Thursday, windows and doors at the formerly wide-open home, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southeast of Columbus, had been boarded up. Police tape and piles of refuse remained.
The previous day, a door was ajar and heaps of trash and children鈥檚 toys were visible inside. A wood deck and the backyard were filled with discarded tires, a high chair and other debris.
The house sits on a road tucked alongside a steep railroad embankment, where tracks carry rumbling trains to a rail yard in the village of fewer than 1,000 residents. The closest neighbors are separated by trees and thick brush, but the house is easily visible from the road.
Kids not seen in schools
Investigators said members of the family had moved around southern Ohio over the past two decades and that it looks like they avoided creating a medical or governmental paper trail. The Vinton County Local School District, the only district in the area, said it has no records indicating that any of the children were ever enrolled.
鈥淭hese folks were pretty good at hiding these kids,鈥� Wilson, the state attorney general, said Wednesday.
The children鈥檚 absence from school, and the apparent lack of regular visits with medical professionals, likely contributed to keeping the dire situation unknown, said Jacqueline Yahn, an associate professor at Ohio University.
鈥淲hen kids are isolated or not participating, you don鈥檛 have someone who鈥檚 trained to know the clues,鈥� said Yahn, who specializes in rural education and poverty. 鈥淎 well-check is called that for a reason: They鈥檙e checking for well-being and development.鈥�
Investigators were reviewing whether the family was reported to any children鈥檚 services agencies in the past.
The children spent most of their time in a room that was roughly 12 feet by 12 feet (3.5 meters by 3.5 meters), according to investigators, who noted that human waste was all around.
鈥淭hey looked like almost feral animals. It was terrible,鈥� Wilson said.
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Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press reporter Ed White in Detroit contributed.
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