Ohio Grandfather Found Mentally Unfit for Trial After 16 Grandchildren Rescued From Dangerous Home

An Ohio man whose 16 grandchildren were found living in terrible conditions was ruled mentally unfit to stand trial on Wednesday. A judge in Vinton County, Ohio, accepted a report saying that Gary Siders Sr., 73, cannot understand what is happening in his own court case. Authorities had rescued the children on June 30 from a home in Hamden, a small town about 80 miles south of Columbus. The children had been kept in a tiny room under very dangerous and dirty conditions.

Gary Siders Sr. came to the courthouse in a wheelchair. His lawyer, Dorian Baum, told reporters that Siders' mental health has been getting worse for years and that it cannot be fixed. 'He doesn't fully understand or appreciate what's going on,' Baum said. The county prosecutor did not argue against the judge's decision, meaning everyone in the courtroom agreed that Siders could not stand trial.

Siders had been charged with 16 counts of child endangerment — one count for each grandchild. The children were discovered when police came to the house to carry out a search warrant for a completely different case. When officers arrived, they found the children stuck mostly inside one small room in the house. The conditions inside were described as filthy and dangerous.

The children ranged in age from 18 months to 18 years old. Some of the children had never been enrolled in school, and some could not speak at all. Officials said the family had moved around many times over the past 20 years, and neighbors reported they had never even seen the children outside. One official said the 18-year-old found in the home could not spell her own name.

Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain described the scene as shocking. 'Most of our livestock was kept in better conditions than the children,' he said at a news conference. He said there was a large amount of bacteria and waste in the home. Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said the children 'looked like almost feral animals,' meaning they behaved more like wild animals than kids who had grown up with care and education.

Wilson said the most important steps now are keeping the children safe, placing them in supportive homes, and making sure the adults responsible are held accountable. He also said the suspects were very good at hiding the children from neighbors and investigators. 'They were pretty adept at keeping these kids out of sight and out of investigators' eyes,' he said.

Three other family members are also facing charges. Gary Siders Sr.'s wife, Christina Siders, his son Gary Siders Jr., and daughter-in-law Elizabeth Siders — the children's mother — have all pleaded not guilty. Court records show that Gary Jr. and Elizabeth got married in West Virginia in 2008, when he was 18 and she was just 15. The case continues to move through the courts for the other family members.