OHIO ‘HOUSE OF H0RR0RS’ CASE TAKES ANOTHER DARK TURN — PARENTS MYSTERIOUSLY VANISHED AFTER SH0CKING COMPLAINT RAISED ALARM
Ohio ‘House of Horrors’ family couldn’t be found after truancy report
Ohio ‘House of Horrors’ family couldn’t be found after truancy report
(NewsNation) — Court records show officials could not find the Siders family after truancy complaints five years before the children were found.
Years before 16 children were found in a filth-covered Vinton County home, a truancy complaint had already flagged they were missing from school, and the case was closed without any follow-up, according to court records obtained by LA Magazine contributor Lauren Conlin.
Ohio ‘House of Horrors’: Truancy case was filed against Siders family in 2021
Six of the oldest children were reportedly out of school for the full 2021-2022 school year, Conlin said, and when Ohio juvenile courts tried to serve the Siders family with the complaint, they couldn’t find them.
Police tape surrounds a home where authorities say they removed 16 children and arrested four adults in Hamden, Ohio, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Debris is strewn on the front lawn of a home where authorities say they removed 16 children and arrested four adults in Hamden, Ohio, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Police tape surrounds a home and debris is seen on the front lawn, where authorities say they removed 16 children and arrested four adults in Hamden, Ohio, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
This combination of undated booking photos provided by Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, shows, clockwise starting at top left, Gary Siders Sr., Christine Siders, Elizabeth Siders and Gary Siders Jr. (Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail via AP)
A cat looks out from a side door opening of a home where authorities say they removed 16 children and arrested four adults in Hamden, Ohio, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
“They could not locate them,” Conlin told NewsNation’s “Jesse Weber Live.” “And I asked the courts if there were any follow-ups after this or any follow-ups that I should be aware of, and they just said no.”
Why were Siders’ children labeled ‘unruly’?
Under Ohio law, children who are chronically absent from school can be named in separate court filings and classified in a specific legal category, Conlin said.
“They also kind of create separate cases and actually name the children, and they’re referred to as, quote, unruly children if they’re not in school,” Conlin said. “It’s kind of wild to me. I had never seen that before.”
Conlin said she has identified the school connected to the complaints and has reached out to former administrators there for more information.
‘House of Horrors’ father granted gag order in child endangerment case
The revelation comes as a Vinton County judge has issued a gag order barring officials from discussing the case publicly, but only as it pertains to defendant Gary Siders Jr., the children’s father. Conlin said she reviewed dockets for the other three defendants — Siders’ wife, Elizabeth, and his parents, Christina and Gary Sr. — and found no matching order.
“This gag order is only applied to Gary Siders Jr., which, in my opinion, really doesn’t make any sense here,” Conlin said. “They’re all charged with the same thing.”
Siders’ attorney sought the order after officials described conditions in the home as “pure evil” and said the children looked “almost feral,” arguments a judge found could taint a jury pool.
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