CHILLING NEW CHARGES: Ohio ‘House of Horrors’ Parents Accused in Separate Case Involving Unrelated Minor
THE four adults accused of keeping 16 children inside an Ohio “house of horrors” have now been formally indicted as the sprawling investigation takes an even darker turn.
Parents Gary Siders Jr. and Elizabeth Siders were also indicted in a separate child sex abuse case involving a minor who authorities say was not a member of their immediate family.
Elizabeth, 33, Gary Jr., 36, and grandmother Christina Siders have each been indicted on 19 counts of child endangering
Sixteen children were found in deplorable conditions inside the homeCredit: NBC4i
A Vinton County grand jury handed down the indictments on Friday, nearly two months after investigators descended on the family’s tiny home in Hamden, Ohio.
Gary Jr., 36, Elizabeth, 33, and grandmother Christina Siders have each been indicted on 19 counts of child endangering.
Grandfather Gary Siders Sr. was indicted on 16 counts of child endangering, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
The four had initially been arrested in June after authorities discovered 16 children living inside the Ohmer Street property in conditions officials described as deplorable.
But Attorney General Andy Wilson revealed on Friday that the shocking discovery came at the end of a trail that began with a separate child sexual abuse investigation months earlier.
House of Horrors Family Indicted
In June, police arrested four members of the Siders family for child endangerment after they discovered the squalid conditions 16 children were living in while serving a separate warrant at the family’s home.
That warrant was for Gary Siders Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth, who were wanted for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor dating to a March investigation.
Gary was also wanted for multiple counts of public indecency from May. All four members of the family, including Gary Jr.’s parents, Gary Sr. and Christina Siders, have been charged with multiple counts related to the June discovery.
See the full list of charges:
Gary Siders, Jr. – 27 charges total
March 2026:
2 third-degree felony counts of sexual battery of a non-family member
2 third-degree felony counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a non-family member minor
May 2026:
4 fourth-degree misdemeanor counts of public indecency
June 2026:
2 second-degree felony counts of endangering children
10 third-degree felony counts of endangering children
7 misdemeanor counts of endangering children
Elizabeth Siders – 23 charges total
March 2026:
2 third-degree felony counts of sexual battery (non-family member)
2 third-degree felony counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor (non-family member)
June 2026:
2 second-degree felony counts of endangering children
10 third-degree felony counts of endangering children
7 misdemeanor counts of endangering children
Gary Siders Sr. – 16 charges total from June 2026
10 third-degree felony counts of child endangering
6 misdemeanor counts of child endangering
Christina Siders – 19 charges total from June 2026
2 second-degree felony counts of child endangering
10 third-degree felony counts of child endangering
7 misdemeanor counts of child endangering
Investigators at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Special Victims Unit began looking into allegations of child sexual abuse in December 2025 at the request of the Vinton County Prosecutors office.
These allegations, which involve the sexual abuse of two children, were not made against the Siders, but against two men named Josh Saunders, 23, and Brandon Henderson Sr., 40, who were arrested on Friday.
Saunders was indicted on three counts of rape and one count of gross sexual imposition, while Henderson was indicted on 21 charges, including endangering children, gross sexual imposition, and sexual battery.
Information uncovered during the probe on Saunders and Henderson then prompted the Ohio BCI to open a second investigation into alleged unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
That inquiry eventually led investigators to Gary Jr. and Elizabeth.
Both have now been indicted on two counts of sexual battery and two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
Authorities allege the conduct occurred over roughly eight months in 2022 between January and September and involved a minor who was more than 10 years younger than the couple.
The alleged victim is not a member of Gary Jr. and Elizabeth’s immediate family, the Attorney General’s Office said.
Investigators ultimately arrived at the couple’s Hamden home on June 30 with a search warrant for the child sex abuse case, according to the Vinton County Prosecutor’s Office.
Gary Jr. was also wanted for multiple counts of public indecency.
Inside, authorities found the Siders’ 16 children packed into a roughly 12-foot-by-12-foot room, triggering a third investigation and the arrests of Gary Jr., Elizabeth, Gary Sr. and Christina.
The children ranged in age from about 18 months to 18 years old.
Officials previously said the room was contaminated with human waste and that several of the children required hospital treatment after being removed from the house.
Seven were hospitalized, while two were taken to major trauma centers because of the seriousness of their condition, according to earlier reporting.
Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain described the scene as among the worst his office had encountered.
“There have been a lot of questions and speculation regarding the June 30 presence on Omer Street in Hamden,” Cain said in a statement on Friday.
“These indictments provide some insight into the ongoing investigation. However, to preserve the integrity of the ongoing investigation and to protect the victims, I complete my statement here,” he said.
In a separate statement, the Vinton County Prosecutor’s Office revealed that the cases began as “an investigation into family child sex abuse,” and law enforcement had been seeking Gary Jr.’s DNA in connection with the child sex abuse case.
Prosecutors said the “child sex abuse cases involve intrafamily relations and do not pose a risk to the general public.”
They also credited Dollar General employees with raising the alarm and reporting it to authorities when they witnessed the Siders children in a local store looking very thin and smelling “potent.”
