US7 min(s) read
Published 16:15 07 Jul 2026 GMT
Birth and death records have revealed that the couple at the centre of the Ohio 'house of horrors' case had two other children - conjoined twin girls who were born and died on the same day in 2022.
Bailey Lee Siders and Faith Lee Siders were born on November 20, 2022, at a hospital in Columbus.
They were joined at the chest, sharing organs, after being born at just 24 weeks' gestation - roughly four months premature.
Records show both girls lived for approximately one hour.
The cause of death was listed as respiratory failure linked to extreme prematurity.
Their parents are Gary Siders Jr., 36, and Elizabeth Siders, 33 - the same couple now facing 16 counts each of felony child endangering after authorities discovered 16 children living in conditions described as 'unimaginable' inside a home in Hamden, Ohio.
On June 30, officers from the Vinton County Sheriff's Office arrived at the property on Ohmer Street in Hamden to execute a search warrant connected to a separate criminal investigation.
They were not expecting to find children.
Inside, they discovered 16 children - aged between 18 months and 18 years - allegedly living in a single 12-by-12-foot room contaminated with human waste.
The home had five rooms and one bathroom for a household of 20 people.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson described what investigators found as 'pure evil'.
'They looked like almost feral animals,' Wilson said of the children. 'It was terrible.'
Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said deputies were shocked by what they encountered.
"Most of our livestock was kept in better conditions than the children," he said.
"Just a disgusting scene."
Seven children were transported to hospitals in Columbus.
Two had to be flown to trauma centres by helicopter.
One was placed in intensive care. Some of the children were unable to speak.
The eldest, an 18-year-old woman, was unable to write her own name and was described as having severe developmental disabilities.
Four adults were arrested and arraigned on July 1: Gary Siders Jr., 36; Elizabeth Siders, 33; Gary Siders Sr., 73; and Christina Siders, 67. They have been identified as the children's parents and grandparents.
All four face 16 counts each of second-degree felony child endangering.
Each count carries a minimum sentence of two to eight years and a maximum of 12 years.
If convicted on all counts, each defendant faces up to 192 years in prison. They have all pleaded not guilty and are being held on $300,000 bond.
Marriage records from Mason County, West Virginia, show Gary Siders Jr. and Elizabeth Siders were married on March 31, 2008, at the Mason County Courthouse.
.jpeg_6QIGTP?tr=cr-0.0.638.480,f-webp,q-70,w-1024)
He was 18. She was 15. The eldest child was born just two months later.
Elizabeth's lawyer, Thomas Stolly, revealed that the first thing she asked him when he visited her in jail was not about her own case, but about her children.
"She asked if her children were OK, she asked if I knew where they were, and she asked when she'd be able to see them again," Stolly said.
He confirmed that Elizabeth told him all 16 children are hers. He also said he had not seen anything to support the Attorney General's description of the family as 'pure evil'.
"I think that this is more so a case of isolation than a case of evil," Stolly said, "and I think that there's an important distinction there."
According to the American Heart Association, thoracopagus - the condition Bailey and Faith were born with - is the most common form of conjoined twins.
The National Institute of Health describes it as having a 'dismal prognosis', with non-operable cases resulting in near-100% mortality and operable cases carrying a survival rate of around 50%.
The twins' deaths are not currently included in the criminal charges.
The 16 counts filed against each defendant relate to the 16 living children found in the home, and the criminal complaint does not list any charges connected to the twins' date of birth or initials.
However, the existence of the twins had already prompted intense speculation online after social media users spotted a headstone in Hamden bearing the names Bailey Lee Siders and Faith Lee Siders, with both birth and death dates listed as November 20, 2022.
The death records have now confirmed they were part of the Siders family.
This is the question that has dominated coverage of the case since it broke.
None of the 16 children had ever been enrolled in school.
The Vinton County School District confirmed it had no records of any of them.
Investigators believe the family moved across multiple Ohio counties dating back to at least 2008, avoiding creating medical or government records that might have revealed the alleged abuse and neglect.
Neighbor Joseph Stewart, who lives three houses away, said he had never seen a single child at the property.
"It's a sad situation," the 60-year-old said. "I saw no kids at all."
Another resident, Josh O'Dell, said the house appeared abandoned.
"It was a shock because we had never seen or heard anything from that house. I had never seen a child in that yard."
Former FBI special agent Jennifer Coffindaffer told NewsNation that the family's strategy was deliberate: "You get away with it because you conceal it by moving over and over again.
"You don't let the children out of the house, and you keep them in that basement."
She also raised the possibility that investigators could pursue additional charges as the case develops, particularly concerning the older children and questions around DNA.
As more details have emerged, social media users have drawn comparisons to the case of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who imprisoned his daughter for 24 years and fathered seven children with her in a concealed underground space.
While the circumstances in Hamden are different, the scale of the alleged concealment - 16 children hidden from the outside world for years - has prompted the comparison repeatedly.
Criminal defence attorney Mark Geragos told NewsNation that the age range of the children was the most striking detail.
"Eighteen months to 18 years is just stunning in terms of that," he said.
The investigation remains in its early stages.
Prosecutors have indicated that additional criminal charges are expected as evidence continues to be reviewed.
Gary Siders Jr. is also separately scheduled to appear in court on Thursday for unrelated indecent exposure charges that were filed the same day the children were discovered.
Elizabeth Siders' family has told reporters they believe she was 'indoctrinated' by the Siders family after marrying Gary Jr. at 15.
Her brother-in-law, Ronnie Fletcher, said he and his wife had no idea there were that many children in the household, though they knew there were likely at least 10.
He says he only ever met the eldest two or three 'years and years ago'.
All 16 children are now in the temporary custody of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The twins, Bailey and Faith, are buried in Hamden. Their headstone lists a single date: November 20, 2022.
