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ABC 6 recreated the cramped conditions that investigators say 16 children endured inside a 12-by-12-foot room in the Ohio home now being referred to as a "house of horrors", with volunteers left shaken after spending just minutes inside.
The recreation came after Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost described what authorities discovered inside the Vinton County property as one of the most disturbing child endangerment cases the state has ever investigated.
"I can tell you this... this is pure evil what we saw down here," Yost said.
Recalling his visit to the home, he added: "Looked through the door. That was yesterday. I can still smell... I can't get the smell. I cannot get the smell off."
Authorities allege the children, who ranged in age from 18 months to 18 years old, spent much of the last four years confined to a single room measuring just 12 feet by 12 feet.
Investigators described the conditions as "deplorable," with one official saying: "For 16 bodies to occupy that small of a space... it appears that they would have been in the room quite a bit. The filth... it redefined it for me."
To help viewers understand just how small that space was, ABC 6 first created an AI-generated illustration before taking the experiment a step further.
The news outlet assembled 16 adult volunteers, choosing not to use children for safety reasons, and placed them inside a room of similar dimensions to recreate the alleged living conditions.
Within minutes, participants said the confined space became overwhelming.
One volunteer remarked: "Definitely not any personal space."
Another said: "When I first walked in, the room seemed much larger than it was. As we continued to stand in the room... it was difficult to move around."
As the volunteers tried to reposition themselves, one suggested: "Feel like we should try to sit down."
Others described the room becoming increasingly uncomfortable.
"It got stuffy. It got crowded. We didn't know what to do with our arms and we were all trying to just really be in the space," one participant said, adding that everyone soon found themselves asking: "'Can we come out yet?'"
For many, the exercise quickly became emotional as they reflected on the children who allegedly spent years living in those conditions.
"It's really upsetting to think about this is just all they knew," one volunteer said.
Another participant, a mother, became emotional when asked how she felt imagining children growing up in that environment.
"I couldn't imagine... I'm sorry. I could not imagine," she said.
Holding back tears, she continued: "I know that that's all they know and there's such a pureness sometimes with kids that they just adapt and just... exist in the environment that they're in. You know, it breaks my heart truly that someone had to endure this. They spent a lifetime in there."
Family psychologist Dr. David Lowenstein told ABC 6 the children now face a long road to recovery after being removed from the home and placed into state care.
He said healing begins with helping them understand that their upbringing was not normal.
"They're going to find out that wasn't the norm," Lowenstein explained. "Part of why these kids didn't say anything is they thought all the houses had 16 kids in them."
He described the alleged abuse as "a major trauma," adding: "Short of death, this is as close as you can get."
Reflecting on the recreation, another volunteer summed up the emotional impact by saying: "It's really heartbreaking to me... I just feel so much for those children and what they went through. It's unimaginable. It's inhumane."
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New details have emerged after 16 children were rescued from what authorities have described as a "house of horrors" in rural Ohio, with many people online drawing comparisons to one of Europe's most infamous captivity cases.
Four adults have now been charged after investigators discovered 16 children allegedly living in appalling conditions inside a home in Hamden, Ohio.
According to officials, those arrested are Gary Siders Jr., Gary Siders Sr., Christina Siders and Elizabeth Siders, who have been identified as the children's parents and grandparents. They are all facing felony child endangerment charges.
The children, whose ages range from just 18 months to 18 years old, were allegedly confined for much of their lives inside a single 12-by-12-foot room contaminated with human waste.
Speaking to WCMH, Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson described the children as being "almost feral."
The case has stunned the local community, with neighbors telling the Associated Press they had no idea so many children were living inside the property. The children were also reportedly not enrolled in school.
As investigators continue piecing together what happened, experts have questioned how such a large family managed to avoid detection for so long.
Appearing on NewsNation's CUOMO, former FBI special agent Jennifer Coffindaffer suggested the family's constant movement may have helped them stay off authorities' radar.
"You get away with it because you conceal it by moving over and over again," Coffindaffer said. "You don't let the children out of the house, and you keep them in that basement."
Criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos said the sheer age range of the children was one of the most disturbing aspects of the case.
"I think probably the thing that strikes me the most is the span of the ages," he said. "Eighteen months to 18 years is just stunning in terms of that."
Authorities have repeatedly described the children as "feral," a term Geragos said unfortunately fit the allegations.
"That's actually a pretty good use of the word," he explained. "It's not civilized, is, I guess, the best way I'd put it."
Coffindaffer also believes investigators could pursue additional charges as the case develops.
"I think there are going to be other charges," she said. "I believe these older children, the females that were able to be of childbearing years, I think they're going to have to do full DNA."
The investigation remains ongoing, and officials have not said whether the family had previously come to the attention of child protective services.
As more details have emerged, social media users have drawn comparisons to a notorious European captivity case involving an Austrian man, Josef Fritzl, who imprisoned his daughter for 24 years and fathered seven children with her inside a concealed underground space.
While there is currently no suggestion the Ohio case involves the same type of offences, some online have pointed to similarities involving prolonged isolation and children allegedly being hidden from the outside world.
One person wrote on X: "What's scary is that most people don't know their own neighbors…. There was a case like this in Austria a while ago... it was so sad. Prayers for these kids, only God's strength can help them through this. (The survivors... are living quietly, recovery takes years — their privacy is being respected and protected.)"
Authorities have not linked the two cases, and the Ohio investigation remains active as detectives continue gathering evidence.
Disturbing images have revealed the inside of the Ohio home where authorities found 16 children living in shocking conditions.
The pictures, obtained by The New York Post, show piles of rubbish filling much of the roughly 1,850-square-foot property in rural Hamden, with trash, mouldy clothing, and plastic containers scattered throughout the home.
The only visible furnishings in the front room seem to be a stained chest freezer and a framed painting of a tiger, while the walls are discoloured and covered in filth.
On June 30, officers executed a search warrant at the home as part of an unrelated criminal investigation.
Newly released images show the property's basement almost completely overtaken by junk, with only a dining chair and a bicycle wheel seen among the piles of trash.
Outside, there is more garbage surrounding the five-bedroom, one-bathroom house.
Only a handful of children's belongings, including a broken bicycle and a copy of the children's book Jonathan James and the Whatif Monster, hint that children allegedly lived there.
Two neglected cars parked outside the property were also filled with cigarette butts, food wrappers, and other garbage.
Vinton County officials revealed that the children, ranging in age from one to 18, were living in "deplorable" conditions.
Police allege they spent at least the past four years largely confined to a cramped 12-by-12-foot room filled with human waste.
Officials have previously described the scene as "third-world" and said that local livestock were kept in better conditions than the kids.
Following the rescue, the children were taken to hospitals across Ohio. Two were airlifted to specialist trauma centres, at least one child required intubation, and several others were listed in serious condition.
Investigators also claim the kids had never been enrolled in school, and that several struggled to communicate, while some were reportedly unable to speak at all.
The oldest child, an 18-year-old who investigators say is developmentally disabled, was allegedly unable to write her own name.
The owner of local food truck Papis Pizza said that the alleged parents, Elizabeth Siders, 33, and her 36-year-old husband, Gary Siders Jr., regularly visited to order food.
"They just smelled like cat…like cat piss. Bad," the owner, who identified himself as John John, said. "They both stink. They both needed a shower."
His wife, Corissa Gonzalez, agreed, adding: "You could walk behind them and smell them."
The couple said they never saw them with any of their children.
"You tried to talk to her and she didn't say nothing… I don't think she was allowed to talk," John added. "You would have never been able to tell she had 16 kids. She was a skinny girl."
Elizabeth, Siders Jr., Gary Siders Sr., 73, and Christina "Lynn" Siders, 67, have each been charged with 16 counts of felony child endangerment. All four defendants have pleaded not guilty.
The mom was 15 years old when she married Gary Jr., then 18, in 2008, while seven months pregnant. Their oldest child was reportedly born two months later.
Elizabeth's attorney, Tommy Stolley, has previously said his client "repeatedly" told him that she and her husband "wanted a big family."
"She said that kids are a gift from God and that she was open to that," he said.
Law & Crime has also reported that Elizabeth previously gave birth to conjoined twin girls, Bailey Lee Siders and Faith Lee Siders, in November 2022.
The babies were born at 24 weeks' gestation and shared organs after being joined at the chest.
Records show both infants died the same day they were born, with the cause of death listed as respiratory failure linked to extreme prematurity.
The outlet has also claimed Elizabeth is currently pregnant with what would be her 19th child, although no official confirmation has been provided.
Elizabeth, Gary Jr., and Christina Siders remain in county jail on $300,000 bonds.
Meanwhile, Gary Siders Sr. was released on a recognizance bond after suffering what prosecutors described as a "serious medical condition."
As more details emerge about the alleged "house of horrors" in Ohio where 16 children were rescued, child psychologists are warning that the emotional and developmental impact could last a lifetime.
The children, who ranged in age from 18 months to 18 years old, were allegedly kept inside a single 12-by-12-foot room for years in what authorities described as horrific conditions. Experts now say recovering from that level of neglect will potentially require years of specialist support.
Child psychologist Dr. Patrice Berry explained that the case highlights just how critical a child's early years are for healthy brain development.
"We have research," she said. "We know that certain milestones need to be met. Children need to be exposed to things by a certain time in order to have typical language development."
Berry said she wanted to discuss "the effects of severe deprivation on a child's brain" while also offering guidance to foster, adoptive and kinship carers who may eventually look after children who have experienced similar trauma.
According to Berry, authorities found 16 children living in a cramped space after police arrived at the property to execute an unrelated search warrant.
"There were 16 children that were found in about a 12 by 12 space," she explained. "It's our understanding that for the past four years, these children... spent most of their time in that 12 by 12 space."
She added that the children ranged "from 18 years old until about maybe one, maybe one-and-a-half years old," with some of the youngest reportedly lacking basic documentation such as birth certificates or medical records.
Berry also described the appalling conditions investigators allegedly encountered.
"It's an extreme hoarding situation," she said, adding that the home was reportedly filled with waste and unsafe for officers to enter. She noted that one or two children were in such poor condition they reportedly had to be airlifted to specialist medical facilities.
The psychologist said the children's removal from the home, while necessary, will likely be traumatic in itself because the neglectful environment was all they had ever known.
"The condition they were living in, that was their normal," Berry explained.
"For these children, a clean environment is actually less normal for them."
She warned that many children raised in those circumstances may never have learned basic hygiene, self-care or even what regular meals look like.
"They do not know how to clean up after themselves. They do not have proper hygiene," she said, speaking generally about children who experience severe neglect.
Berry also pointed to reports suggesting the oldest child may have significant developmental delays, saying the 18-year-old was reportedly unable to write her own name.
Meanwhile, psychologist Dr. David Lowenstein told ABC6 that the children now face years of recovery.
"This is going to affect them the rest of their life. It's a major trauma," he said.
Lowenstein believes the youngest children may have one advantage because they are less likely to consciously remember the abuse.
"The younger the age... there won't be as much of a memory because their minds are pretty young," he explained.
"But anybody who's like three or four years old and older... those kids are going to need long-term treatment."
He stressed that before therapy can truly begin, the children must first learn to trust the adults now caring for them.
"A lot of treatment," Lowenstein said when asked what lies ahead. "There's a lot of work to be done before they know what direction to even go in."
He also urged members of the public never to ignore warning signs if they suspect a child may be in danger.
"I'd rather you be wrong than miss something as serious as this," claimed Lowenstein.
More information has surfaced in the horrifying Ohio 'house of horrors' case, where 16 children were found in a feces-filled rural home.
An investigation into the grim situation has revealed more details about what really happened in the home, which was found in a decrepit state.
A relative recently said they were not aware that there were 16 of the "almost feral" children living in the tiny home, believing there were only 10.
After being found by the Vinton County Sheriff's Office in Ohio on June 30, the children were described as being "kept in worse conditions than livestock”.
Aged between one-and-a-half and 18, the kids were found in a 12 x 12 room which was crumbling, with authorities noting that the children had suffered “serious physical harm” in the awful conditions.
Two of them were sent to specialist trauma centres, while another seven were taken to Columbus Hospitals, with one admitted to the ICU and intubated.
But now, distant relative Ronnie Fletcher has shared more about how he has been affected by proceedings.
Fletcher is married to a daughter of two of the suspects, Gary Siders Sr. and Christina 'Lynn' Siders, and he has not held back in speaking about the shocking discovery.
He admitted that his own family has been part of the crossfire after four members of the family were arrested.
These suspects include the parents, Gary Siders Jr., 36, and Elizabeth Siders, 33, as well as the grandparents, Gary Siders Sr., 73, and Christina Siders, 67.
Speaking to WOWK-TV, Fletcher said: "'What can I do to help? - That was the original reaction to it,
"Horrified. Worried about the kids. It's hard to explain the action when you're distant family."
His words came after investigators revealed that the crime was an "intrafamily" case, which suggests that some children may have come from sexual relations within the family.
It also emerged that the children's mother, Elizabeth Siders, married Gary Jr. at 15 years old, before having a baby months later.
Findings also revealed that Elizabeth gave birth to conjoined twins who died after being born prematurely.
The four suspects each pleaded not guilty to 16 counts of child endangerment on Wednesday (July 1), when a judge set their bail at $300,000 each.
If they are found guilty of all charges, each defendant could face a maximum sentence of up to 192 years behind bars.
Fletcher said that he and his wife only found out about the sick allegations when the arrests were announced last week.
The extended family had become estranged over the years, with no idea about what investigators alleged was happening in the Hamden home.
"It's been awful for the people that had no idea that was going on in the house that are related to this family," Fletcher admitted.
"I mean, we've had death threats - we've been told that we need to be put in front of an execution line of guns and... killed and burned."
He shockingly claimed that his daughters have received threats, forcing the family to delete their social media accounts out of fear.
The dad explained: "My children, my daughters, has been threatened; it's to the point we've had our pictures taken off our accounts and we've had to delete all our social media. I mean it's been awful.
"All this is taking money off our table because we can't live our normal lives because the way these people are trying to treat us on something we didn't have nothing to do with," he said, with his wife now too scared to go to work.
He asked: "How am I supposed to start a business in this community when I'm being stapled to the face of 'pure evil'?"
A relative of the 16 children found in a feces-filled rural Ohio home made a shocking admission about the discovery.
More details have emerged about the horrific situation, as the adults responsible for the kids have been arrested on child felony charges.
The children were found in a 12 x 12 room which was crumbling, with all 16 aged between one-and-a-half and 18.
After being found by the Vinton County Sheriff's Office in Ohio on Tuesday (June 30), they were described as being "kept in worse conditions than livestock”.
As a result of the awful conditions, the children suffered “serious physical harm,” resulting in two being sent to specialist trauma centres, while another seven were taken to Columbus Hospitals, with one admitted to the ICU and intubated.
Now, a relative said they were not aware that there were 16 of the "almost feral" children living in the tiny home.
Authorities found the children, aged between one and 18 years old, living at the family’s neglected Vinton County home last week.
Ohio Authorities have arrested and charged four family members after discovering the children in the rural home.
These suspects include the parents, Gary Siders Jr., 36, and Elizabeth Siders, 33, as well as the grandparents, Gary Siders Sr., 73, and Christina Siders, 67.
Ronnie Fletcher, who is married to the grandparents' adult daughters, said while they knew the couple had a large family, he only believed there were 10 children.
Speaking to local news outlet WOWK 13, he admitted that he only learned of the 16 children when news of the arrests broke.
He explained that the news left the extended family “horrified” and “worried about the kids,” adding: “It’s been awful for the people that had no idea that was going on [in] the house that are related to this family.”
Fletcher claimed that relatives would have got involved if they knew what was really happening, saying: “If we would have known that it was like that in that home, we would have done something about it – even if it was just to go there and take the kids ourselves or give them money.”
But it had been almost seven years since Fletcher and his wife knew where her relatives were living, as the suspects kept the family at "arms-length."
He said: “We might have known whereabouts, like in a county or in a spot, [but] most of the time we felt like that wasn’t really the truth.”
"The last time we heard from them, we gave them a car, and that’s probably close to a year ago now – other than Lynn [Christina] calling us and asking for money or [saying] they needed help with the water bill," adding that they found out about the existence of the decrepit home on the news.
Fletcher said that at the time of the couple's oldest child's birth, around 18 years ago, the Siders raised children who became "successful members of society."
He went on: “I’ve known this family since grade school. I’ve been with their daughter for 20 years. Gary and Lynn did not raise their children that way.
“The four daughters that got out are successful members of society.”
“I can’t believe it because we always thought there was homeschooling going on,” Fletcher admitted.
“We knew they didn’t go to school, but we were always told they were being homeschooled.”
Rumors of "generational incest" have circulated online, as Fletcher further pointed out: “This is all in that one home.”
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson had also described the reported abuse as “intra-family.”
The children can barely communicate, with many found to be mute, say authorities.
Investigators said that the eldest child, 18, is developmentally disabled and struggles to write her own name.
The four suspects each pleaded not guilty to 16 counts of child endangerment on Wednesday (July 1), when a judge set their bail at $300,000 each.
If they are found guilty of all charges, each defendant could face a maximum sentence of up to 192 years behind bars.
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