Family of woman found in house with 16 children living like 'feral animals' speak out after claims she was 'indoctrinated'
Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.
An estranged relative of 'Ohio House of Horrors' mum Elizabeth Siders has spoken out in light of the distressing revelations.
In case you've missed the news, 16 kids were recently discovered living in truly disgraceful conditions in the US town of Hamden, leading to the arrests of four adults on 16 counts of child endangerment. All four pleaded not guilty on 1 July.
This includes Elizabeth herself as well as family members Gary Siders Sr, Gary Siders Jr and Christina Siders, who are each being held on $300,000 (£224,482) cash bonds.
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Per WOWKTV, Ronnie Fletcher, an uncle to all 16 children aged between 18 months and 18 years, cannot fathom how hideously things deteriorated at the property.
Police have said the eldest child, aged 18, could not spell their own name, with none of the children enrolled in school.
Ohio attorney general Andy Wilson said the children looked like 'feral animals', while Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said 'livestock' was kept in better conditions than the kids.
The children were living in a 12 feet by 12 feet area surrounded by faeces, with seven of the children rushed to hospital when police discovered them.
Having initially learned of the situation at the exact same time as the world did, Ronnie's first response was 'horrified, worried about the kids'.
"It's hard to explain the action when you're distant family," he said. "'What can I do to help?' That was the original reaction to it."
Ronnie, who is married to a daughter of Gary Sr and Christina, considers himself 'distant family' of the suspects as they barely ever saw each other.
He continued: "It's been awful for the people that had no idea what was going on at the house that are related to this family.
"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, you know, killed and burned. I mean, it's been bad."
The stunned relative fears for his own family's safety as the fallout intensifies.
"My children, my daughters, have been threatened," revealed Ronnie. "It's to the point we've had our pictures taken off our accounts and we've had to delete all our social media.
"My wife's not been able to go to work because she works within the public and she's scared. So 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 [over] something we didn't have nothing to do with."
Meanwhile, LA Magazine's Lauren Conlin managed to track down multiple Facebook posts uploaded by Elizabeth's brother, Jeremy Russell, who claimed that his sister had been 'indoctrinated'.
Records obtained by WOWK reveal that Elizabeth was married at just 15 to Gary Jr., who was 18 himself at the time, in 2008. Elizabeth married with parental consent. Two months later, their first child was born, with their second following when Elizabeth was just 16.
Elizabeth's lawyer Tommy Stolly told ABC 6: "We are still not sure, at least at my office, if she is a victim herself or not.
"I have previously stated that she has not exhibited characteristics herself of being a victim, but the investigation is still ongoing."
All four members of the Siders family facing charges waived their rights to a preliminary hearing yesterday (7 July).
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.
Dan Seddon