Lawyer reveals what mum of 16 children living like 'feral animals' said that proves she's 'not evil'

A lawyer representing the mother of the 16 children found in what has been dubbed the 'Ohio House of Horrors' has urged people not to rush to judgement.

Elizabeth Siders, 33, was taken into custody on 30 June alongside her husband Gary Siders Jr., 36, and his parents Gary Siders Sr., 73, Christina Siders, 67.

The foursome were charged with felony child endangerment after what the police discovered at the 'deplorable' rural property in Vinton County. Authorities said 'what investigators encountered was pure evil' - but the attorney representing Elizabeth has insisted he has 'not see any malice' in the mum.

The world was left stunned last week after officials in Ohio announced they had raided the Siders family home and discovered more than a dozen children living in 'disgusting' conditions.

Police said the youngsters - whose ages ranged from around 18-months-old to 18-years-old - had not been enrolled in school and many were unable to speak.

The 33-year-old is the mother of all 16 children who were found in the home, her lawyer said (Southeast Ohio Jail)

Ohio's attorney general Andy Wilson described what he witnessed as 'pure evil' and described the scene as being 'almost beyond comprehension'.

"Conditions you cannot even imagine people being in, let alone children being in,"he said previously. "It was terrible. They looked like almost feral animals."

During a press conference last Wednesday (1 July), Wilson doubled down on his comments as he shared further horror details from what had been unfolding inside the Siders' home.

Officers who have been inside the home had to wear masks, and certain parts of the pad were said to be inaccessible due to the state of them.

"This case continues to reveal the unimaginable conditions these children were forced to endure,” Wilson said, as per WCMH.

"I said that what investigators encountered was pure evil, and the evidence we’ve uncovered since only reinforces that assessment."

Ohio attorney general Andy Wilson said what had been going on behind closed doors was 'pure evil' (YouTube/NBC4i)

The outlet also reported that one local resident said they believed the property was 'abandoned', as they had 'never seen or heard' anyone coming or going, as they added: "I had never seen a child in that yard.”

Some of the 16 children who were rescued from the home received treatment in hospital and all of them are currently under the custody of authorities in Vinton County.

Meanwhile, their four relatives who have been accused of inflicting abuse and neglect upon them have been behind bars since their arrest seven days ago. Each of them are being held on a $300,000 bond.

Elizabeth's attorney, Thomas Stolly, told The Associated Press that she and Gary were the biological parents of all 16 children.

He told the publication that his client had married into the Siders family when she was just 15-years-old.

Stolly stated that the mother had been 'crying and exhausted' when they met last Thursday (2 July). He believes that the very first question that Elizabeth asked him is very telling of his client's character.

'I did not see any malice in Elizabeth'

"My client’s first question to me when I walked into the jail and introduced myself was about her kids," Stolly said. "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. I thought it was telling that her first concern was not, ‘When can I get out of jail,’ but was, ‘Are my children OK?'"

According to Stolly, Elizabeth informed him that her offspring were born in area hospitals. He said she had left high school after completing the 11th grade.

The lawyer said from what he has seen so far, he does not believe that Elizabeth stands up to the description of 'pure evil' that the Ohio attorney general touted.

"Evil requires malice, and I did not see any malice in Elizabeth," Stolly said. "I think that this is more so a case of isolation than a case of evil, and I think that there’s an important distinction there.

Elizabeth Siders pictured alongside her mother-in-law Christina during a court hearing (YouTube/WCHSTV)

"Because if that’s all you know - and you have to think, someone at 15 years old doesn’t know a whole lot about being an adult, about being a mother, about being a wife - and that’s been your worldview for the past 17 or 18 years, you get shaped by that."

He said Elizabeth did not paint herself as a victim, but in his opinion, it 'may be too early to actually determine what was going on there'.

"While the headlines may be sensational, there’s a real human component to this and so I would ask people to give this process time to play out," he added.

Similarly, the lawyer representing Gary L. Siders Sr urged the public to 'let the facts play out'.

"We ask that the community at large, as well as anyone who might have an interest in this case, to take a deep breath, step back, and let the case play out and the facts play out," Dorian Baum said.