Ohio Grandfather Ruled Mentally Incompetent in Child Endangerment Case Involving 16 Grandchildren
A 73-year-old southern Ohio man charged with child endangerment after authorities found 16 of his grandchildren living in squalid conditions at a rural Hamden home has been ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial, a Vinton County judge decided Wednesday.
The judge accepted the findings of an evaluation report for Gary Siders Sr., and Vinton County Prosecutor William Archer did not object.
Siders appeared in court in a wheelchair. His attorney, Dorian Baum, said after the hearing that Siders' mental health has been declining for years and is "not restorable."
"It's not really a surprise to any of us that he's not been found competent at this point," Baum said. "He doesn't fully understand or appreciate what's going on."
Siders had been charged with 16 counts of child endangerment tied to the children, who were rescued June 30 from a home in Hamden about 80 miles south of Columbus.
His wife, Christina Siders; his son, Gary Siders Jr.; and his daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Siders, the children's mother, have pleaded not guilty.
Authorities found the children while carrying out a search warrant in an unrelated investigation. Investigators said the children remained mostly confined to a small room in the house under deplorable conditions. None were enrolled in school, the family had moved repeatedly over the past two decades, and neighbors said they had never seen the children.
At the time they were found, the children ranged in age from 18 months to 18 years. Some were described as "feral" and unable to speak, and authorities said their medical conditions varied.
"Most of our livestock was kept in better conditions than the children," Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said at a July 2 news conference. "It was an extremely high presence, I'm sure, of bacterial and human feces; it was just a disgusting scene."
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said at the time that the children looked like "almost feral animals" and that the 18-year-old found in the home was unable to spell her own name.
"We've got to make sure the kids are safe, we've got to make sure they're placed in good, solid, therapeutic placements, and we have to hold accountable the people that are willing to do this to their own family," Wilson said.
Wilson also said the suspects "were pretty adept at keeping these kids out of sight and out of investigators' eyes."
Court records show the eldest child was born in May 2008, two months after Gary Siders Jr., then 18, and Elizabeth, then 15, crossed into West Virginia to marry at the Mason County Courthouse with her parents' consent. She has been pregnant most years since then, according to the records.
The competency ruling means Siders will not stand trial at this time, while the cases against the other family members continue. The discovery has also raised broader questions about how the children remained hidden for so long and what long-term care they will need as authorities work to stabilize their lives.