The filth is bad enough to turn your stomach.

The emptiness is worse.

New photographs from inside the small Ohio home show mountains of garbage, stained walls, a basement swallowed by debris and vehicles packed with refuse.

Almost nothing in those images suggests that 16 children were living there.

Authorities say the children, ranging from roughly 18 months to 18 years old, spent much of the past four years largely confined to a filthy 12-by-12 room inside the Hamden residence.

Officials said some could barely communicate or could not speak at all, and none had ever been enrolled in school.

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The phrase “almost feral” has followed this case because officials used it to describe what investigators encountered.

That phrase describes the damage adults allegedly inflicted; it should never become the identity of the children who survived it.

The first post contains the newly published scene photograph:

The New York Post obtained photographs showing an approximately 1,850-square-foot house filled with trash, moldy clothing, plastic containers, discarded boxes and a stained chest freezer, with the odor of cat urine reportedly hanging over the property.

The front room appears to have been consumed by debris, while a single framed tiger picture hangs on a dingy wall above the clutter and a Fireball party bucket sits among the mess.

Downstairs, a huge mound of refuse fills the basement, and the property outside is strewn with more garbage while two vehicles photographed at the scene are littered with cigarette butts and wrappers.

Among all of it, the visible signs of childhood are painfully scarce: a broken bicycle and a children’s book are among the few items mentioned, a brutal contrast with the 16 young lives authorities say were hidden there.

The photographs add a new layer to the horror WLTR first covered after the rescue.

A video overview lays out the conditions authorities described after entering the home:

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The Ohio Attorney General’s Office says investigators executing court-authorized warrants on Ohmer Street on June 30 found the children and arrested Gary Siders Jr., Elizabeth Siders, Gary Siders Sr. and Christina Siders.

Each adult was charged with 16 counts of endangering children, all second-degree felonies, producing 64 announced counts in this case before any additional charges prosecutors have said could follow.

The children were removed, evaluated at hospitals and placed in the temporary custody of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, with several requiring elevated medical care for serious conditions.

Investigators believe members of the family moved through multiple Ohio counties beginning in 2008 while largely avoiding medical and government records, and authorities characterize the case as prolonged, extreme abuse and neglect inside one family.

The two-part video below includes the initial public account and images from the scene:

Seven children were initially hospitalized, according to accounts of the official briefing, including two who were airlifted to trauma centers and at least one who required intubation.

The oldest child is developmentally disabled and reportedly could not write her own name, while investigators warned that the children’s limited communication would make the evidence-gathering process difficult.

Authorities have announced no kidnapping or hostage charge.

The four defendants face child-endangerment charges; the headline’s word “hostage” reflects the alleged years of confinement described by investigators rather than a formal criminal count.

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Public records have also brought a troubling family timeline into view:

Elizabeth Siders was 15 when she married Gary Siders Jr., then 18, in West Virginia in March 2008, according to the marriage record cited in public coverage.

Their oldest child was reportedly born two months later.

Another part of the family’s history concerns conjoined twins born years later who died shortly after delivery:

The twins’ deaths are outside the charges authorities have announced, and officials have publicly tied no wrongdoing to that tragedy.

It belongs in the family’s documented history with that limitation made unmistakably clear.

The New York Post also spoke with Ronnie Fletcher, who is married to a daughter of Gary Siders Sr. and Christina Siders and says relatives outside the home had no idea how bad the conditions were.

Fletcher said his family, including his children, received death threats and withdrew from public life even though he has not been charged and says he never saw the alleged abuse.

He believed ten children lived in the house rather than 16, and he insisted that he and other relatives would have intervened or cleaned the property had they known what was happening.

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Those claims can be tested like any others, yet threatening people who face no charge helps none of the rescued children and pulls attention away from the evidence, the defendants and the long recovery ahead.

The latest court development involves Gary Siders Sr. and the cost of his medical care:

The New York Post detailed how the 73-year-old was hospitalized after falling during transport to court and was found to have a serious condition requiring specialized treatment outside the area.

Vinton County Prosecutor William Archer said keeping Siders in county custody would make local taxpayers responsible for treatment expensive enough to threaten the finances of Ohio’s least-populated county.

The court replaced his cash-bond detention with a $300,000 recognizance bond, and authorities say he will be fitted with a GPS monitor if he leaves the hospital instead of returning to jail.

His attorney has also requested evaluations of competency and sanity, while Elizabeth Siders, Gary Siders Jr. and Christina Siders remained held on $300,000 bond as the investigation continued.

All four defendants have pleaded not guilty.

They are entitled to due process, and prosecutors will have to prove every charge in court.

The children are entitled to far more than a criminal case.

They deserve safety, medical care, education, patient help learning to communicate and enough privacy to rebuild lives that adults allegedly kept hidden for years.

The photographs show what was taken from them.

The rest of this case must be about giving it back.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

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