"Disturbing Clues Emerge Before 16 'Feral' Kids Discovered in Cramped Room as Parents' Troubling History Comes to Light"

DISTURBING details have emerged about the weekly routine of the parents and grandparents of the 16 children rescued from a house of horrors.

Before her alongside her husband, son, and daughter-in-law, , 66, would make weekly trips to a local food pantry to gather groceries for her 16 grandchildren.

Police tape surrounds a home where authorities removed 16 children and arrested four adults in Hamden, Ohio, about 80 miles southeast of Columbus Credit: AP The Siders family from top left to bottom right: Gary Siders Sr., Christina Siders, Elizabeth Siders, and Gary Siders II Credit: AP A photo of Christina Siders and her husband Gary Siders Sr. with their toddler, believed to be Gary II Credit: Facebook/ChristiniaSiders A cat looks out from a side door opening of the Siders’ home Credit: AP

For the past two years, Christina would visit the food bank in Hamden, Ohio, and stock up on as much produce as she was allowed to take.

The grandmother would take everything from vegetables, fruit, pasta, and as much as six pounds of meat.

“She came here every week for two years and she took as much food as I allowed her to take,” a local pastor told the Daily Mail , describing Christina as “cordial and sweet.”

The pastor, who declined to be identified, said Christina told those at the food bank that she had 16 children, which workers were skeptical of at first.

“When she first came, she told us she had 16 kids and we were giving her extra food,” he added.

“Then we got to thinking, ‘Come on, no one can have that many kids in that house.'”

But after learning about the details of the Siders family’s arrest, the pastor has found it difficult to comprehend the circumstances.

“It’s very difficult for me to understand. When you have people coming to you, like Mrs. Siders was, and she was getting as much food as she could get to take to her family, that makes you think that she cared,” he told the outlet.

“Then when you see the other side of this, you shake your head and go, ‘How, why?’

“I was oblivious to what was going on in the house, and when I found out, I was astounded.”

Officials with the Vinton County Sheriff’s Office stumbled upon the grim scene by sheer coincidence, executing an arrest warrant for dad Gary Siders II, 36, who was wanted on unrelated indecent exposure charges.

Inside, authorities , most of whom were barely able to speak, with the eldest, an 18-year-old female, described as developmentally disabled and unable to write her name.

“We didn’t know there were going to be 16 kids there,” Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said at a news conference on July 1.

“Most of our livestock was kept in better conditions than the children. It was just a disgusting scene.”

Gary Siders Sr. and his wife Christina Siders Credit: Facebook Debris piled up on the front yard of the Siders’ home in Hamden Credit: AP

Andy Wilson, the attorney general of Ohio, described the scene as “pure evil.”

“It really looked third world. It’s the type of thing that we’re not used to seeing here in America,” he said.

“[It’s] almost indescribable.”

Authorities arrested four relatives, including , his wife Elizabeth Siders, 33, Gary Siders Sr., 71, and Christina.

The pastor recalled meeting Christina’s teenage granddaughters, who he said showed no signs of abuse.

“The girls were quiet, very shy, extremely shamefaced,” he told the outlet.

“They never really communicated with me, but they would whisper to her.

“But they never showed any signs of abuse, they never showed any sign of being hungry. There was no stench or smell from them when they came.”

A worker at a Hamden Dollar General recalled seeing Elizabeth and her children during their many visits to the store.

Elizabeth Long told the Daily Mail that she would always spot Elizabeth Siders while she was pregnant, but “never once” saw any babies.

“I honestly assumed the way they lived and they looked that Children’s Services took the baby from the hospital,” Long told the outlet.

“I only saw the kids twice in two years. I saw four of the 16 kids.

“They were very pale, very skinny and they did cover their face with their hair to block out the outside world.

“They did not want to have interaction with nobody. They acted just like their mom.

“Their mom was very quiet. I don’t really think much of it.”

Elizabeth and Gary Siders II married in March 2008 in Mason County, West Virginia, according to records.

At the time, , while Gary II was 18 years old.

A West Virginia judge approved the couple’s marriage after Elizabeth’s parents gave consent.

At the time, West Virginia did not set a minimum age for marriage.

Two months after tying the knot, Elizabeth gave birth to the couple’s first child.

Tommy Stolley, Elizabeth’s attorney, confirmed his client is the .

Investigators said the children were allegedly kept isolated in a 12-foot by 12-foot room with a high presence of human waste and excrement.

Authorities believe the children were kept in the cramped space for “most of the last four years.”

The conditions in the house were so decrepit that the children were “literally about to fall through the floor,” Wilson, the district attorney, said.

“One of the worst environments that I’ve seen in my career,” Wilson added.

Siders Sr., Christina, Gary II, and Elizabeth have all been charged with 16 counts of felony second-degree child endangerment.

They have all pleaded not guilty. Elizabeth, Christina, and Gary II are being held on $300,000 bond each.

Siders Sr. was released from jail and hospitalized due to his ailing medical condition, which prosecutors feared could have bankrupted Vinton County.