(NewsNation) — New details are emerging surrounding the background of the family accused of keeping 16 children locked away in a dilapidated Ohio home.
Los Angeles Magazine contributor Lauren Conlin has taken a deep dive into the four adults charged in the case and spoke with NewsNation’s Jesse Weber on Monday about what she’s learned.
Why did the judge order a competency evaluation for Gary Siders Sr.?
The judge in the case has ordered both insanity and competency evaluations for Gary Siders Sr. Initially, he was only expected to undergo an evaluation to see if he could plead not guilty by insanity. However, according to his attorney, the 73-year-old doesn’t appear to understand the case against him at all.
“When he was initially arrested, and he was arraigned, he had no idea what was going on,” Conlin said. “He couldn’t really identify the judge’s role, not even his own lawyer’s role. And so as a defendant, you really need to be capable to help with your own defense, and they’re not sure that that’s going to happen.”
Ohio ‘House of Horrors’ timeline: What happened to the 16 children
A niece of Gary Sr. and his wife, Christina, 67, seems to corroborate that. Conlin said the niece has been speaking out online in defense of her elderly aunt and uncle. She says the reports of the home’s deplorable conditions and how the children were found aren’t how she remembers them, leading her to believe they may both be mentally unwell. She also thinks their son, Gary Siders Jr., 36, may be why the conditions became so bad.
“She did say in her experience that Gary Siders Jr. could do no wrong,” Conlin said. “He was kind of like the golden child, if you will.”
Why are there doubts about the reason for the police search?
Conlin also discovered that police may have had more knowledge about the family’s situation before searching the home in June. Early reports on the case suggested the police search was prompted after authorities came to the home to serve Gary Siders Jr. with warrants for public indecency.
“His lawyers kind of spoke out and said, look, I don’t think this is the case,” she said. “These investigators showed up at the house kind of guns blazing, if you will, for a public indecency charge or two. …It seems like at this point, it was about something else. We just don’t know what that is.”
Elizabeth Siders’ family says she was ‘indoctrinated.’ Was she a victim, too?
Besides that, Conlin’s learned from her reporting that the family’s situation may have gone unnoticed for so long because the area they live in is deeply impoverished. People in the community have said they knew the family was poor, but it wasn’t uncommon in the county…