Ohio's 'House of Horrors': Shocking New Details Emerge

After 16 children, some with severe injuries, were rescued from a squalid home, four people, believed to be their parents and grandparents, have been charged with 17 counts of child endangerment . The children, aged between one-and-a-half and 18, were discovered inside a crumbling house by the Vinton County Sheriff's Office in Ohio on June 30, and were described to be "kept in worse conditions than livestock”. Law enforcement officers described the scene as “pure evil”, while Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson told a news conference they were found in “conditions you cannot even imagine people being in, let alone children being in.” Tragically, he added: “Some of these children couldn’t even speak.” Gary Siders Jr. and and Elizabeth Siders have been handed child felony charges. Credit: Southeast Ohio Jail Some of the children were completely mute The area the children were held captive in for “most of the last four years” was reportedly no larger than 12 by 12 feet and had a high presence of human excrement . The house they were found in, which is believed to belong to a deceased owner, was in such terrible condition that the children were “literally about to fall through the floor,” according to Wilson. Heartbreakingly, the children had suffered such “ serious physical harm ” that two had to be flown to specialist trauma centres, while another seven were taken to Columbus Hospitals, with one admitted to the ICU and intubated. The children's father, Gary Siders Jr., 36, mother Elizabeth Siders , 33, and grandparents Gary Siders Sr., 73, and Christina Siders, 77, were arrested and charged with 16 counts of child endangerment. However, they have all since pleaded not guilty. In the latest update, a firefighter who responded to the scene has revealed even more harrowing details about the state in which the children were found. The property the children were found in was falling apart. Credit: X / Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson Captain with the Hamden Volunteer Fire Department, Jeremiah Griffith, was one of the first emergency responders on the scene after cops uncovered the hidden children. He told The Columbus Dispatch : "Just the situation in whole was shocking." The children were covered in scratches and bites Recalling the journey he made to the hospital with four of the children in the back, Griffith remembers them being thin and covered in scratches and bug bites. He said the kids were: "covered in bugs and squatting and had that like distant look in their eyes. "It was a terrible situation," Griffith said. "And children are innocent. You hate to see when they're hurt." Griffith recalls thinking: “This is terrible. They looked like almost feral animals . It was terrible. So when we’re talking reading, writing and education, we’re talking a whole other level of expectations here. It’s hard enough just to get these kids to be able to – the 18-year-old can’t spell her name." The 16 neglected children are now in county custody and are expected to be put in "therapeutic foster care,", according to Joel Potts, the Chief Government and External Affairs Officer for the Ohio Department of Children and Youth. Featured image credit: X / Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson