Judge raises bond to $550,000, cites flight risk
The plea entered Wednesday marks the latest step in a case that began on July 1, 2026, when authorities removed 16 children — ranging in age from 17 months to 18 years — from a home in the tiny village of Hamden, Ohio. The children had been confined to a single 12-foot-by-12-foot room among human waste for much of the past four years, authorities said. They described the conditions as “deplorable,” saying the children appeared “almost feral,” did not attend school, and that some were unable to speak at all. The eldest child was developmentally disabled and could not spell her name, according to authorities.
Siders, 34, is one of four family members charged with 16 counts of child endangerment and neglect, including her husband, Gary Siders Jr. At Wednesday’s hearing, the judge deemed her a flight risk and raised her bond from $250,000 to $550,000, The Guardian reported. She and her husband have been ordered to have no contact with one another.
Siders and her husband have also been indicted in a separate case involving two counts of sexual battery and two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor — charges that were among those to which Siders pleaded not guilty on Wednesday, The Guardian reported, citing an indictment obtained by People magazine. The alleged victim was a relative between the ages of 13 and 16 who was in the couple’s care in 2022, not one of their own children, according to the indictment.
Gary Siders Jr pleaded not guilty in August, The Guardian reported. Last week, his father, Gary Siders Sr, was found incompetent to stand trial. Elizabeth Siders, her husband and his mother, Christina Siders, have also requested competency evaluations, which remain pending and will determine next steps in the case.
Siders’ attorney, Tommy Stolly, told the court that his client continues to ask to see her children despite the no-contact order. Stolly argued that Siders had been married at age 15 and had been pregnant for most of her life since, never having gone through a full postpartum period and never receiving regular medical care appropriate for someone who had given birth 16 to 18 times. Stolly also told the court this left his client “suffering from mental health issues,” leaving him with “competency concerns.”
“We have an individual … who was married at age 15, who has essentially been pregnant for the better part of two decades … [Siders] has never fully gone through any postpartum period and has not been receiving regular medical care that would be appropriate for someone who has had 16, 18 children,” Stolly told the court.
“So, I have concerns about what effects those have had on her, what effect it has had on being married at such a young age, being contained within the environment of the Siders household, and essentially not knowing any life outside of it,” Stolly added.
Stolly told the court the defense was not conceding that any illegal conduct had been proven by the state. But, he said, “if her mindset was not there, and she didn’t have the ability or the capacity to understand it and make decisions in an informed way, that could certainly negate legal liability.”
Birth records obtained by local outlet ABC6 show that Siders gave birth to a child in February 2022, when the alleged abuse was taking place, and to premature twins in November 2022 who died shortly after birth.
Siders appeared in court on Wednesday without handcuffs, prompting speculation that she may be pregnant again, The Guardian reported. When approached by a reporter from the Columbia Dispatch after the hearing, Stolly declined to comment on the pregnancy speculation.