The mother accused of keeping 16 kids crammed in a filthy house of horrors denied that the children lived like “feral animals” — blaming the deplorable living conditions on “extreme poverty” and messy kids.
Elizabeth Siders, 33, was one of four adults arrested last month after her 16 children — ranging in age from 18 months to 18 years — were found living in squalor in a tiny, trash- and feces-filled home in rural Ohio.
The children, who have never been to school, were living “like almost feral animals,” Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said — something the mom “absolutely disputes,” her attorney, Tommy Stolly, told Chris Cruomo on his Cuomo Crime Time podcast.
“I mean, if we’re talking about feral children, those are children who do not understand the world,” Stolly said, denying the allegations that some of the kids could not speak or otherwise communicate.
“Those are children who we really would want to examine the conditions in which they were living for some sort of abuse. If the kids can speak, I think that changes the analysis.”
“The ones that were of appropriate age had social media pages. There’s evidence of that online,” the lawyer also claimed.
The children, who were never enrolled in school, could barely communicate and some cannot even speak, authorities previously said after making the grim discovery.
But Stolly, who has not spoken with the children personally, said that the kids talked to police when they raided the Hamden home and claimed the attorney general made these remarks “prior to a thorough investigation being done.”
When pressed on the conditions of the home, Stolly said Siders told him “with 16 kids, things could get messy fast” and painted the family as victims of “extreme poverty.”
“This is very clearly a case where my client and the Siders family were living in extreme poverty,” he said.
“And sometimes when you’re living in a case like that, you’re living in a home and that’s what you’ve known for years and years, you don’t necessarily see how bad things have gotten. You don’t necessarily see this the way that the rest of the world would.”
The young victims were mostly confined to the cramped space at their home for at least the past four years, according to authorities, who have described the grisly scene as “deplorable” and “third-world” — and even said local livestock have better conditions than the kids did.
The children were taken to hospitals across Ohio after the June 30 rescue. Some were listed in serious condition, including two who were airlifted to trauma centers and at least one who had to be intubated, officials said.
Elizabeth Siders, her husband Gary Siders Jr., 36 and grandparents Gary Siders Sr., 73, and Christina Siders, 67, were arrested.
Each family member was slapped with 16 counts of felony child endangerment charges.
Elizabeth Siders is currently being held on a $300,000 bond.
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