Relatives of the 16 almost feral children found in Ohio house of horrors had no clue so many kids were living inside

Family members of the 16 “almost feral” children rescued from a feces-filled Ohio house of horrors had no idea there were that many kids living inside – until they saw the stunning headlines, a horrified relative revealed Monday. Grandparents Gary Siders Sr., 73, and Christina “Lynn” Siders, 67, were arrested alongside their son, Gary “Bub” Siders Jr., 36, and his wife, Elizabeth Siders, 33, after authorities allegedly found the children, ages 1 to 18, living in squalor and isolation inside a cramped 12-by-12 room at the family’s Vinton County home last Tuesday. Ronnie Fletcher, who’s married to one of the grandparents’ adult daughters, said he and his wife knew the younger Siders had a large family – but believed there were only around 10 children. They only learned of the staggering 16 kids when news of their relatives’ arrests broke, he told local news outlet WOWK 13 – and said the revelation left the extended family “horrified” and “worried about the kids.” The children were forced to live inside the cramped room littered with human waste 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 lived in better conditions than the children. “It’s been awful for the people that had no idea that was going on [in] the house that are related to this family,” Fletcher told the outlet. Relatives would have intervened had they known what was happening, the son-in-law insisted. “If we would have known that it was like that in that home, we would have done something about it – even if it was just to go there and take the kids ourselves or give them money,” he said. However, it had been nearly seven years since Fletcher and his wife even knew where the Siders were living, as the alleged child abusers kept the rest of the family at “arms-length,” he recalled. “We might have known whereabouts, like in ...