Ohio ‘House of Horrors’ Siders family had at least 3 teen marriages: Report

Editor’s Note: This story contains discussions of child abuse that may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised. If you suspect a child is being abused, learn how to report it in your state Here. To connect with a counselor, you can call the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4253.

(NewsNation) — Marriage and birth records are examined by the following people: Columbus Dispatch show at least three members Siders family They married when he was also a teenager; This includes the woman accused of imprisoning her 16 children, along with three relatives, in squalid conditions in a Vinton County home.

Elizabeth Russell with Gary Siders Jr. in West Virginia in 2008. She was only 15 years old when she married. 18 children in the next 17 years.

She is not the only young bride in the family.

Ohio mother accused in ‘House of Horrors’ case seeks release and reunification

State records show Tessi Wright was 14 years old and pregnant when she married Richard E. Siders, then 48, in Gallia County, Ohio, in 2002, according to the Dispatch. Tessi Siders later told The New York Times that her late husband was Gary Siders Sr.’s cousin.

A year later, 15-year-old Virginia Siders married Joshua Saunders in the same county, Dispatch reported.

Ohio ‘House of Horrors’: What we know about the case

Gary Siders Sr., his wife Christina, their son Gary Siders Jr. and his daughter-in-law, Elizabeth, pleaded not guilty to serious crimes child endangerment charges.

Investigators alleged the four stuffed 16 children, ranging from toddlers to teenagers, into a 12-by-12-foot room filled with feces and garbage for years before the children were found and removed from the home.

Second gag order requested in case of 16 children rescued in Ohio

NewsNation affiliates WOWK and WCMH, birth records For four of the 16 rescued children, including the oldest, it lists Elizabeth Siders as their mother and Gary Jr. as their father. WOWK and WCMH cannot comment definitively on the parentage of the remaining children, and Archer said he was “not aware that we have all their birth certificates.”

Marriage licenses Elizabeth Siders and Gary Jr. It shows the Siders got married on March 31, 2008. Mason County, West Virginia, ages 15 and 18, respectively. At the time, they lived on the same street near Gallipoli, Ohio; both had completed a ninth grade or lower level of education.

The case was widely shared on social media and sparked speculation about whether Elizabeth Siders was also a victim, given her marriageable age.

“She’s there at home of her own free will,” Elizabeth’s brother-in-law, Ronnie Fletcher, told WOWK. “They didn’t have a good home life when they got together, so they ran away to Lynn (Christina) and Gary’s house.”

Fletcher is married to one of Gary II’s four older sisters. unaware of the alleged abuse and “horrified” by the case. He said he grew up visiting the Siders’ home several times a week and they were a typical family at the time. Fletcher claimed he didn’t know if there was domestic violence or other concerns at the home, but Elizabeth Siders chose to be there.

Ohio closes marriage gap for young teens in 2019

These revelations have put Ohio’s marriage laws back in the spotlight, five years after the state moved to shut down the practice of child marriage.

This 2019 reform followed reporting by the Dayton Daily News that revealed how many young, often pregnant, teenagers were being married across the state.

‘House of Horrors’ photos and videos may be fake: Elizabeth Siders’ lawyer

Figures from the Ohio Department of Health show the extent of the problem before the correction: Between 2000 and 2024, 15 children under the age of 15 were married in Ohio, according to the Dispatch; Among them were two girls who were only 10 years old in 2017.

More than 2,500 minors have been married in the state since 2000, and the vast majority (96%) of them were married to adults.

But the 2019 law left a loophole: While the minimum marriage age was set at 18, 17-year-olds were allowed to marry under certain conditions, according to Dispatch.

State Sen. Bill Blessing, a Republican from Colerain Township, and Columbus Democrat Bill DeMora introduced a bill this year to eliminate that discrimination. That effort has since lost momentum due to muted opposition from some Senate Republicans, according to the Dispatch.

Blessing said he still expects the bill to pass by December, citing the Siders case as evidence that child marriage remains a living problem rather than, in his words, a relic of the past, according to the Dispatch.

Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson, whose office is assisting with the investigation and prosecution, also weighed in on the broader question of whether minors should be allowed to marry.

“We don’t let kids vote, we don’t let them buy cigarettes or alcohol,” Wilson told the Columbus Dispatch. “I can say that in general I am against the marriage of young children.”

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Go to NewsNation for the latest news, weather, sports and streaming video.