Elizabeth Siders Was 15 When Her Parents and a Judge Approved Her Marriage. By 33, She Had Given Birth to 16 Children.

Marriage records obtained from the Mason County Courthouse in West Virginia reportedly show that Elizabeth married Gary Siders Jr. on March 31, 2008. Because Elizabeth was only 15, the marriage required approval from her parents and a judge. The records list consent from her parents, Brian Ray Russell and Lori Ann Raines, as well as then-Circuit Court Judge David Nibert.

At the time of their marriage, Gary had reportedly completed the ninth grade, while Elizabeth had completed the eighth. Records indicated that they lived two houses apart in Gallia County, Ohio. Elizabeth’s attorney has since said she continued her education for a time but left high school after the 11th grade.

Eighteen years later, Elizabeth is 33, Gary is 36, and the couple is at the center of a child-endangerment case that has shocked both investigators and the small village of Hamden.

Elizabeth’s defense attorney, Thomas Stolly, said that all 16 children found inside the family’s home belong to Elizabeth and Gary. The children range in age from approximately 18 months to 18 years old, meaning Elizabeth appears to have become a mother around the same time she married Gary as a teenager. Stolly said Elizabeth told him that all of the children were born in area hospitals and that she considered herself a full-time mother.

Stolly said Elizabeth didn’t characterize herself as a victim, but “I think it may be too early to actually determine what was going on there.”

Authorities said the children apparently spent much of the previous four years inside a room measuring roughly 12 feet by 12 feet. Investigators reported finding human waste throughout the area. The children had wounds from insect bites.

Some of the children allegedly had limited speech or could not speak at all. The oldest child, an 18-year-old believed to have developmental disabilities, reportedly could not write her own name.

Seven children were transported to hospitals, including one who was reported to be in critical condition. Two were flown to Level 1 trauma centers. Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said investigators believed that waiting even another day could potentially have resulted in one or more deaths.

The children are now in the temporary custody of state child-welfare officials.

Elizabeth, Gary Jr. and Gary’s parents, Gary Siders Sr. and Christina Siders, were each charged with 16 counts of second-degree felony child endangering. All four pleaded not guilty, and a judge set their bonds at $300,000 each. They were also ordered to have no contact with the children or one another.

Stolly has cautioned against reducing the case to the description of “pure evil” used by the attorney general. He said Elizabeth was crying and exhausted when he visited her in jail and immediately began asking about the children.

According to Stolly, Elizabeth wanted to know whether they were safe, where they had been taken and when she might be able to see them again.

“Her first concern was not, ‘When can I get out of jail,’ but was ‘Are my children OK,’” Stolly told the AP.

Stolly argued that the case may involve isolation rather than simple malice. He noted that Elizabeth entered marriage and motherhood at an age when most children are only beginning high school.

“If that’s all you know—and you have to think someone at 15 years old doesn’t know a whole lot about being an adult, about being a mother, about being a wife—and that’s been your worldview for the past 17 or 18 years, you get shaped by that,” he said.

Elizabeth has not described herself to her attorney as a victim, and no publicly released evidence has established that Gary controlled, threatened or abused her. Stolly acknowledged that it remains too early to determine exactly what was happening within the family.

Investigators say the family moved around southern Ohio over a period of nearly two decades and appeared to avoid creating a consistent medical or governmental paper trail. The children were not enrolled in the local school district, and neighbors said they never saw them outside the house.

Elizabeth’s attorney says Gary Jr. was recently employed as a DoorDash driver while looking for other work.

Authorities declined to reveal details about the separate investigation that brought them to the house on Tuesday. However, court records indicate that a warrant for Siders Jr. was issued that day on misdemeanor indecent exposure charges connected to alleged incidents on four days in May. He has pleaded not guilty.

Elizabeth and the three other defendants remain presumed innocent unless proven guilty. As the case moves forward, prosecutors will be tasked with establishing what each adult knew, what each adult did and whether Elizabeth’s unusual path into marriage and motherhood offers context, a defense—or simply another disturbing layer of the story.