A Dollar General employee in Hamden, Ohio has come forward with a disturbing account of her encounters with the family at the center of one of the most shocking child neglect cases in recent memory.
Ariel Gutierrez worked at the local store where the Siders family were regular late-night customers, coming in almost every night just before closing to buy basic items like water, vegetable oil and sugar.
They typically brought only one child along on these visits.
Ghost white skin
Gutierrez told WSYX ABC 6 that the children she saw were visibly in poor condition. The adults kept the child close and did not allow her to speak to anyone. The children she encountered were extremely thin, pale and wore their hair over their faces.
“Ghost white, didn’t have no weight on their body and they had their hair over their face, like to block out the outside world to not see them,” she said.
Store workers noticed the family’s situation and tried to help by offering clothes and hygiene products, but Gutierrez said they never saw the family use any of the donated items.
A smell that will never leave the store employee’s mind
One detail that has stayed with Gutierrez is the odor that accompanied the family every time they entered the store. This matched what Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson described when he visited the home.
“The smell will never leave my mind,” she said.
“Like they could have left the store five minutes ago and the store would still smell.”
Wilson had previously described the conditions inside the home as something he could not stop thinking about, saying the smell alone was something he would carry with him forever.
Case shocks local community
The case has left the village of Hamden, home to fewer than 1,000 people, struggling to understand how 16 children could be hidden for so long.
Authorities say the family had moved around Ohio before settling in Vinton County and were adept at keeping the children out of sight. None of the children were enrolled in school, some could not communicate at all, and the oldest, aged 18, could not spell her own name.
The four adults arrested, Gary Siders Sr., Gary Siders Jr., Christina Siders and Elizabeth Siders, are each being held on a $300,000 cash bond and face 17 counts of child endangerment.
Gutierrez said she has been left with regret since the story broke.
“I’m sorry, I should have said something sooner,” she said.
“I’m praying and I know they’re in better conditions now.”
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