A store clerk who served the Siders family for nearly two years at the Dollar General in Hamden, Ohio has opened up about the warning signs she now wishes she had acted on.
Ariel Gutierrez, a mother of six, spoke to the Criminally Obsessed YouTube channel about her interactions with the family. They visited the store almost every night just before closing while 16 children were left behind in a feces-filled home just a few blocks away.
The family’s purchases were consistently sparse, usually a small jug of water and cooking oil, occasionally sugar or diapers.
Store employees noticed the family’s situation and bought hygiene products and clothes for them out of their own pockets, but the items always appeared unused.
In retrospect she said she struggles to understand how so little food could have sustained a household of 20 people.
In nearly two years of serving the family, Gutierrez only saw children with them on two occasions. When she did, the children mimicked their mother’s appearance: pale, very thin, with hair hanging over their faces to block out the outside world.
They avoided eye contact and communicated mostly through pointing or nodding.
“I thought they were visiting because I never saw them with kids,” she said.
“When I saw them twice, I didn’t know they had 16 kids, period.”
Gutierrez also noticed that Gary Siders Sr. and Christina appeared clean and “separate” from Gary Jr. and Elizabeth, leading her to believe the two couples were unconnected.
She observed Gary Jr. guiding Elizabeth around the store by the elbow, a detail she now recognizes as a sign of control.
Several warning signs visible in retrospect, says Gutierrez
Looking back, Gutierrez said she can now identify several red flags she missed at the time, including the children’s physical condition, Elizabeth’s appearance and Gary Jr.’s controlling behavior toward her.
She said she sensed something was off but felt that speaking up might cause problems.
“I have come forward so the children know that someone had seen them,” she said, adding that the experience has changed how she will respond in the future when something doesn’t feel right.
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