“Why would a 15-year-old girl go all the way to West Virginia to get married?” The mother of 16 children in the shocking Ohio child abuse case: horrifying evidence emerges suggesting she may have been a victim herself…?

The mother of 16 children in the shocking Ohio child abuse case: horrifying evidence emerges suggesting she may have been a victim herself…? 

How was she even allowed to get married to Gary Jr? She got married when she was 15 years old. She had just completed eighth grade and then dropped out. How was that allowed? Is that allowed in Ohio that a 15-year-old girl is allowed to get married? >> and they didn’t they did It is not and then they didn’t get married in Ohio.

That’s the thing. We tracked down the records from Mason County, West Virginia and they were married there on March 31st, 2008. And in West Virginia back in that time, you were apparently able to be a 15-year-old and be married. In the state of Ohio, you can get married I think when you’re 17.

 I was reporting on this the other day, actually. When you’re 17, but you have to jump through a bunch of hoops. I mean, you you not only have to have parental consent, but you have to go to a court and get it signed off on. I mean, there are quite a few hoops that you have to jump through in order to be married at a young at an age younger than 18 in the state of Ohio.

 So, it appears that’s why they went to Virginia, West Virginia rather, in 2008 because it was not that long of a drive from where they were living. They were living in one county over and they went over to West Virginia and got married. She was 15 and he was 18. >> Well, Elizabeth is facing the same charges as everyone else and her lawyer says that she’s a victim here.

 She’s not the evil one, that she married into an evil family. Let’s Let’s hear her lawyer, sot13. >> At one point, the the term pure evil was used to describe Elizabeth and the home. At another point, there was a comment that livestock had been treated better. I I met a woman who was kindred and who was exhausted. It looked like she had been crying quite a bit.

She She looked distraught. And she was willing to talk to me, able to talk to me, and we sat down for about an hour and a half to go through the basics of this case. She does not know how the home, the conditions, the investigation is being described. And I chose not to share all of those details with her at this point because she does seem so fragile.

The person that I met with, though, is not someone who comes across as pure That’s just Evil requires malice. And the person that I saw there, Elizabeth, she doesn’t have that in her eyes. >> Yeah, and you see his plaque behind him, best lawyers. It’s well-positioned. So, he he makes a >> [laughter] >> a good He makes a good argument there.

 I want to correct something. I said that it was he who called the family that other than Elizabeth evil. It’s actually that’s according to family members of Elizabeth’s who said that she was indoctrinated by the Siders. >> Yes. >> And that >> That’s her brother. He said it on Facebook. >> Mhm. >> That’s right.

 That’s right. So, the lawyer is doing right by his client by saying she’s not the evil one in this story. Of course, the implication is it’s the others who are evil cuz these are evil acts what happened. Elizabeth does have the ability, I think, to flip on the others and probably get the lightest sentence if she cooperates. I think that that would be next.

 If I were her lawyer, that’s what I would do. But then again, I come from a prosecutorial angle and just want justice to be done here. And glad the kids, no matter what, are free from their chains here. >> Well, you know, at Tommy Stahli there, you just showed that. It’s interesting because he’s he’s said yesterday after the court proceeding that was supposed to happen that didn’t happen, he and Dorian Baum, who represents Gary Senior, uh came out and gave a brief kind of impromptu press conference.

 And Tommy Stolly said that his office and the prosecutor’s office are still investigating whether Elizabeth is indeed a victim in this case. And so, we don’t know if she’s a victim. He He had been quoted as saying, and he said yesterday, you know, I said that um you know, she does not consider herself a victim.

 Uh but they’re still looking into that because it raises the question, uh you know, why is a woman continually getting pregnant when you can’t actually provide for these children and you’re keeping them from what we’ve been told, hidden away. Um Dorian Baum, the lawyer for Gary Senior, too, the grandfather here, also told me that he doesn’t in the discovery he’s been provided, um he hasn’t seen the conditions that were described in the press conference.

 He hasn’t seen uh what has been referred to. So, I don’t know if he just hasn’t received additional discovery yet, uh but what was described to us was just a filthy room full of feces, kids covered with flies, things of that nature. So, I think we’ll get more information as the investigation unfolds, but they’re they’re saying, you know, it’s not a crime to be dirty.

 That’s what they told me, what Dorian Baum told me. >> Oh. >> It’s not a crime to have a dirty house or to have things unkempt, um but I mean, it is a crime if children are kept in conditions that are so uh filthy that they are either sick, they’re not well cared for. I mean, you can speak to this better than I can, Dave.

 You’re the prosecutor here, the former prosecutor, but it is a it is a crime if these children, you know, are being kept inside and not allowed to go outside, and one of them had to be intubated. >> Yeah, and they were shown video, or at least pictures. We can put some of those pictures back up. I mean, look at this. They were stuck in a 12 by 12 box essentially. 16 kids. Look at this.

 And okay, yes, there’s no crime in having a dirty home or else every college dorm would be shut down and the students would be put in handcuffs. But look at this. I mean, that’s their home. They didn’t go to school. They apparently intentionally evaded the authorities when the authorities were starting to catch on to them.

 And so this does look like child endangerment. And they are fortunate that no one died because then they could be facing the same charges as the O’Briens. So And Janette, I want to uh just say thank you. You know, the the mom here apparently, one last thing before we go, the mom is she currently pregnant again? >> Yes.

 Um we’ve we’ve uncovered that she is indeed um I’ve been told she is pregnant again. I I started hearing some things about that. They were initially, if you recall, charged with 17 counts of child endangering but there were only 16 children in the home. And I’m trying to verify about I’m trying to verify as to whether or not um those counts that 17th count of child endangering related to this unborn child because all of the sudden it was paired back to 16 counts of child endangering.

Um but I started asking around, poking around. People were asking me, “Look at her in the jail jumpsuit. Her stomach’s out.” Um I’ve been told that yes, indeed, Elizabeth is currently pregnant. >> Yeah. By the way, if we can just show before we conclude the picture of Elizabeth again, I do think that picture that you see, it’s like a sort of mug shot maybe, maybe it’s her behind bars.

That does show some real like sadness. Like like there’s something going on there. I I I don’t want to diminish her criminal culpability here, but it does look like this is someone who got married at 15, was dragged into this family, and then all she’s done for the last what, 18 years is have one child after the next after the next, and she’s living amongst all these other Cider family members who are all arrested as well.

 And uh that is just a very compelling image of her behind bars because I do think that in that case a picture tells a a thousand words. >> Yeah, she looks she looks very sad there, Dave. Um but in the when she was in the initial appearance, she actually looked a little more um >> you know, put together. She looked like she had maybe showered and things like that. She looked better.

 But really, I mean, it is a very sad state of affairs, but again, there are so many questions here. We We have more questions than answers. Um I do want to add though that Gary Senior, the grandfather, he was taken to the hospital, rushed to the hospital uh on July 7th and then taken to another hospital for more serious treatment.

 He has since been granted a $300,000 um personal recognizance bond, and the state is going to pay for his GPS monitoring when he’s released. Uh so it appears he may still be undergoing some treatment at a hospital. For what, we don’t know, but his his lawyer is raising competency issues. Um he doesn’t believe that his client really understands what’s going on.

 He’s 73, and um he said that when he spoke to his client about all of this, uh that he didn’t really even seem to understand the role that everybody was playing in the court process. So I I think there’s still a lot to unpack with regard to this case. >> 73, I guess people age differently these days, and uh 73 could be a youthful uh vibrant uh in a law firm, or it could be someone who claims they don’t have the mental capacity to stand trial who lives in a 12 by 12 box with their uh 16 kids. It’s just it’s crazy story.