At least three members of the Siders family married as young teenagers, including the woman who bore at least 18 children in 17 years, according to state birth and marriage records.
Elizabeth Russell married Gary Siders Jr. in West Virginia when she was 15 years old. Two months later in May 2008, the couple had their first of 18 children.
In Ohio, Tessi Wright was 14 and pregnant when she married her 48-year-old boyfriend, Richard E. Siders, in 2002. Virginia Siders was 15 when she married Joshua Saunders in 2003, according to state records. Both of those marriages occurred in Gallia County. Tessi Siders told The New York Times that her now deceased husband was Gary Siders Sr.’s cousin.
Gary Siders Sr., Christina Siders, Gary Siders Jr., and Elizabeth Siders have pleaded not guilty to felony child endangerment charges. They are accused of holding 16 children in a 12-foot by 12-foot room, caked with feces and trash, for years.
The case shines attention on Ohio’s marriage laws and a campaign to raise the legal marriage age to 18.
“This heartbreaking case is a powerful reminder of what we’ve always known, that child marriage is dangerous and often leads to tragic outcomes,” said Fraidy Reiss, director of Unchained At Last, a nonprofit that advocates to end child marriage worldwide. “How many more terrible reminders do legislators need before they finally do what states across the U.S. and countries around the world are doing and ban marriage before age 18?”
In 2019, following an investigation by the Dayton Daily News, Ohio changed its marriage laws to block young teens, who were often pregnant, from getting married.
Ohio Department of Health marriage records show 15 children under the age of 15 married in Ohio between 2000 and 2024, including two 10-year-old girls in 2017.
Since 2000, 2,541 children have married in Ohio, and 96% married adults.
In 2019, lawmakers set the minimum marriage age at 18 but included a loophole for 17-year-olds to marry under certain conditions.
Earlier this year, State Sens. Bill Blessing, R-Colerain Twp., and Bill DeMora, D-Columbus, pushed a bill to eliminate the loophole. The legislation stalled after some Republican senators quietly opposed it.
Despite this, Blessing is convinced his bill will pass the Legislature by December. He said the Vinton County case “illustrates that child marriage has real consequences, and is not a relic of a bygone era.”
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson, who is helping investigate and prosecute the Siders case, said minors should not be allowed to marry.
“We don’t allow kids to vote, we don’t allow them to buy cigarettes or alcohol,” Wilson said. “Very generally, I can say I’m not for young kids getting married.”
State government reporter Laura Bischoff can be reached at lbischoff@usatodayco.com and @lbischoff on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Records reveal 3 teen marriages in family charged with abuse | Exclusive
Reporting by Laura A. Bischoff, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Laura A. Bischoff, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
