When attorney Thomas Stolly first met Elizabeth Siders, he said the mother “missed” the 16 kids she’s accused of raising in Ohio’s “house of horrors,” and desperately wanted to know whether they were safe.

On June 30, investigators entered a rural home in Vinton County, Ohio, where they found 16 children, ranging in age from 18 months to 18 years, allegedly living in conditions authorities described as “deplorable.”

Detectives believe more than half of the children had spent the previous four years confined to a single 12-foot-by-12-foot room inside a home reportedly covered in dirt and feces, according to People.

Calling the situation “pure evil,” Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said the children’s lives were “in danger at the time” they were found, adding that years of alleged neglect had left a visible impact.

“They looked like almost feral animals. It was terrible,” Wilson said, according to CBS News. “This really looked third world.”

The children’s medical condition also underscored the severity of what investigators say they endured. Two were flown to specialized trauma centers after suffering what Wilson described as “serious physical harm,” while seven others were taken to hospitals in Columbus, including one child who was admitted to the intensive care unit and placed on a ventilator.

Elizabeth Siders, 33, her husband Gary Siders Jr., 36, Gary Siders Sr., 73, and Christina Siders, 67, have each been charged with 16 counts of second-degree felony child endangerment. All four have pleaded not guilty and remain jailed on $300,000 bond.

‘Met a woman who was timid’
As outrage over the allegations continues to grow, Elizabeth Siders’ attorney, Thomas Stolly, argues the public may not yet have the full picture.

“I had no idea what I was walking into,” Stolly said in an interview with ABC 6. “I saw the same headlines everyone else did. At one point, the term ‘pure evil’ was used to describe Elizabeth and the home, and at another point, there was a comment that livestock had been treated better.”

Instead, the defense attorney said the woman sitting across from him seemed overwhelmed.

“I met a woman who was timid and who was exhausted. It looked like she had been crying quite a bit. She looked distraught. And she was willing to talk to me. Able to talk to me.”

During the meeting, Stolly said he realized Siders had no idea how the allegations were being portrayed publicly.

“I asked her if she had seen any of the coverage that has been online for the better part of a day now. She hasn’t. She does not know how the home, the conditions, the investigation is being described,” he said, explaining he “chose not to share all of those details with her at this point.”

Shaped by childhood
Stolly has also pointed to Sider’s own upbringing as an important part of understanding the allegations.

Public records show that on March 31, 2008, the mother – then Elizabeth Russell – married the kid’s father, Gary Siders Jr., when she was just 15 years old. Gary was 19 at the time and since his bride was underage at the time, both sets of parents were required to sign the marriage certificate.

“I think that this is more so a case of isolation than a case of evil, and I think that there’s an important distinction there,” Stolly said. “Because 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.”

Asked about her kids
Even so, the attorney said it is still too early to determine whether his client should be viewed as a victim herself.

“She would not, I don’t think, classify herself as a victim,” he said, adding that she “did not have a typical victim-minded mindset when answering.”

“She did say that she misses her kids and that’s one of the things that shocked me – the first question that she asked me was, ‘are the kids OK? When can I see the kids?’ ‘Do you know anything about where they are?’” Stolly told the outlet, explaining that she never asked about the criminal case against her.

“I thought it was telling that her first concern was not, ‘When can I get out of jail,’ but was ‘Are my children OK?’”

‘So fragile’

Returning to the attorney general’s description of the case as “pure evil,” Stolly said his own first impression told a different story.

“She does seem so fragile. The person that I met with though is not someone who comes across as purity,” he said, adding, “It’s just evil requires malice. And the person that I saw there, Elizabeth, she doesn’t have that in her eyes, at least from this initial.”

The case is still making its way through the courts, but what do you think of the attorney’s description of Elizabeth Siders? Please let us know your thoughts and then share this story so we can hear from others!