HAMDEN, Ohio (AP) — Just days after authorities removed 16 children from a squalid home and arrested four adult relatives, the question looms over their southern Ohio village: How could this have happened, for years, unnoticed, right here?
Neighbors of the family in tiny Hamden, employees at local stores where they shopped and even the investigators who responded to the scene have been left to wonder that aloud and to themselves, and the limited information shared by investigators doesn't offer a full answer.
The children weren't enrolled in school, the family moved around over the past two decades, and neighbors said they'd never spotted the kids. The children remained mostly confined to a small room in the house, investigators said, under deplorable conditions.
"Right under our noses and ******* ody was able to help them sooner," said Emily Collins, 27, owner of VC Farm & Floral in nearby McArthur. "It's just crazy that all the wonderful things going on in our little Hallmark town and this is what puts us on the radar. It's really sad," said the mother of three, who was compelled to decorate the sidewalk with bright flowers and stars drawn in chalk to cheer herself up.
Authorities said they had gone to the home Tuesday on an unrelated investigation and discovered the children — ages 1 1/2 to 18 years old — some of whom were unable to speak.
Neighbors of the family in tiny Hamden, employees at local stores where they shopped and even the investigators who responded to the scene have been left to wonder that aloud and to themselves, and the limited information shared by investigators doesn't offer a full answer.
The children weren't enrolled in school, the family moved around over the past two decades, and neighbors said they'd never spotted the kids. The children remained mostly confined to a small room in the house, investigators said, under deplorable conditions.
"Right under our noses and ******* ody was able to help them sooner," said Emily Collins, 27, owner of VC Farm & Floral in nearby McArthur. "It's just crazy that all the wonderful things going on in our little Hallmark town and this is what puts us on the radar. It's really sad," said the mother of three, who was compelled to decorate the sidewalk with bright flowers and stars drawn in chalk to cheer herself up.
Authorities said they had gone to the home Tuesday on an unrelated investigation and discovered the children — ages 1 1/2 to 18 years old — some of whom were unable to speak.
29 days ago
