The shocking case that shook America: 16 feral children rescued from a house covered in human waste. Their condition after being reintegrated into the community is critical — at least 10 of the 16 had to be hospitalized, including one child reportedly in life-threatening condition. The initial cause behind this horrifying tragedy has begun to emerge, revealing details that are deeply disturbing.

The shocking case that shook America: 16 feral children rescued from a house covered in human waste. Their condition after being reintegrated into the community is critical — at least 10 of the 16 had to be hospitalized, including one child reportedly in life-threatening condition. The initial cause behind this horrifying tragedy has begun to emerge, revealing details that are deeply disturbing.

We’ve got the prosecutor at the mic. Let’s listen in. >> Dependency complaints that have [snorts] been filed hereby the Vinton County Juvenile Probate Court. The initial hearing occurring now, we are asking for temporary custody to Job and Family Services. The children are safe. They are They have been placed.

We have some other issues we’re still dealing with for their safety, but they are currently in a good situation and are being protected. The last thing I want to mention very quickly, particularly for our local community folks, is this is an intra-family situation. This is not human trafficking.

 There is There is nothing to put our other children at risk. This is clearly involved a multi-generational family in a very limited situation. We know the early reports came out that some of this might be going on, but we wanted to assure the public that their children in Vinton County are safe and they do not have to worry about these defendants.

I will now turn it over to Attorney General Andy Wilson. >> Okay, Sheriff Wilson, sorry about that. I just wanted to touch on what the prosecutor had said. Yesterday, I know everybody’s got a lot of questions. The nature of the crimes, we have a lot of hurdles that are real sensitive that we have to We want to get you guys information as quick as we can, but uh the age range of the kids has There’s a lot of specific hurdles involved in this crime.

 We will get you that information as soon as we can. We just want to let you know that also to touch back on that the community is safe. They’re just as safe as the day before you learned that this had happened. And we’re still working on it and we’re going to do the best we can to make sure you guys are informed. Thank you. >> We’ve got Attorney General Wilson, Ohio’s Attorney General.

I want to open up by saying, like I did yesterday, like I do every time I talk about a criminal case that’s just been charged, that under our American criminal justice system, everybody who is charged is cloaked in the presumption of innocent, and they remain innocent unless and until they are taken into court and proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

That being said, I’m coming to this press conference directly from the sheriff’s office where I had the opportunity again to sit down with sheriff’s office detectives and with some of our BCI agents, and I was briefed again updated on the status of the investigation and the case, and I actually had the opportunity today to look at some of the evidence of the case.

 I was out at the scene with our agents and the detectives yesterday, so I saw the location, I saw the condition that it was in. Some of the evidence Well, yesterday when I saw the the location, the kids were already gone. They were being treated >> [snorts] >> at the hospital. The evidence I got to see today was some evidence where the initial discovery of the of the children was was captured or or documented.

 And again, I’ve done these types of cases for a long time, and I’ve been in incredibly poverty-stricken areas in the inner city. I’ve been in poverty-stricken areas in in rural Ohio, and I’ve never I’ve just never seen anything like I saw today with with respect to those kids. As we sat and and we talked about it as the team kind of talked about it, it really looked third world.

 It’s the type of thing that we’re not used to seeing here in America where you know, our children are really our most precious resource, and we have an obligation as parents, guardians, and custodians to to to love our kids, to care for our kids, uh, to ensure that they they are safe, that they are well fed, that they have uh, safe conditions uh, to to live in.

That’s what we expect uh, here in in America. And again, what I saw uh, today in the evidence what I’ve seen uh, up to this point in this case is is um, just almost beyond comprehension that that this stuff can happen in our country and that it can happen uh, in a house at the at the hands of people who are in charge of of taking care of of kids.

Uh, in looking at uh, the evidence, I I can tell you without hesitation that a lot of credit has to go to uh, local law enforcement, to Ohio BCI. I have uh, uh, the supervisor, excuse me, superintendent of BCI Bruce Pijanowski with me uh, here today and I have the on-scene uh, supervisor uh, Jim Mulford uh, who really was his team that put this case together and uh, worked with local sheriffs uh, deputies and sheriff detectives in putting this investigation together and they took it uh, to the prosecutor’s office to to to get the

warrant or at least have the warrant approved. And the reason I say that is because uh, again, a lot of credit goes to the men and women of this investigative team because I’m telling you in in what I’ve seen up to this point, I I think if they would have waited another 24 hours, uh, that there was a very high probability that uh, we’d be dealing with uh, with a with a death or or multiple deaths of these children.

 I’m not going to go specifically into the medical conditions of the kids other to say that that is since since the discovery of this uh, situation, as you heard the prosecutor say yesterday, our number one concern has been the physical well-being of those children. Uh, several of the children were uh, all of the children were examined and and treated.

 Several of the children, I believe seven of them, were uh to Columbus hospitals and as I told you yesterday, I think at least two of them were were care-flighted. Uh those uh children uh again continue uh we we continue to to treat and make sure that they are okay. Their physical well-being is our our number one concern. But we also have to be concerned uh with their mental and emotional well-being as well.

 And I can tell you uh on behalf of the investigative team and on on behalf of the prosecutor, uh the sheriff’s office, that is the number one priority is to is make sure that these kids are are taken care of physically, mentally, and emotionally. And part of that is as you heard uh the prosecutor say, uh is making sure that they are they are placed that that custody of these children is is removed uh from the people who did this to them and that these kids are placed in safe uh loving environments where uh again, it’s going to take it’s going to take a

lot of work to to address uh the the emotional harm and uh some of the some of the issues that are going to result from this. Uh but we need to make sure that those kids are are surrounded and and loved and supported uh by people who truly care for them. And we talked to the investigative team uh this morning and it appears uh from the evidence in this case that uh these kids have been in a position where people they should have been able to trust to take care of them have failed them.

 Uh not only failed them, but harmed them. And it’s now up to us to to to stand up for those kids. And you saw that yesterday uh from the the detectives, the agents who went in and removed the kids from this physical location. Uh but now it’s on the the the system and and working with Prosecutor Archer uh and and talking with him uh through the case, he understands fully that uh one of the best ways that you can help these kids, one of the best ways that you can address their their long-term uh emotional and and mental needs is by

holding accountable the people who harm them. And and talking to him about the evidence and talking to him about his plan for the case. I am confident that he’s dedicated to seeing that justice is done for these kids and that the community again remains safe for for everybody. We have offered the help of the Iowa Attorney General’s office in any way we can.

We have our special prosecutions division and I have Jimmy Lowe who’s the Deputy Attorney General for law enforcement. He’s been down with us all morning. We’ve offered up prosecutors from our special prosecutions division to to assist and I believe we’re going to we’re going to partner in helping with that that case, but our role is one of support and leveraging our resources.

I I want to thank Governor Mike DeWine. I talked to Governor DeWine a couple times yesterday. I talked to Kara Wente who is the director of the Department of Children and Youth ensuring that the needs of these kids, the placement of these kids cuz as you can imagine placing 16 kids in a county of this size taxes the resources.

 I have assurances from the governor and from the Department of Children and Youth, the governor’s staff that they will provide whatever we need, whatever resources we need to support these kids and help protect these kids. The other thing I want to say is this as as the prosecutor said this is isolated to an intrafamilial event.

The citizens of this community don’t have to worry about their kids being part of this or or somebody out there in addition to this that that may be doing harm to their to their kids. But if anybody out there has information about this family and about these kids, if they call the Ohio Attorney General’s office and we’ll have a number we’ll have that number here available after this press conference.

They call that the Ohio Attorney General’s office to our tip line. We certainly will get that to BCI and we we will want to talk to you as the investigation moves forward. So with that, I certainly appreciate the good work of everybody involved in this case and