Mother Denies Locking Adopted Teens in Shed During West Virginia Trial
CHARLESTON, W.Va.—A woman, along with her husband, faces accusations of compelling their adopted children to engage in arduous farm work. She denied allegations of confining two of the children in a shed even though police discovered them inside behind a locked door, according to reports.
Jeanne Kay Whitefeather testified on Tuesday as the trial of her and her spouse, Donald Ray Lantz, entered its second week. The couple is charged with mistreatment of four out of their five children, who are all Black. Whitefeather and Lantz, who are Caucasian, face numerous felony charges including forced labor, civil rights infringements, human trafficking, and severe child neglect.
In October 2023, Whitefeather and Lantz were apprehended after neighbors notified the authorities about witnessing Lantz locking the eldest girl and her teenage brother in the shed before leaving their Sissonville residence.
Whitefeather portrayed the shed as a “teenager hangout.”
“They weren’t locked in,” Whitefeather claimed during her testimony. “They had a key. They could come and go as they wanted.”
However, the eldest daughter, now 18, testified last week that she was unaware of the key’s presence, which a detective previously indicated was hidden out of sight on a cabinet’s top inside the shed.
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The daughter further stated that the children were fed a consistent diet of peanut butter sandwiches at specific times, without the option to eat at other moments even if they felt hungry. In response, Whitefeather asserted that the children had access to the refrigerator and claimed she prepared meals every evening.
Following the couple’s arrest, all five children were placed under the supervision of Child Protective Services. The couple adopted the siblings while residing in Minnesota, moving to a farm in Washington state in 2018, and subsequently relocating to West Virginia in 2023, when the children’s ages ranged from 5 to 16. The oldest son is currently receiving full-time treatment in a psychiatric facility.
