A West Virginia mother on trial for locking her adopted teenagers in a shed is denying the charges
AND West Virginia mother has denied forcing two of their adopted children to stay in a shed despite police finding them there behind a locked door.
Jeanne Kay Whitefeather testified Tuesday in the second week of the trial against her and her husband, Donald Ray Lantz. The couple allegedly abused four of the five children, all of whom are black. Whitefeather and Lantz, who are white, each face several criminal actsincluding forced labor, civil rights violations, human trafficking, and gross child neglect.
Whitefeather and Lantz were arrested in October 2023 when neighbors reported seeing Lantz lock two teenagers — a girl and a boy — in a shed and leave the property in Sissonville, West Virginia.
Whitefeather claimed the shed was a “teenage hangout”.
WEST VIRGINIA MAN AND WOMAN ARRESTED AFTER TEENAGER FOUND LOCKED IN SHED
Defendants Donald Lantz and Jeanne Whitefeather enter the courtroom of Kanawha County District Court Judge Maryclaire Akers on the first day of their trial, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in Charleston, West Virginia, after jury selection. (AP)
“They weren’t locked,” Whitefeather testified. “They had a key. They could come and go as they pleased.”
But the eldest daughter, now 18, testified last week that she did not know how to access the key. AND the detective testified earlier that the key was found out of sight on top of a cupboard in the shed.
The girl also said the children were given peanut butter sandwiches at a scheduled time and were not allowed to eat outside of that time, regardless of whether they were hungry.
Donald Ray Lantz, left, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather are shown during a break in Kanawha County District Court on the first day of the trial in Charleston, West Virginia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
Whitefeather claims that the children were allowed to use the refrigerator and that she cooked every night.
After the couple was arrested, the five children were placed in the care of Child Protective Services.
Donald Lantz and Jeanne Whitefeather are on trial for child neglect after the children were found locked in a shed. (West Virginia Regional Office of Jails and Correctional Institutions)
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The couple adopted five siblings while living in Minnesota. They then moved to a farm in Washington state in 2018 before moving to West Virginia in 2023, at which time the children ranged in age from five to 16.
The oldest boy receives all-day care in a psychiatric institution.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
