CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A young woman, whose alarming situation inside a locked shed led to her adoptive parents’ arrest, testified on Friday about the harsh and inadequate living conditions she and her siblings experienced. The teenager recounted being forced to sleep on the floor and using buckets for toilets as part of their routine.
Her testimony marked the culmination of the first week in the trial of Jeanne Kay Whitefeather and Donald Ray Lantz, who stand accused of severely neglecting their five adopted Black children. Both Whitefeather and Lantz, who are white, face an extensive list of felony charges, including forced labor, violations of civil rights, human trafficking, and gross child neglect. Circuit Judge MaryClaire Akers had previously described the allegations in court as the children being treated like “slaves.”
Communication attempts with the couple’s lawyers did not receive immediate responses on Friday evening. The 18-year-old daughter was the first of her siblings to take the stand, and, under court orders, her name was not disclosed. She painted a grim picture of their lives in the years following her adoption, recounting numerous instances of punishment and cruelty.
According to her testimony, the children were required to stay in their rooms for prolonged periods to prevent them from falling asleep. Additionally, they were instructed to keep their hands on their heads, facing pepper spray as a form of punishment if they failed to comply. “It was a daily cycle of abuse,” she recalled, detailing that the torment continued day after day.
During her statements, the teenager shared distressing incidents, one of which involved Lantz yelling at a sibling and striking him with a PVC pipe for not listening. She reported that insults, particularly from Whitefeather, were commonplace, often marked by racially charged language.
The couple had adopted the siblings while living in Minnesota and relocated to a farm in Washington state in 2018, eventually moving again to West Virginia in 2023, where the children’s ages ranged from 5 to 16. A financial analyst testified about the couple’s considerable accumulation of $318,000 in child assistance from Minnesota, which raised concerns regarding the welfare of their children.
Following their arrest in October 2023, after neighbors reported seeing Lantz locking the eldest girl and her brother in a shed, all five children were placed in the care of Child Protective Services. The teenager noted that, while she now speaks to her siblings weekly, they are not living together.
The oldest sister detailed the unappetizing diet the children were provided; they received peanut butter sandwiches at specific meal times but were often left hungry outside of those times. She shared that she used a sleeping bag on the floor while her brother was left to sleep directly on the bare floor with only a cardboard piece for comfort. Cleanliness was also neglected as bathing was infrequent, with the daughter recounting going months without a shower or brushing her teeth.
Additionally, she expressed frustration over not receiving menstrual products, despite her requests. Lantz managed their daily tasks, which involved physically demanding labor on the farm, including carrying supplies, gardening, and caring for the animals. She indicated that some siblings were even compelled to use their hands for digging, particularly during their time on the farm in Washington, until neighbors began expressing concerns.
Commenting on their time spent outdoors, she described a distinct shift in behavior, revealing that after public observation of the children engaged in labor, they were confined indoors. “Jeanne stopped saying anything to me,” she stated, indicating a period of increasing isolation for her and her siblings. The door to the shed where she and her brother slept was locked, leaving her terrified to escape in fear of retribution against her siblings.
In court, it was mentioned that the oldest boy had tried to flee their home, which led to increased restrictions. The daughter’s experiences included a brief escape during their Washington residence, highlighting her desperation to escape their dire circumstances, although she returned after two days.
Furthermore, the eldest girl revealed that within the household, the siblings were once forced to sleep in tents on a hillside due to Whitefeather’s claim that they were “dirty.” She indicated that the same rationale applied to dish usage, resulting in distinct treatment between the children and the favored youngest sibling, who was only 5 years old. She recounted the harsh realities conveyed to her by Whitefeather, stating, “She would often express a desire for a life without us, lamenting how we would never amount to anything.”
