By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-31 14:56:34 | Updated at 2025-01-31 17:57:19
3 hours ago
The white West Virginia couple who were accused of treating their adopted children as 'slaves' and making them live in a filthy shed have been found guilty.
Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62, and Donald Ray Lantz, 61, went on trial earlier this month, each facing a slew of child neglect charges related to the treatment of their five adoptive children.
On Wednesday, the Kanawha County Circuit Court jury deliberated for more than eight hours before reaching their final verdict, ABC news reported.
Whitefeather was convicted of all 19 counts against her - including forced labor, human trafficking and child neglect - while Lantz was found guilty of 12 of the 16 counts he was charged with.
Lantz was acquitted of the four civil rights violations he was accused of while Whitefeather was found guilty of the same charges.
They were reportedly stone-faced while learning the verdict.
Prosecuting Attorney Debra Rusnak revealed she shed tears when she heard the judge read off 'guilty' for majority of the charges.
'These cases mean a lot to us - we take a lot of this personally,' she said at a news conference, ABC news reported.
Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62, and Donald Ray Lantz, 61, who were accused of treating their adopted children as 'slaves' and making them live in a filthy shed have been found guilty
The West Virginia couple were first arrested in October 2023
'This is our community, and these are the children of our community. If we’re not going to fight for them, then who will?'
The pair will return to court for sentencing on March 19. Whitefeather faces a maximum sentence of 215 years, while her husband faces up to 75 years.
They were arrested in October 2023 after two of their adoptive children were found severely neglected with no food, light or running water in a 20 by 14-foot shed with a camera in the corner.
The siblings were adopted in Minnesota before the family moved to a farm in Washington in 2018. They went to West Virginia in May 2023.
When the children were found, they had sores on their feet, wreaked of body odor and were wearing wet clothes. They were allegedly forced into labor on the couple's Sissonville farmland.
Kanawah County prosecutors said five children aged 16, 14, 11, nine and six were ‘used basically as slaves' because of their race.
Three hours after finding the older children in the locked shed, deputies found a nine-year-old girl holed up in a loft inside the family's locked main house.
When Child Protective Services (CPS) made the horrifying discovery of the two children locked in the shed, Whitefeather told deputies the children actually 'liked' the shed they were locked in.
Pictured: The backyard shed where two of the couple's teenage adopted children were found. There was no way to open the door from the inside, and cops found the kids without food or water. The kids were also forced to do manual labor on the surrounding farmland, its alleged
Donald Ray Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62 of Charleston, West Virginia , plead not guilty on Monday to the new charges they are facing. The couple were first arrested in October 2023 after their adopted children were found locked in a shed on their property
However, the teenage girl told deputies they had been locked in the building for approximately 12 hours.
The building only had a small RV porta-potty and no running water, according to images from inside and descriptions from the initial police report.
The children were also forced to sleep on the hard concrete floor, they said.
The criminal complaint stated: 'If there was a medical emergency or fire, the children would be unable to exit the locked room to safety.'
Court documents said neighbors reported that the children were forced into farm labor and were not allowed inside the main house.
During the trial, which kicked off on January 14, a neighbor, Joyce Bailey, testified about the horrific tasks the couple allegedly forced the young children to do.
Video that she took of the children performing the physical jobs was also shown to the court.
'He [Lantz] made them carry it all, that heavy fencing. They would just stand there and wait for him to tell them what to do,' Bailey emotionally recalled.
Pictured: Outhouses on the property on Cheyenne Lane. The couple sold the home in December 2023, after they had been initially arrested
Defense attorneys Mark Plants, left, and John Balenovich, right, spoke to reporters after court
The distressed neighbor also said that she saw some of the children haul full buckets of water and other supplies, including propane tanks between the trailer, barn and home, all while Lantz stood by and watched.
At one point, Bailey said the oldest boy 'could barely walk' as he lugged one of the tanks while Lantz watched him.
The eldest child, now 18, also shared a tear-jerking testimony during the trial. She discussed the alleged outdoor work she and her siblings were forced to endure, saying some of them were told to dig with their hands.
She also said that they were mainly fed peanut butter sandwiches at specified times throughout the day.
The couple allegedly made some of the children stand in their rooms with their hands on their heads for extended periods of times and slept on the floor.
She and the oldest boy sibling shared a room. She revealed in her testimony that they were only given one bucket for the both of them to use the bathroom in.
Whitefeather claimed the shed was a 'teenager hangout' and they were able to leave whenever they wanted to.
But testimony demonstrated that they had no idea where the shed's key was. Detectives found one hidden on a cabinet in the shed.
Balenovich said the state 'dropped the ball the most in this case' while defending Lantz and his wife
The children were found by authorities with an array of health problems - and the photos were taken by Whitefeather's brother about a week following the arrests
Racist text messages were submitted as evidence to the court by prosecutors. The 18-year-old child said they were cursed at 'all the time' and racist language was used.
Whitefeather allegedly called the oldest daughter 'dirty' and would not eat off the same plates the kids used.
Assistant Prosecutor Madison Tuck said in court: 'You want to know what racists look like? Look at them.'
Lantz’s attorney, John Balenovich, said the children were previously traumatized from their past living situation and the couple was battling to get help for them.
Balenovich said the state 'dropped the ball the most in this case,' but a forensic psychologist for the prosecution said the way the couple treated the children worsened their mental states.
The oldest boy has been admitted to a psychiatric institution and is receiving full-time care, according to ABC news.
While addressing claims of forced labor during closing statements, Whitefeather's lawyer, Mark Plants, said: 'These are farm people that do farm chores. It wasn’t about race. It wasn’t about forced labor.'
