Abusive West Virginia parents forced adopted children into back breaking manual labor, court hears

The 'abusive' white parents from West Virginia accused of locking their adopted black children in a barn also forced them into grueling manual labor, a court heard.

Jeanne Whitefeather, 62 and Donald Lantz, 61, were arrested in October 2023 after two of their adoptive children were found severely neglected with no food, light or running water in a cramped 20 by 14-foot shed fit with a camera in the corner. 

Whitefeather and Lantz appeared in court on Tuesday as their trial kicked off a little more than a month after they pleaded not guilty to additional charges, which came on top of a series of other accusations that they also deny. 

In 2018, while living in Minnesota, the couple adopted five siblings from a farm in Washington state - ranging from the ages of five to 16-years-old. 

During the trial, 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 recalled as she got emotional. 

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. 

'He [the boy] acted like his feet were so sore. He was dragging them,' Bailey said. 

'Mr. Lantz was just standing there. He never said anything, not helping him.' 

At some point, Bailey decided to start filming what the kids were allegedly doing, because she said 'it was tearing me up.' 

While she recorded, she said her husband told her to stop after he spotted Lantz looking at her, but Bailey kept on, telling her partner 'I don't care.' 

She also testified that she had seen the teenagers being locked up in the 'shop,' and that she feared the couple 'would move away,' leaving the kids helpless. 

'I was afraid that they would move away and those little kids, nobody would be there to help them. 

'I wanted to make sure, I just prayed to God that he would give me some sign to get the police back there to get them before they left,' Bailey added.  

Bailey also told the court that when the family first arrived at their home in Sissonville in 2023, she saw a vehicle hauling a trailer of animals pull up to the house. 

She said it was raining that day and that the children were told to line up outside. Bailey also recalled never seeing the children speak to each other or play. 

'You never see them talk to each other. They didn’t talk at all among themselves. You didn’t see them out unless they were working. They never played,' she said. 

When the couple was initially caught allegedly abusing the kids, the children were found with sores on their feet, wearing wet clothing, and wreaked of body odor, a deputy noted in a criminal complaint.  

Inside the couple's main residence, a nine-year-old girl was found crying alone in a loft, without any protection from falling. 

Meanwhile, another child was discovered with Lantz before deputies were led to the couple's five-year-old adopted daughter. 

The couple was then arrested and all the children were placed under the care of Child Protective Services (CPS). 

Kanawah County prosecutors previously said that the children were ‘used basically as slaves' because of their race.

In her opening statement on Tuesday, assistant prosecutor Madison Tuck said that evidence presented at the trial will show that Lantz and Whitefeather used and forced the minors 'physically, emotionally and mentally so that they would comply.' 

Tuck also noted that there are text messages between the couple that mentioned the children standing for long periods of time and locking two of the oldest, both teenagers, in the outhouse. 

She also mentioned that 'while the couple has more than enough resources to care for these children, they simply chose not to do so.'  

Whitefeather's attorney Mark Plants said the case 'is about adoptive parents struggling to deal with their children's past trauma and severe mental illness.' 

Plants went on to explain that friends and family of Whitefeather are set to testify that four of the five children previously endured 'physical, sexual and emotional' abuse at the hands of their biological mother. 

The attorney added that their biological mother also used drugs and alcohol while she was pregnant with them. 

Friends and relatives previously defended the couple, telling DailyMail.com they are 'not guilty and not racist.' 

Whitefeather’s brother, Marcus Hughes, 60, said: ‘They’ve been made out to be monsters which isn’t true. You're supposed to be innocent until you're found guilty.'

Plants said the couple provided 'a normal family' dynamic for their adopted kids. 

'This is a normal family. They have Christmases. All of them. They have Christmas presents. They have family vacations. They sit around dinner tables and eat,' he said.

DailyMail.com previously obtained a half dozen police reports giving more shocking details – including how two of their children ran away from home, and they allegedly forced one of them at gunpoint to stay in his room while using a bullwhip for punishment.

Plants said the barn located on the couple's property was actually used a 'teenage clubhouse', and that there was a key inside. Tucks said the children never knew about a key. 

Plants added that the oldest boy had tried to run away from the home, and that was the reason a lock was placed on the outhouse. 

Now, that boy is receiving full-time treatment in a psychiatric facility.  

They are both charged with human trafficking of a minor child: civil rights violations based on color, race and/or ancestry, use of minor child in forced labor, and child neglect creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death. 

After they posted bond on their initial round of charges, they sold the house where the children were allegedly abused for $295,000.

Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers said in June that the couple's original bond of $200,000 was insufficient compared to the severity of their crimes.

Akers said: 'Along with human trafficking and neglect was serious risk of bodily injuries or death, I don't find the bond to be sufficient.

'It alleges human trafficking, human rights violations, the use of forced labor.

'Human rights violations specific to the fact that these children were targeted because of their race and they were used basically as slaves from what the indictment alleges.'

The trial is set to pick back up on Wednesday.