A West Virginia mother has denied forcing her two adopted children into a cabin, even though police found them behind a locked door.
Jean Kay Whitefeather testified Tuesday in the second week of the trial against her and her husband, Donald Ray Lantz. The two allegedly abused four of their five children, all of whom are black. Whitefeather and Lantz, who are white, each face felony charges including forced labor, civil rights violations, human trafficking and child abuse.
Whitefeather and Lantz lived in Sissonville, West Virginia, in October 2023 after a neighbor reported seeing Lantz lock two teenage girls (a girl and a boy) in a cabin and leave the property. , was arrested.
Mr Whitefeather claimed the cabin was a “hangout for teenagers”.
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Defendants Donald Lantz and Jean Whitefeather enter Kanawha Circuit Judge Mary Claire Akers' courtroom after jury selection on the first day of their trial, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in Charleston, West Virginia. (AP)
“They were not trapped,” Whitefeather testified. “They had the keys. They could come and go as they pleased.”
But his eldest daughter, now 18, testified last week that she didn't know she had access to the keys. Detectives previously testified that a key was found out of sight on top of a cabinet in the cabin.
The girl also said the children were given peanut butter sandwiches at set times and were not allowed to eat outside of those times, regardless of whether they were hungry or not.
Donald Ray Lantz (left) and Gene Kay Whitefeather rest during the first day of trial in Kanawha County Circuit Court on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 in Charleston, West Virginia. (AP)
Whitefeather claims she allowed her children to use the refrigerator and cooked them every night.
After the couple was arrested, the five children were placed in the custody of Child Protective Services.
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Donald Lantz and Jean Whitefeather are on trial for child neglect after their children were found locked in a cabin. (West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority)
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The two adopted five siblings while living in Minnesota. They later moved to a farm in Washington state in 2018 and moved to West Virginia in 2023, at which point their children ranged in age from 5 to 16.
The eldest son is receiving full-time treatment at a psychiatric facility.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
