A West Virginia mother has been charged with locking foster teenagers in a shed
A West Virginia mother has denied forcing her adopted children to stay in two sheds, despite police finding them there behind closed doors.
Jeanne Kay Whitefeather testified against her and her husband, Donald Ray Lantz, on Tuesday in the second week of the trial. The couple allegedly abused four of their five children, all of whom are black. Whitefeather and Lantz, who are white, each face multiple felony charges, including forced labor, civil rights violations, human trafficking and aggravated child neglect.
Whitefeather and Lantz were arrested in October 2023 after neighbors said they saw Lantz lock two teenagers — a girl and a boy — in a shed and leave his property in Sissonville, West Virginia.
Whitefeather says the shed is a “teenage hangout.”
West Virginia man and woman arrested after teenagers found locked in shed
Defendants Donald Lantz and Jane Whitefeather enter the courtroom of Kanawha Circuit Court Judge Maryclaire Akers on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, following jury selection in Charleston, West Virginia. (AP)
“They weren’t locked in,” Whitefeather testified. “They had keys and could come and go as they pleased.”
But the eldest daughter, now 18, testified last week that she did not know access to the key. The key was found out of sight on top of a cabinet in the shed, the detective said earlier.
The girl also said that the children were given peanut butter sandwiches at scheduled times and were not allowed to eat outside of those times.
Donald Ray Lantz, left, and Jean Kay Whitefeather appear during a break in Kanawha County Circuit Court on the first day of a trial in Charleston, West Virginia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
Whitefeather allows the children to use the refrigerator and she cooks every night.
After the couple’s arrest, the five children were placed in the custody of Child Protective Services.
Mrs. Legal Mrs. Zewdu was arrested after she threatened to kill the regional delegation because of beef.
Donald Lantz and Jane Whitefeather are on trial for child neglect after the children were found locked in a shed. (West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority)
Click here to access the FOX NEWS app
The couple adopted five siblings while living in Minnesota. They then moved to West Virginia in 2023. In 2018, they moved to a farm in Washington state, where the children were aged between five and 16.
The eldest son is being cared for full-time in a psychiatric facility.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
