The trial begins for a West Virginia couple accused of enslaving their five children

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – A witness broke down in tears as she described children carrying heavy objects through a hilly area at the home of a West Virginia couple who were later arrested after two of their five adopted children were found locked inside the house. building outside.

The trial of Jeanne Kay Whitefeather and Donald Ray Lantz began Tuesday on more than a dozen charges including forced labor, civil rights violations, human trafficking and child neglect.

In her opening statement, Assistant Prosecutor Madison Tuck said the evidence will show the couple forced the children to work and manipulated them “physically, emotionally and mentally into compliance.” He said text messages between Lantz and Whitefeather revealed that they made the children stay longer and locked the two older children, both in their teens, in an outhouse.

Whitefeather’s attorney, Mark Plants, said the case is “about foster parents who are struggling to deal with their children’s past trauma and severe mental illness.” He said that Whitefeather’s friends and relatives will testify that four of them were abused “physically, sexually and emotionally” by their birth mother, including the fact that she said that her mother drank alcohol and drugs during her pregnancy.

“This is a normal family,” said Plants. “They have Christmas. Everything. They have Christmas presents. They have family vacations. They sit around the dinner table and eat.”

Lantz and Whitefeather are white. The children, all siblings ages 5 to 16, are Black.

The couple adopted the five siblings while living in Minnesota and moved to a farm in Washington state in 2018 before moving to West Virginia in 2023, where the children range in age from 5 to 16.

Neighbor Joyce Bailey testified Tuesday that when the family first arrived at the home in Sissonville, West Virginia, in 2023, it was raining and the children were told to line up outside.

“You never see them talking to each other,” he said. “They didn’t talk to each other. You didn’t see them unless they were working. They never played.”

Bailey became emotional several times as she described what she said was the difficulty some of the children had in carrying animal fences, propane tanks, buckets full of water and other items between the home, trailer and barn as Lantz watched. A video of the physical activity taken by Bailey was shown in Kanawha County Court.

“He made them carry everything, that’s a tough call,” Bailey said. “They just stood there waiting for him to tell them what to do.”

Bailey said he also saw an older boy carrying a propane tank. The boy “couldn’t even walk.” He pretended that his feet hurt a lot. He was dragging them,” said Bailey. “Mr. Lantz was just standing there. He never said anything, it didn’t help him.”

Bailey said it “torn me up,” so he started taking video. When Lantz looked at her, Bailey said, her husband told her to stop filming, but she continued, replying, “I don’t care.”

In September 2023, the couple bought a large house in Beckley and began moving furniture from the Sissonville home. A month later, Bailey said, she saw Lantz lock the two children in an outbuilding and leave the area. Whitefeather left after a while. Someone called the police, and Bailey said he saw sheriff’s deputies knocking on the door of the outhouse for several minutes. The girl answered but showed that she didn’t have the key. Bailey said she heard the deputy talking to the girl, then used a crowbar to get the children out.

The deputy said at the crime scene the children were wearing dirty clothes and the older boy was barefoot and had sores on his feet. Inside the main house, a 9-year-old girl was found alone crying in a fall protection house. The fourth child was with Lantz when he finally returned. Deputies were later taken to the couple’s five-year-old adopted daughter.

Whitefeather and Lantz were arrested and the children were placed under the care of Child Protective Services.

According to the complaint, the children were deprived of adequate food and hygiene, the outhouse did not have running water and a bathroom. Plants called the outbuilding a “teenage clubhouse” and said there was a key inside. But Tuck said the kids never knew about the keys.

Plants said the older boy tried to run away from home and said the lock on the outside of the house was intended to prevent him from trying again. The boy is currently receiving full-time care at a mental institution.