A West Virginia jury has convicted a couple who were accused of neglect and forced labor involving their adopted children, including locking some of them in a shed, and forcing them to sleep on the floor and use buckets as toilets.
Jeanne Kay Whitefeather was convicted of all 19 counts against her, including forced labor, civil rights violations, human trafficking and child neglect. Her husband, Donald Ray Lantz, was found guilty on 12 counts out of 16. He was acquitted of four counts of civil rights violations.
The jury deliberated for eight hours before reaching a verdict on Wednesday in the couple’s trial that began mid-January. Whitefeather and Lantz, who are white, were accused of mistreating their children — all of whom are Black.
They adopted the five siblings while living in Minnesota, moved to a farm in Washington state in 2018, and then brought the family to West Virginia in May 2023, when the children ranged in age from 5 to 16.
The couple was arrested in October 2023 after neighbors saw Lantz lock the oldest girl and her teenage brother in a shed and leave the property. A deputy used a crowbar to get them out.
Inside the main home, a 9-year-old girl was found alone crying in a loft with no protection from falling, according to a criminal complaint. A fourth child was with Lantz when he eventually returned. Deputies were later led to the couple’s youngest daughter.
The children were found in dirty clothes and smelling of body odor, deputies said, and the eldest boy was found barefoot with what appeared to be sores on his feet.
All five were turned over to Child Protective Services after the couple’s arrest.
During the trial, neighbors testified they never saw the children play and witnessed Lantz make them stand in line or perform difficult chores around the yard, including lifting heavy items. After Lantz noticed the curious neighbors, the children mostly stayed indoors.
The couple’s eldest daughter, now 18, testified that the outdoor work occurred mostly in Washington and that some of them were forced to use their hands for digging.
She also said the children were fed a steady diet of peanut butter sandwiches at scheduled times, some left over from a previous meal. Some kids were forced to stand in their rooms for hours and keep their hands on their heads. The oldest girl and boy shared a room, including the same bucket for using the bathroom while the other held up a sheet for privacy.
She also said the children slept on the floor and barely bathed.
The couple and their attorneys pushed back on the allegations, with Lantz testifying that the chores were assigned to teach the children responsibility.
Whitefeather’s attorney said the oldest boy had attempted to run away from home and the lock on the shed was meant to keep him from trying again.
Whitefeather called the shed a “teenager hangout” and said the older children had access to a key and were free to leave as they pleased. But testimony showed the children didn’t know where a key was — detectives found one out of sight on top of a cabinet in the shed.
Prosecutors said the couple’s tactics were less about teaching responsibility and instead about control.
“These kids weren’t there to be raised as children, but served another purpose entirely,” Kanawha County Assistant Prosecutor Chris Krivonyak said in his closing arguments.
“The whole point of treating them this way is they become less than human,” Krivonyak added. “They become more like machines. That way they’re more useful.
“How do you do that to someone you love?”
Prosecutors also entered racist text messages into evidence that they said were from Whitefeather, who denied writing them. The oldest daughter testified the children were cursed at “all the time” and that Whitefeather used racist language.
Whitefeather also didn’t want to eat off the same plates used by the children, whom she referred to as “dirty,” the girl testified.
“You want to know what racists look like?” Assistant Prosecutor Madison Tuck asked the jury, then pointed to the defendants. “Look at them.”
The defense argued the couple was simply overwhelmed by trying to get help for the children’s ongoing mental health issues, abuse and trauma from their biological home.
Lantz’s attorney, John Balenovich, said the state’s child welfare agency, which the family requested help from several times, “dropped the ball the most in this case.”
Tuck said the couple never drove the oldest boy for help for his mental health issues in West Virginia, where there was a behavioral health clinic four minutes from their home.
“You’re not going to have any medical records if you don’t have a doctor,” Tuck said.
A forensic psychologist for the prosecution testified that the couple’s treatment of the children had worsened their conditions.
The eldest boy, whose physical altercation with Whitefeather in 2022 was cited by attorneys as the start of the family’s serious internal struggles, currently is receiving full-time care in a psychiatric facility.
Whitefeather’s attorney, Mark Plants, said during his closing argument that the couple was only guilty of making poor parenting decisions.
“These are farm people that do farm chores,” Plants said. “It wasn’t about race. It wasn’t about forced labor.”