Whitefeather and Lantz were arrested in October 2023 when neighbors called police to report seeing Lantz lock the oldest girl and her teenage brother in the shed and leave the property in Sissonville.
Whitefeather called the shed a “teenager hangout.”
“They weren’t locked in,” Whitefeather testified. “They had a key. They could come and go as they pleased.”
But the oldest daughter, now 18, testified last week that she didn't know about access to a key, which a detective had testified earlier was found out of sight on top of a cabinet in the shed.
The daughter also said the children were given a steady diet of peanut butter sandwiches at scheduled times and were not allowed to eat at other times, even if they were hungry. But Whitefeather said the children were allowed to use the refrigerator and said she cooked food every night.
After the couple's arrest, all five children were placed under the care of Child Protective Services. The couple adopted the five siblings while living in Minnesota. They moved to a farm in Washington state in 2018 before moving again to West Virginia in 2023, when the children ranged in age from 5 to 16. The oldest boy is receiving full-time care in a psychiatric facility.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP