A West Virginia couple found themselves in serious trouble on Tuesday following an incident in which two children were discovered confined inside a structure in Sissonville.
On Monday, October 2, 2023, at approximately 5:46 p.m., the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call concerning the well-being of these minors. Deputy H.K. Burdette arrived at the 200 block of Cheyenne Lane in Sissonville, where she encountered two young siblings, a 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, who were found to be “locked inside a barn.”
The children themselves reported being unable to open the door from within the enclosure, which investigators referred to as a barn or shed.
The sheriff’s office issued a news release, stating, “Deputies had to force entry into the barn where they located a juvenile male and juvenile female locked inside an approximate 20×14 foot room. The children had no means to exit the barn on their own, no running water, no bathroom facilities, and were obviously deprived of adequate hygienic care and food.”
The teenage girl told deputies that they had last received food around 6 a.m. on Monday morning and had been locked inside the shed since then. She further revealed the confinement was a recurring ordeal for both siblings, as they were not allowed inside the house, according to WSAZ.
The 20×14 shed lacked windows and featured only a solitary table and chair, devoid of beds or access to running water. A criminal complaint, obtained by WSAZ, indicated the presence of an RV toilet positioned on the floor atop a black tarp. The shed’s interior consisted of concrete floors and plywood walls, with deputies noting the presence of a camera in the upper left corner of the room.
In a distressing discovery, another young child was found locked within the house, positioned in “an unprotected loft, approximately 15 feet high,” as described by the sheriff’s office.
Upon their initial arrival at the scene, neither parents nor guardians were present. However, the adoptive parents, Donald Ray Lantz, aged 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 61, arrived later that night.
Reportedly, Whitefeather admitted to deputies that the children had been left in the shed and purportedly stated “they like it.”
As a result of these troubling circumstances, Lantz and Whitefeather were subsequently taken into custody on felony charges of gross neglect creating a substantial risk of injury. Bonds for the couple were set at $200,000 in cash.
