A West Virginia couple was apprehended on Tuesday after two minors were reportedly found confined in a shed in Sissonville, as per the local authorities. The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office received a distress call concerning the welfare of the children shortly after 5:46 p.m. on Monday, October 2, 2023. Deputy H.K. Burdette responded to the call at the 200 block of Cheyenne Lane in Sissonville, where she found two siblings, a 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, locked in a structure resembling a barn.
Despite several attempts, deputies were unable to contact any family members, as reported by local media. The children indicated that they were unable to unlock the door from the inside of the barn, which was also referred to as a shed by investigators.
The sheriff’s office revealed in a press release that deputies had to forcefully enter the barn, where they discovered the two juveniles locked in a room approximately 20×14 feet in size. The children had no means of exiting the barn on their own, lacked access to running water, bathroom facilities, and were evidently deprived of adequate hygiene and food.
The teenage girl told deputies that they were last fed around 6 a.m. on Monday and had been locked in the shed since then. She also mentioned that this was a regular occurrence for them and they were not allowed to enter the house, according to local reports.
The shed, measuring 20×14, had no windows and contained only a single table and chair, with no beds or running water. A criminal complaint reported an RV toilet on a black tarp on the floor, but no functioning toilet. The shed had concrete floors and plywood walls. A camera was observed in the top left corner of the room, according to the complaint.
The complaint also emphasized that in case of a medical emergency or fire, the children would be unable to escape the locked room. Another minor was found locked inside the house, in an unprotected loft approximately 15 feet high, according to the sheriff’s office.
Upon the deputies’ arrival, no parents or guardians were present at the scene. However, the adoptive parents, Donald Ray Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 61, arrived later that night. Whitefeather allegedly admitted to deputies that the children were left in the shed and claimed “they like it.”
Lantz and Whitefeather were subsequently arrested on felony charges of gross neglect creating a substantial risk of injury. Their bonds were set at $200,000 cash each. A preliminary hearing date for the couple has been scheduled for October 12, as reported by local media.
The case is currently under investigation by the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigative Section in collaboration with Child Protective Services. The sheriff’s office has yet to respond to requests for additional comments.