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Character witnesses called in Sissonville child abuse case

UPDATE 1/22/2025 7:30 p.m. –On day six in the trial of a Sissonville couple charged with child abuse, neglect and forced labor, the defense had a full day to lay out their case, calling witnesses that say that what the couple is accused of would be out of character for them.

Jeanne Whitefeather and Donald Lantz were arrested after two of their five adopted children were found locked in a shed on their property.

One of the witnesses they called was a Tricia Field from Minnesota, who met Whitefeather when she moved there and started working at a church in 2010.

She said that she would frequently visit their ranch and Whitefeather, Lantz and the children would frequently visit her ranch.

Field said that the kids were well taken care of.

“They were your typical, very strong family,” she said. “I knew her from the time she fostered the children, through the adoption, I was there at the adoption with her and the kids were always very well cared for. She would go out of her way to make sure that if one of them didn’t like what she was making, she would make an extra meal.”

During the trial, the children had testified that Whitefeather and sometimes Lantz would make racist remarks directed at them, like calling them monkey.

Field says that Whitefeather was never racist towards any Black people.

” Absolutely not, quite the opposite,” Field said. “If she saw anybody doing anything racist, she would stand up against it.”

Another witness, Jodi Nash who also is from Minnesota and met Whitefeather and Lantz while they were licensed through the same adoption agency, said she never saw either of them be racist towards to the kids.

“I haven’t seen anything that would suggest that at all,” Nash said.

Nash, had adopted two of the kids that were fostered by Whitefeather and Lantz, and she was asked if she saw any problem with how they treated those kids and she responded no.

On cross-examination for both Field and Nash, Kanawha County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Madison Tuck, asked them if either of them visited their house at 225 Cheyanne Lane in West Virginia or had any firsthand knowledge of what happened at the residents. Both witnesses responded no they did not.

After the two witnesses, a former Kanawha County Child Protective Service worker took to the stand.

She was the one who was assigned the referral in May of 2023 to go and give the family a visit. She stated that the first attempt to visit the family, was when she went to the resident to try and make contact, but that effort went unanswered. She left her card on the first attempt. She went back the next day again to try and make contact but didn’t see anyone. However, Lantz called her back later that day for her to come and visit.

On her visit she talked to both Whitefeather and Lantz, and each child individually. And upon walking through the house, she saw that they had beds, food, electricity and access to running water. After that initial walkthrough, the case was referred to a different case worker who never followed up.

Prior to their testimonies, Whitefeather was still on the stand answering questions from Chris Krivonyak, prosecuting attorney, about some of the text messages that were found on her phone.

One in particular was from June 26, 2023, that was a photo of the older boy where it referred to him as a “useless black dude”

Whitefeather denied sending the text, saying that the oldest girl used her phone a lot.

Earlier in the trial all three kids stated that Whitefeather carried a gun on her hip, there was one picture that was sent on her phone, that showed that pistol. Whitefeather claimed that she used it for coyotes while they were in Washington, and that she never shot the gun towards any of the children.

Also, something that Whitefeather denies is ever leaving one of the younger girls home alone the night of October 2, 2023.

She said that night, she had left before Lantz, and everything was fine when she left.

She said that the younger girl was reading and watching movies and that she wasn’t in any danger.

“Before I left, because she was supposed to come with me, and she said that she wanted to stay home and I asked her why and she said her stomach hurt and she wanted to read a book and she asked if I could rub her head and put some oil on it,” Whitefeather said Wednesday afternoon. “And I did that before I left, and she was looking at a book and she had her video player was right there and all the lights were on before I left.”

The trial is expected to resume Thursday morning with testimonies from some of Whitefeather’s family, a doctor and Lantz.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — One of the defendants in the trial of a Sissonville couple charged with locking two of their five adoptive black children in a shed is denying those accusations as well as allegations of neglecting or mistreating their children in any way.

Jeanne Whitefeather took the stand for the second day out of day six in the trial against herself and Donald Lantz Wednesday, both facing a 20-count indictment that includes gross child neglect, human trafficking, and civil rights violations.

This comes after three out of five of their adoptive children testified in the prior couple of days alleging they were beaten with sticks and rocks, were fed “rotten and stale” peanut butter sandwiches, and were sprayed with pepper spray during their time living with the couple at 225 Cheyanne Lane in Sissonville and previously at their Washington state ranch.

During Wednesday’s testimony with Whitefeather to her attorney Mark Plants, she claimed getting psychiatric help for her oldest adoptive son who was severely suffering from mental health issues was one of the primary reasons for moving to West Virginia. She said his deteriorating mental health was also the reason for consistently leaving him in the care of the oldest daughter in the shed.

Whitefeather claimed the children, who were 13 and 15 at the time, had a key to the shed and could freely come and go as they pleased.

In May of 2023, a Child Protective Services agent came to do a wellness check on the children at their Sissonville home.

Whitefeather said the CPS worker did a walk-through checking on basic necessities for the kids and inquired about their well-being. She told the court what she told the CPS worker.

“I said other than the hecticness of being in the middle of two moves, I said I have a son and our son has mental illness and we’ve been trying to get him into Highland and I’m struggling with that,” Whitefeather said to her attorney.

She said she attempted to call CPS after the initial wellness check regarding the well-being of her son because she was worried about him but never heard back.

Whitefeather claimed they were trying to admit their son into Highland Hospital in Charleston while also in the process of moving into a larger home in Beckley during the fall of 2023.

She said she was frustrated because her son’s condition seemed to be growing progressively worse and they kept getting delayed admittance into the psychiatric hospital for their son in addition to the move repeatedly getting delayed.

Plants, Whitefeather’s attorney, then began going through text messages between her and Lantz dating back to May of 2023.

Plants questioned Whitefeather about one of the first texts displayed on the screen where she refers to her 13-year-old son, the one struggling with a mental illness, as an “idiot.” She responded that she didn’t mean to use such harsh language but was constantly afraid of him.

“Obviously I’m not going to get any sleep tonight, Don, I can’t live like this,” Plants said as he read Whitefeather’s messages to Lantz aloud to the court Wednesday.

“It ain’t fair that I should have to for even one day more, you have to help figure out what to do with this idiot,” Plants continued to read. “Getting something for him to live in here will take too long, moving will take too long, help now, something.”

“What was the purpose of that text? Tell me about that,” Plants said addressing Whitefeather on the witness stand.

“I was super scared and I was really frustrated,” Whitefeather replied.

In the texts, her and her husband would often refer to their adopted son as “PB,” and Whitefeather claimed that nickname had a few different meanings but that it primarily meant “pee boy” because he would often wet himself. She said sometimes it meant “psycho boy” and “pee brain” as well.

Plants also asked her about comments referring to the children as “monkeys” where she denied that it meant anything racial.

“It’s just a mom and dad talking about their children, there was nothing meant bad about it,” Whitefeather said.

Whitefeather said she believed her son needed to be supervised at all times which is why they installed cameras in the shed and some of the rooms in the house.

“Camera dead in their bedroom,” Plants said reading another text message. “Again, why are you concerned about the cameras?”

“Because I want to make sure that the kids are safe and I’m scared to go up there if Don is not at home,” answered Whitefeather.

She said the cameras were so they could all be safe from the son.

Lantz’ attorney John Balenovich also asked Whitefeather some questions while she was at the stand Wednesday morning.

He said while the family was in Washington there was a major confrontation between her and her oldest son, further asking her whether this confrontation marked the downfall of the family. She responded that it had.

The state then followed up with a cross-examination with Whitefeather Wednesday morning where they reviewed the same text messages again.

Lantz will soon be expected to testify in the ongoing trial as well as possible witnesses from some of their family members.





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