CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A forensic psychologist testified for the defense Friday afternoon in the child abuse/trafficking trial of Jeanne Kay Whitefeather and Donald Ray Lantz.

Dr. Timothy Saar was called to the stand to go over the mental health of the couple’s oldest son, who has been the focus of the defense’s case.
Saar was asked about both medical records and CPS records. He told the jury there were thousands of pages of records that he reviewed.
“There are a number of records that we took a look at, my focus would have been on any prior mental health records, which we had some as far as going back to 2016,” Saar said. “And the CPS records I had the state of Washington, there was an evaluation that occurred in Minnesota prior to them moving to Washington regarding this child, then when they relocated to West Virginia I have Highland Hospital records and a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation from River Park (hospital).”
Whitefeather and Lantz each face 20 criminal counts of abuse and human trafficking. They were arrested in October 2023 after two of their children were found locked in a shed on the couple’s property in the Sissonville area.
Saar said that the oldest boy had several different diagnoses, including fetal alcohol syndrome, reactive detachment disorder, abuse in his biological family, post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, pica, and restrictive diet disorder, plus more that would replace existing diagnosis.
In previous testimony, Lantz and Whitefeather both said their adopted son would often say that he was hearing voices or seeing things that weren’t there. Saar said that those comments didn’t come up in the records until he was at Highland Hospital in Charleston.

Saar was asked about the altercation that happened between Whitefeather and the oldest boy, where he hit her and pushed her down.
Mark Plants, Whitefeather’s lawyer asked Saar if any of the siblings had expressed being afraid of the boy in a CPS interview after the boy was in the hospital.
Saar said that none of the siblings came out and said that they were afraid, however he did say that they expressed that he could become scary whenever he had his outbursts.
Lantz’s attorney John Balenovich, asked Saar if having children put their hands on their heads was a way that was practiced by parents that are dealing with kids with mental illness in order to make sure that they don’t hurt each other and the toll that it takes on those parents.
“Takes an awful lot of your energy and time and organization, it’s a lot of work especially if they also have some outbursts and aggressive types of behavior or sexualized behaviors,” Saar said. “I mean it’s hard to treat if you have a doctorate some of these behaviors, let alone if you’re trying be a parent and raise other children. So, you may do things that the outside, to us, look like dumb things to do but you’re trying to do the best you can.”
He did say that having a camera would be one way to help make sure that they kids aren’t going to harm each other or more specifically in this case, to make sure the oldest boy didn’t harm any of his siblings.
In cross-examination, Kanawha County Assistant Prosecutor Chris Krivonyak, pulled out records that had multiple reports, from Washington, of the oldest boy stating on multiple occasions that he would be often locked in his room with a bucket to use the bathroom, and being fed only peanut butter sandwiches that were slid underneath of the door. And that one of his sisters were often hit in the face with a wooden spoon. Also on those reports, Krivonyak pointed out that the boy would say that he didn’t want to go home.
He also pointed out that Whitefeather and Lantz refused WISe, wraparound with intensive services that CPS offered them.
Krivonyak asked Saar what that was.
“Helped the family get maybe educational programs, it may be medication, it may be therapy some other type of supportive living arrangements, it wraps a person around in treatment to give them hopefully the best chance at succeeding, that’s my understanding,” Saar said.
He then proceeded to ask if they would have helped Whitefeather and Lantz in how to manage the boy and his mental health struggles, and Saar responded with yes.
While Dr. Saar’s testimony mainly talked about the oldest boy and his struggle with mental health, he also said that the three other siblings, were also diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome and the younger boy was also diagnosed with PTSD.
In re-direct, Balenovich asked Saar if he saw what the CPS and law enforcement found, regarding the oldest saying he was locked in room days on end. Saar said that they were unfounded.
Trial is expected to resume Monday morning.
Morning testimony from Friday, Jan.24.
The second defendant on the stand in the ongoing Sissonville child neglect trial continues to deny ever hitting his five adoptive black children or referring to them in racial slurs.
Friday morning continued testimony with Donald Ray Lantz.
He and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather face a 20-count indictment alleging gross child neglect, forced labor, human trafficking, and civil rights violations after two of their adopted children were found locked in a shed at their most recent 225 Cheyanne Lane property in Sissonville on October 2, 2023.
Three of the five children had previously gone up to the stand in the now 8-day trial for the couple where they testified that Lantz and Whitefeather not only hit them with various objects, but fed them only peanut butter sandwiches, sprayed them with pepper spray, and forced them to work for hours on end.
In the cross-examination Friday morning with Lantz and the state, he denied all of those allegations.
Assistant Prosecuting attorney Madison Tuck replayed several of the videos and displayed photos and text messages before the court Friday, many of which had been shown to the court in the week prior.
In one of the videos taken at the family’s Big Rock Ranch in Washington, it depicts Lantz yelling, berating, and cursing at their oldest adopted son, the one whom Lantz had previously testified was struggling with mental health problems and causing safety concerns for the family.
He said the video was a family meeting after the son had an altercation with Whitefeather, and Lantz was angry about that.
Tuck asked Lantz if he had hit the boy, who was about 11 or 12 years old at the time, and at first Lantz was hesitant to answer and trying to give a lengthy explanation. Tuck then asked for a direct answer, and that’s when Lantz admitted that he had, in fact, hit the boy, but the intention was not to hurt him.
“We can see that he is cradling his arm,” she said, adding that this implies Lantz had hit him, however, it was not shown in the video.
Tuck also observed that never once did his son lash out in violence or aggression in the video, he was only showing fear. However, in previous testimony, Lantz had stated that Whitefeather was afraid of the son due to his aggression.
Whitefeather’s voice then eventually comes on the video as she was the one recording the meeting. In the video, she says, “I just caught you now Buckwheat,” referring to their son.
Tuck asked him if he thought this was said in a racist manner and he denied that saying it was in reference to a character in a 1930s and 40s television show.
“My wife never saw the show, I’m the one who talked about Buckwheat and she said, ‘what’s that,’ and I said it was a character in a show and he was a comical character,” Lantz said.
“Okay, and that character is a negative caricature of a poor black child, right?” Tuck asked.
“When I was small and watched that show I didn’t realize it was a negative character,” replied Lantz.
The couple’s text messages shown to the court taken off the same phone–which was Whitefeather’s phone that was confiscated by Kanawha County Sheriffs the day of their arrest in Oct. 2023– also refer to the child in racial ways, with one of Whitefeather saying quote, “He has all of the makings of a useless black dude,” talking about the oldest son.
The texts also include conversations about the use of “whacking sticks” on the children.
A still image taken on the phone in what appears to be the shed in Sissonville where the two children were found locked up in shows Lantz holding up a PVC pipe and aiming it towards the son. Although, Lantz denies actually hitting him with it.
“I was not in a position to hit it, I was holding the pipe, it was meant to show him that I was serious,” he said.
In another video taken on September 29, 2023, Lantz is giving the children peanut butter sandwiches and told them that if they don’t eat them, they wouldn’t get anything else to eat that day. Tuck inquired more.
“Would that be you giving the children peanut butter sandwiches?” asked Tuck.
“I’m giving them sandwiches,” he replied.
“And you told them, if you don’t finish them that’s all you’re going to get today?” She continued.
“I said that, yes, because sometimes they don’t finish them,” Lantz said.
Tuck observed that peanut butter sandwiches are the only food items the children are seen to be eating in the videos from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2, which were taken off the couple’s cameras they set up in the shed to keep an eye on the children.
Lantz responded that they were in the process of moving.
Tuck then, however, asked him about another text he sent Whitefeather in July of 2023 before they started to move.
“You said, and I quote, ‘somebody didn’t say thank you and his sandwich disappeared, crying emoji,” read Tuck.
“What’s that?” Asked Lantz.
“You said, somebody didn’t say thank you and his sandwich just disappeared with a crying face emoji,” Tuck repeated.
Peanut butter sandwiches were also the only food found at the scene when police discovered the children in the shed.

Video evidence also implied that the couple controlled when the children went to the bathroom and were, in fact, locked up in the shed.
“You’ve said numerous times, right Mr. Lantz, that your children were not locked in the shed?”
“Yes,” he replied.
Tuck said, however, that he references using the phrase “the kids are in the classroom (one of the terms they used to refer to the shed), and they are secured.”
She said texts also implicated getting a new dead bolt lock for the shed door.
“You are alleging that the children were not locked in the shed, despite putting the dead bolt on, flipping the other lock and saying they were secured,” Tuck said.
“No,” he answered. “With the other testimony we know what the two locks on the door were about.”
Lantz continued to deny the children were locked up despite the police having to pry the door open.
Tuck then asked Lantz about what he stated in direct examination the previous day, how getting their son the psychiatric help he needed was a primary reason for moving to West Virginia, but Friday, he admitted that only phone calls were ever made, and they never actually took him to a hospital or any facility for treatment.
Forensic Psychologist Timothy Saar was expected to be next to take the stand Friday afternoon.
MetroNews repoter Katherine Skeldon contributed to this story.