Adopted teenagers allege West Virginia mother locked them in shed, mother denies accusations.
A 'teenager hangout' was claimed by Jeanne Kay Whitefeather regarding the shed.
Despite police discovering two of their adopted children locked in a shed behind a door in West Virginia, a mother denied forcing them to stay there.
On Tuesday, Jeanne Kay Whitefeather testified in the second week of trial against her and her husband, Donald Ray Lantz. The couple is accused of mistreating four out of five black children. Whitefeather and Lantz, both white, are facing several felony charges, including forced labor, civil rights violations, human trafficking, and gross child neglect.
In October 2023, Whitefeather and Lantz were arrested after neighbors reported seeing Lantz locking two teenagers, a girl and a boy, in a shed and leaving the property in Sissonville, West Virginia.
Whitefeather claimed the shed was a "teenager hangout."
"Whitefeather testified that they were not locked in, as they had a key and were free to come and go as they pleased."
Last week, the oldest daughter, now 18, testified that she was unaware of access to a key, despite a detective's earlier testimony that a key was found out of sight on top of a cabinet in the shed.
The girl stated that the kids were given peanut butter sandwiches at set intervals and were prohibited from eating outside those intervals, even if they were hungry.
Whitefeather asserts that the kids were permitted to utilize the refrigerator and that she prepared meals every evening.
The five children were placed under the care of Child Protective Services following the arrest of the couple.
The family, consisting of a pair and their five adopted children, resided in Minnesota before relocating to a farm in Washington state in 2018. They later moved to West Virginia in 2023, with the children ranging in age from five to 16.
The oldest boy is receiving full-time care in a psychiatric facility.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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