Jeanne Kay Whitefeather and Donald Lantz

Introduction

Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 63, and Donald Ray Lantz, 64, are a West Virginia couple sentenced to a combined 375 years in prison — 215 years for her, 160 for him — after a trial conviction for forcing the five Black children they adopted to work as slaves on their Sissonville property, trafficking them for labor because of their race. In October 2026, the five children were awarded a $4.4 million settlement from the state of West Virginia for its failure to rescue them despite repeated calls to Child Protective Services, and state officials confirmed a Human Services employee involved in the case was fired.

Background Information

The couple adopted the children — five siblings who ranged in age from 6 to 16 — from a shelter for homeless and vulnerable youths while living in Minnesota, then moved with them to Washington state in 2018 and to West Virginia in 2023. Whitefeather homeschooled the children at the couple’s property in Sissonville, in Kanawha County. The indictment that followed their arrests alleged the couple targeted the children for forced labor because of their race, and charged human trafficking, child neglect, forced labor and other crimes.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convictions. Whitefeather and Lantz were convicted at trial and sentenced by a West Virginia court; the conduct described here was adjudicated, not merely alleged. The $4.4 million settlement discussed below resolves claims against the state’s Department of Human Services over its failures, and is not a new finding about the couple. Quotes from sentencing are as reported by news outlets present in the courtroom.

The abuse came to light on October 2, 2023, when Kanawha County sheriff’s deputies conducted a welfare check after a neighbor reported seeing Lantz lock a girl and her teenage brother in a shed and leave the property. Inside the shed, deputies found a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl locked in a structure with a small RV porta-potty but no lights or running water; the sheriff’s office said the two had been deprived of adequate hygienic care and food, had slept on the concrete floor without mattresses, and told deputies they had been locked inside for about 12 hours since they were last fed. Another girl was found inside the home.

The trial revealed how long the system had looked the other way. Neighbors had called Child Protective Services repeatedly about the slave-like conditions and said they never heard back about their referrals; West Virginia Watch reported in 2023 that the Department of Human Services could not produce documentation showing CPS ever made contact with the children despite having a referral about the conditions in its system. The trial showed CPS had done little more than leave a card at the family’s front door, and later interviewed the children within earshot of their adoptive parents. “There were a ton of calls that came in from neighbors, and I think only one visit out there. There should have been many more,” said Dante diTrapano, the children’s attorney.

At sentencing in March 2025, Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers delivered maximum terms: 215 years for Whitefeather and 160 for Lantz. “You brought these kids to West Virginia, a place as I know as almost heaven and put them in hell,” Akers told them. “The court will now put you in yours. May God have mercy on your souls, because this court will not.” Whitefeather apologized to the children during the hearing; each was also ordered to pay $280,000 in restitution to the victims.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The children’s victim impact statements drew national attention: the oldest called Whitefeather and Lantz “monsters,” another told them, “I will be strong and beautiful. You will always be exactly what you are — horrible,” and the youngest described being “taught to laugh at” their siblings. In September 2026 the case returned to court from the other direction, when Judge Maryclaire Akers approved a $4.4 million settlement of the children’s lawsuit against the state Department of Human Services — the maximum payout possible under state Board of Risk and Insurance Management limits. “It means that these kids will have an opportunity to be children,” diTrapano said. “They were robbed of their innocence and robbed of their youth by the monsters that were their former parents.” The settlement drew immediate scrutiny of the agency, and Del. Hollis Lewis announced he would reintroduce the Child Captivity Prevention Act, requiring families moving to West Virginia who intend to homeschool to notify the Department of Human Services.

Current Status

Whitefeather, 63, and Lantz, 64, are serving their maximum sentences — a combined 375 years — in West Virginia custody, and neither is documented to have been released. The $4.4 million settlement was approved on September 29, 2026, and will be split among the five children, some of whom suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the abuse. State officials said the Department of Human Services employee involved in the case was “terminated by that administration,” referring to the administration in office at the time of the failures. The children have been placed with new adoptive families; two of their new mothers appeared in court to describe their lives now, including a trip to the beach.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Both spend what are effectively the rest of their lives in prison, and each owes $280,000 in restitution to the children they abused. The case has outlived their trial: diTrapano and the Salango Law Firm plan to sue Washington state’s Human Services Department, which approved the family’s 2023 move despite prior child-abuse reports there, where no damages cap applies. Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s administration cites leadership restructuring, stronger frontline training and a new case-assessment model among its child-welfare changes since taking office, though diTrapano maintains the “whole system is broken.” “The safety and well-being of West Virginia’s children remain our highest priorities,” an administration spokesperson said.

Sources

• New York Post, “5 black children treated like ‘slaves’ by adopted white parents awarded $4.4M payout from state,” October 5, 2026 — source
• West Virginia Watch, “WV pays $4.4M in historic child abuse case after CPS didn’t rescue kids from slave-like conditions,” October 1, 2026 — source
• NBC News, “Couple sentenced to hundreds of years in prison for forcing adopted Black children to work as ‘slaves’,” March 21, 2025 — source