SISSONVILLE, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Two Kanawha County individuals have been arrested after the discovery of two children locked in a barn and a small child locked inside a residence with no supervision.
The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office reports that Deputy H.K. Burdette of the KCSO responded to the 200 block of Cheyenne Lane in Sissonville after a 911 call was received just after 5:46 p.m. on Monday, October 2, 2023, regarding the welfare of two children.
Deputies were required to force entry into the barn a  a juvenile male and juvenile female were found locked inside an approximate 20×14 foot room.
These juveniles reportedly had no means of exiting the barn on their own, no running water, no bathroom facilities, and were clearly deprived of adequate hygienic care and food.
At the primary residence, deputies discovered another small child locked inside alone. This child was found in an unprotected loft, approximately 15 feet high.
No caretakers or parents are reported to have been located at the scene. The adoptive parents of these children – identified S Donald Ray Lantz, 61 years old, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 61 years old of Sissonville – arrived at the scene at a later time and were subsequently arrested on felony charges of gross child neglect creating a substantial risk of injury.
Investigators with the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigative Section continue to investigate the incident alongside Child Protective Services.
