Woman charged in Sissonville child neglect case appears in court

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - Jeanne Whitefeather appeared in court for a preliminary hearing Thursday in connection with a child neglect case involving two children locked in a shed in Sissonville.

Kanawha County Assistant Prosecutor Debra Rusnak spoke about the testimony involving Whitefeather’s case.

“You hear the testimony today of what these children were going through. It is frankly horrifying and despicable; there is no other way to describe it,” Rusnak said.

Deputy H.K. Burdette testified she responded to the call on October 2 and described the shed where she found two children locked inside.

“One of them responded and said ‘ma’am, we are not able to open the door from the inside,’ ” Burdette said. “I was repulsed, for the lack of a better term. As soon as the door was open, the heat from inside hit us. The smell, it made my eyes water. It was terrible.”

She said the conditions inside the shed were dangerous.

“There was a table and one chair, no running water, no circulating air, no beds. The toilet for the children looked like a hospital pan or like a camping toilet. It was on a tarp on the concrete floor,” Burdette said.

Burdette said she found six to seven deep freezers of food in a section of the barn that could not be accessed. She also spotted another child in a loft of the home living in dangerous conditions.

“Hot, I don’t believe there was any circulating air in the house either. No furniture, very hot, very empty,” Burdette said.

Magistrate Leslie Grace denied a request for Whitefeather’s bail reduction. Bail is still set at $200,000, with the addition of home confinement.

Neither Whitefeather nor Lantz have posted bail.

Rusnak said she believes the two are married and that they will go before a grand jury together as codefendants.

“Both of them are where they need to be pending the trial,” Rusnak said.