Three members of America’s “most inbred” clan have vanished from their decaying West Virginia compound after state officers quietly eliminated them from the house — a transfer their surviving family members blame on viral movies that made the household an web spectacle.
The state’s grownup protecting companies took Ray Whittaker, 72; his sister Lorene, 79; and her son Timmy, 46, from the household’s ramshackle property within the city of Odd in September, in line with family members who spoke to the Day by day Mail.
Their sister Betty, 73, and brother Larry, 69, informed the outlet they had been left behind with out rationalization — and say they’ve had no contact with their family members since.
“They mentioned they had been serving to them, and so they couldn’t dwell right here no extra,” Betty mentioned. “I miss them lots, I raised them.”
Larry mentioned the household has not been informed the place the three had been taken.
“I’ve been staying at dwelling, ready on a cellphone name, however that’s all I do know. They haven’t known as or let me know nothing,” he mentioned.
“They gained’t inform us the place they at.”
Officers from West Virginia’s Division of Human Providers confirmed to the Day by day Mail that they had been “conscious of the scenario” however declined to debate the case, citing confidentiality legal guidelines.
The Whittakers’ inbreeding traces again greater than a century to a single marriage between two units of cousins descended from similar twin brothers, which successfully collapsed the household’s gene pool.
The household shot to grim superstar after a 2020 YouTube documentary uncovered the extent of the household’s genetic isolation and extreme disabilities.
The video, filmed by documentarian Mark Laita, drew tens of tens of millions of views — making the reclusive clan an emblem of each rural poverty and voyeuristic fascination.
However the consideration additionally introduced chaos to the secluded household, who dwell on a dust highway 75 miles south of Charleston, in what Laita described as “one of the vital disturbing interviews I’ve ever finished.”
Neighbors say curiosity seekers recurrently confirmed up on the property to movie or snap photographs. Larry informed the Mail he believes the social media storm helped set off state intervention.
“Individuals on the market getting cash off them [the videos], and so they don’t prefer it,” he mentioned of protecting companies.
“They informed us don’t speak to no one. They watching.”
When reporters returned to the cabin this week, they discovered Betty and Larry nonetheless residing in squalid situations — cooking beans and sausage had been ignored on a gasoline range as bugs crawled over the counters.
Inside, the calendar was frozen on March. Exterior, towels hung from a makeshift clothesline and Halloween skeletons dangled from the porch beside piles of trash, outdated tires and beer cans.
The Whittakers’ property features a collapsing rooster coop, a number of broken-down trailers and a single outhouse.
“They mentioned they had been serving to them, and so they couldn’t dwell right here no extra,” Betty repeated, staring towards the dust driveway the place her family members had been taken away.
“I miss them lots, I raised them.”
