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 relations 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, based on relations who spoke to the Each day Mail.
Their sister Betty, 73, and brother Larry, 69, advised 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, they usually couldn’t dwell right here no extra,” Betty mentioned. “I miss them quite a bit, I raised them.”
Larry mentioned the household has not been advised the place the three had been taken.
“I’ve been staying at house, ready on a telephone name, however that’s all I do know. They haven’t referred to 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 Companies confirmed to the Each 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 movie star 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 hundreds of thousands of views — making the reclusive clan a logo of each rural poverty and voyeuristic fascination.
However the consideration additionally introduced chaos to the secluded household, who dwell on a mud highway 75 miles south of Charleston, in what Laita described as “probably the most disturbing interviews I’ve ever performed.”
Neighbors say curiosity seekers commonly confirmed up on the property to movie or snap photographs. Larry advised the Mail he believes the social media storm helped set off state intervention.
“Folks on the market earning profits off them [the videos], they usually don’t prefer it,” he mentioned of protecting companies.
“They advised us don’t speak to no person. They watching.”
When reporters returned to the cabin this week, they discovered Betty and Larry nonetheless residing in squalid circumstances — cooking beans and sausage had been overlooked on a fuel range as bugs crawled over the counters.
Inside, the calendar was frozen on March. Outdoors, 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, they usually couldn’t dwell right here no extra,” Betty repeated, staring towards the filth driveway the place her relations had been taken away.
“I miss them quite a bit, I raised them.”
