Three members of America’s “most inbred” clan have vanished from their decaying West Virginia compound after state officials quietly removed them from the home — a move their surviving relatives blame on viral videos that made the family an internet spectacle.
The state’s adult protective services took Ray Whittaker, 72; his sister Lorene, 79; and her son Timmy, 46, from the family’s ramshackle property in the town of Odd in September, according to relatives who spoke to the Daily Mail.
Their sister Betty, 73, and brother Larry, 69, told the outlet they were left behind without explanation — and say they’ve had no contact with their loved ones since.
“They said they were helping them, and they couldn’t live here no more,” Betty said. “I miss them a lot, I raised them.”
Larry said the family has not been told where the three were taken.
“I’ve been staying at home, waiting on a phone call, but that’s all I know. They haven’t called or let me know nothing,” he said.
“They won’t tell us where they at.”
Officials from West Virginia’s Department of Human Services confirmed to the Daily Mail that they were “aware of the situation” but declined to discuss the case, citing confidentiality laws.
The Whittakers’ inbreeding traces back more than a century to a single marriage between two sets of cousins descended from identical twin brothers, which effectively collapsed the family’s gene pool.
The family shot to grim celebrity after a 2020 YouTube documentary exposed the extent of the family’s genetic isolation and severe disabilities.
The video, filmed by documentarian Mark Laita, drew tens of millions of views — making the reclusive clan a symbol of both rural poverty and voyeuristic fascination.
But the attention also brought chaos to the secluded family, who live on a dirt road 75 miles south of Charleston, in what Laita described as “one of the most disturbing interviews I’ve ever done.”
Neighbors say curiosity seekers regularly showed up at the property to film or snap photos. Larry told the Mail he believes the social media storm helped trigger state intervention.
“People out there making money off them [the videos], and they don’t like it,” he said of protective services.
“They told us don’t talk to nobody. They watching.”
When reporters returned to the cabin this week, they found Betty and Larry still living in squalid conditions — cooking beans and sausage were left out on a gas stove as insects crawled over the counters.
Inside, the calendar was frozen on March. Outside, towels hung from a makeshift clothesline and Halloween skeletons dangled from the porch beside piles of trash, old tires and beer cans.
The Whittakers’ property includes a collapsing chicken coop, several broken-down trailers and a single outhouse.
“They said they were helping them, and they couldn’t live here no more,” Betty repeated, staring toward the dirt driveway where her relatives were taken away.
“I miss them a lot, I raised them.”
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