There’s been a shocking update in the story of America’s so-called “most inbred family,” as the man who first brought them to public attention claimed they’ve been lying to him the entire time.
Mark Laita, the documentarian behind the viral Soft White Underbelly YouTube series, has been following the Whittaker family for over a decade.
His 2020 video, shot in the tiny village of Odd, West Virginia, about 75 miles from Charleston, thrust the family into the public eye.
The Whittaker Family. Credit: Soft White Underbelly/YouTube
The Whittakers are the descendants of a tangled family tree that began when identical twin brothers, Henry and John, had children who later married each other.
That union produced 15 offspring, many of whom suffer from mental and physical challenges believed to stem from inbreeding.
Their story spread like wildfire, but fame quickly turned dark, and the attention drew more than just viewers.
State Steps In
In September, adult protective services in West Virginia removed three family members from the home: Ray Whittaker (72), his sister Lorene (79), and her son Timmy (46).
No explanation was given to the rest of the family.
Betty Whittaker, 73, told Daily Mail: “They said they were helping them, and they couldn’t live here no more. I miss them a lot, I raised them.”
Larry, 69, who was also left behind, added: “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. They won’t tell us where they at.”
He suggested the viral attention may have prompted the intervention: “People out there making money off them [the videos], and they don’t like it,” Larry said. “They told us don’t talk to nobody."
"It's a lot going on, people calling round, we just got tired of it. That's why I don't go out, I don't talk to nobody," he added.
Broken Trust and a Fake Death
This comes after Laita revealed the family had lied about Larry’s death, a deception that sparked a fundraiser and drew sympathy from fans.
In a video titled The Death of Larry Whittaker, the journalist is shown confronting Larry, who is very much alive and sitting on his porch. “No, I just heard of it last night on a video,” Larry said about his own alleged passing.
His daughter BJ, who appeared in the same video, confessed: “I’m not proud of what I’ve done, I’m not… I shouldn’t have done it… I’m trying to get help for my drug addiction.”
Laita claimed he donated $1,000 for the fake funeral and later gave Larry another $700 to help BJ move to North Carolina, a trip that never happened.
Speaking with Larry’s cousin Jason in a follow-up video titled Spring 2024, Laita revealed: “After our last video, Larry calls me up and says: ‘Hey, I’m going to take BJ to North Carolina,’ and he wanted $700."
"I said, ‘As long as you’re taking your daughter to North Carolina to get her away from your family, then I can continue my relationship with you guys, but I don’t want to be part of you guys if everyone's lying to me.’”
He concluded: “I don’t know what to do with them other than just walk away,” to which Jason agreed: “That’s the best thing to do, just wash your hands of them.”