In 2004, Mark Laita became a name known worldwide after meeting the Whittakers, who claimed to be “America’s most inbred family.” The documentary became a success; however, it wasn’t all positive for Laita. Later, he revealed the family had lied to him for years.

In 2004, the Whittkaer family outside the small rural town of Odd, West Virginia, became known to the entire world. Filmmaker Mark Laita documented the family, which was branded “America’s most inbred family” in a YouTube documentary, featuring siblings Ray, Betty, Larry, and Lorene, alongside Lorene’s son, Timmy.

Besides the siblings being descendants of two generations of first cousins, one set of cousins who married had fathers who were identical twins. The twin brothers, John and Henry Whittaker, were born in 1897, and John later married his first cousin, Ada.

They had nine children, including one girl named Gracie Irene Whittaker, born in 1920. At the same time, Henry had married a woman named Sally. They had seven children, including a boy named John in 1913, and in 1935, cousins John and Gracie married. They had 15 children, with everyone having distinct mental and physical conditions.

The Whittakers were branded “America’s most inbred family”

The Whittakers were asked about inbreeding, but it appeared they didn’t seem to understand that it could be due to their ancestral line. For example, Laita asked family member Kenneth why their eyes weren’t facing forward, to which he responded,” might be coal mining.”

Mark Laita eventually befriended the family, but at first, John’s brother had pulled a gun at him. However, later, the documentary filmmaker revealed that the Whittakers had lied to him.

In March 2024, Laita announced that one of the family members, Larry, had died in a possible heart attack. Per The Mirror, Mark said, “There’s some news with the Whittaker family. Sadly, Larry Whittaker passed away last week. I think he had a heart attack.”

“Larry was always a great dude to me. He was always really nice. Larry was always a standup guy and he and Betty really ran the show very well. Larry will be greatly missed. It’s going to be hard on Betty now,” he added.

Laita donated $ 1,000 to Larry’s funeral, but later it turned out the Whittaker family had lied. Larry was alive, as announced in a YouTube video titled “The Death of Larry Whittaker.” Larry was seen sitting outside the family home in rural West Virginia.

Photgrapher Mark Laita says the Whittaker family “lied” to him

Laita found out about it from the YouTube video, saying they had been “lying to me all this time.” The money had been handed to Larry’s daughter, BJ, who later apologized to the filmmaker.

BJ said: “I’m very sorry for what I done. I mean, it was because I was on drugs, and you’ll do anything to get it. Yep…I was on heroin and crack cocaine.”

Although they had lied to him, Mark Laita continued to help the family through GoFundMe, which raised thousands of dollars for the Whittaker family.