A witness broke down in tears as she described children carrying heavy objects on hilly terrain at the home of a West Virginia couple who were later arrested after two of their five adopted children were found locked in an outbuilding.

The trial of Jeanne Kay Whitefeather and Donald Ray Lantz began Tuesday on more than a dozen counts that include forced labor, civil rights violations, human trafficking and gross child neglect.

In her opening statement, assistant prosecutor Madison Tuck said evidence will show the couple forced the children to work and used them “physically, emotionally and mentally so that they would comply.” She said text messages between Lantz and Whitefeather mentioned making the children stand for long periods of time and locking the two older children, both teenagers, in the outbuilding.