Hart Family

Case background and investigation

Jennifer and Sarah Hart, both 38, and their six adopted children died when the family's SUV went over a coastal cliff beside Highway 1 near Westport, in Mendocino County, California, on March 26, 2018. The children were Markis, 19, Hannah, 16, Devonte, 15, Jeremiah, 14, Abigail, 14, and Ciera, 12, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. The Press Democrat reported that the couple had adopted two sets of three siblings from foster care in Texas.

The family had drawn the attention of child-welfare authorities in several states. According to Wikipedia's summary of contemporary reporting, Sarah Hart pleaded guilty to an assault charge in Minnesota after one of the girls reported being hurt in 2010, and Oregon authorities looked into the family in 2013 without reaching a conclusion about the children's safety. After the family moved to Woodland, Washington, neighbors reported that Hannah and Devonte had come to them asking for help, the Press Democrat reported.

On March 23, 2018, a child protective services worker went to the Woodland home at about 5:30 p.m. and got no answer, according to inquest testimony reported by the Press Democrat. The family was on the road by about 8:30 that evening and reached Fort Bragg, California, the next day. A California Highway Patrol investigator testified that a man sleeping in a camper at the same pullout heard a vehicle arrive at about 11 p.m. on March 25 and heard an engine revving at about 3 a.m. on March 26.

Highway patrol analysts testified that data from the vehicle showed it had been stopped, then accelerated at full throttle to about 20 mph before leaving the cliff, and that no mechanical defect was found. According to testimony reported by the Press Democrat and OPB, Jennifer Hart had a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 percent, Sarah Hart had a toxic level of diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl, and several of the children had enough of the drug to make them sleep. Searches on Sarah Hart's phone during the trip asked about overdoses and drowning.

The two women and three of the children, Markis, Jeremiah and Abigail, were found at the crash site. Ciera's remains washed ashore about ten days later, and partial remains of Hannah were found the following month, the Press Democrat reported. Devonte's remains have not been found; a Mendocino County judge declared him and Hannah dead in March 2019.

Sheriff-Coroner Tom Allman convened a coroner's inquest, the county's first in 52 years, on April 3, 2019. On April 4 the 14-member jury unanimously found that Jennifer and Sarah Hart died by suicide and that each of the six children died at the hands of another person, other than by accident. The sheriff's office said the children's death certificates would record homicide. Because both adults died, there was no criminal prosecution.