Hart Family Crash: Answers Expected in Deaths of Family of 8 After Car Plunged off Calif. Cliff
On March 26, 2018, an SUV belonging to Jennifer and Sarah Hart, a married couple from Woodland, Washington, was found at the bottom of a 100-foot cliff off the Pacific Coast Highway in Northern California.
The bodies of Jennifer and Sarah, as well as three of their six adopted children, Abigail, Jeremiah and Markis, were found nearby.
The remains of two of the other kids were recovered in the coming months when the body of Sierra Hart was found near the crash site last April. Hannah Hart’s remains were not identified until January 2019. The remains of Devonte Hart, 15, have still not been recovered, though Mendocino Sheriff-Coroner Tom Allman recently told PEOPLE that Devonte has been legally declared dead.
The crash sparked national headlines when authorities announced the fatal car crash was a crime — not an accident. The family’s picture-perfect online image also drew debate, as disturbing details leaked out about the realities the children had experienced at home.
On Wednesday and Thursday, authorities will present evidence from the investigation to a jury, which will formally determine a manner of death for each Hart family member.
The inquest will be live-streamed on the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.
“The purpose [of the inquest] is to get the evidence out as quick as possible,” Sheriff-Coroner Tom Allman tells PEOPLE, noting that until the 1960s, inquests were standard policy. “There is a heaping amount of evidence and honestly it belongs to the public.”
He continues: “There’s just so many unknowns on this, but now we think we know a lot of the unknowns.”
Ahead of the inquest, here are four things to know about the disturbing case.
1. Abuse Conviction in the Past
Jennifer and Sarah Hart had a history of child abuse: Records previously obtained by PEOPLE show that when the family lived in Alexandria, Minnesota, Sarah pleaded guilty to domestic assault after hitting daughter Abigail, then 6.
During police questioning, Sarah admitted to letting her “anger get out of control” and to bending Abigail over the tub and hitting her, according to the criminal complaint. But according to the Oregonian, Abigail claimed it was actually Jennifer who’d hit her.
In April of 2011, Sarah Hart was sentenced to 90 days in jail — which was stayed — as well as one year of supervised probation, per court documents.
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Three days before the crash was reported, Washington State Department of Social and Health Services received a call reporting that the six Hart children appeared to be “potential victims of alleged abuse or neglect,” Norah West, the department’s spokeswoman, previously told PEOPLE.
The state’s DSHS tried unsuccessfully to contact the family on three occasions (the first time was on March 23, 2018). They tried again on March 26 and March 27, not realizing the family had perished in the crash.
2. Months Before Crash, Hannah and Devonte Begged Neighbors for Help
In the summer of 2017, Hannah, then 15, ran to her next-door neighbors’ home, “begging for help,” according to the Clark County sheriff’s report, which cites an interview with the neighbors.
“Hannah said her parents would whip her with a belt and withhold food as punishment,” the incident report states.
The Harts’ neighbor, Dana DeKalb, recalled that Hannah appeared thin and “much younger” than her age. She was also missing two front teeth.
Within minutes, according to Dana, “they could hear the rest of the family outside calling for Hannah.”
When Dana spoke to Jennifer and Sarah Hart, they told her that Hannah had “some mental health issues,” according to the report. They “assured” Dana that no abuse was going on inside their home.
Devonte Hart had also sought help from the DeKalbs in the week before the crash, according to the Oregonian. He too had snuck out in the middle of the night, begging the neighbors for food because he said his parents were starving him and his siblings.
3. Family Friend Said They Seemed Like a Picture-Perfect Family
Family friend Nusheen Bakhtiar tells PEOPLE that, despite a year passing, “everything” reminds her of the family.
Bakhtiar met the Harts, who called themselves the “Hart tribe,” at a concert fundraiser in 2013. She says they embraced being themselves.
“I think selfishly we all loved to be around them because they really embodied all the good things that you wanted to be,” Bakhtiar says, adding, “They completely lived their life judgment-free.”
RELATED: Hart Family Crash: Acquaintances Say Moms Mistreated Kids but Made Them Pose for ‘Happy’ Photos
4. Sarah Hart Expressed Regret Over Adopted Family Before Crash
While being interviewed by authorities in Washington after the crash, a co-worker of Sarah’s came forward with a strange anecdote.
Sarah had once alluded to reservations about her six children, who were two trios of biological siblings the couple had adopted from Texas in 2006 and 2009, the co-worker recalled.
According to an incident report from the investigation, Sarah told her co-worker “during a conversation about kids” that “she wish[ed] someone told her it was okay not to have a big family. Then she and Jennifer would not have adopted the children.”
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
