Hart Family Murders — Autopsy Reports
The reports of the eight victims of the March 26, 2018 Hart family murders in Mendocino County, California.
On March 26, 2018, Jennifer and Sarah Hart intentionally drove their SUV off a 100-foot cliff on California State Route 1 near Westport, Mendocino County — killing themselves and their six adopted children. The reports below are the coroner's reports for the eight victims. Devonte Hart's body was never recovered.
The Case
On March 26, 2018, a tourist spotted an SUV at the bottom of a roughly 100-foot cliff off Highway 1 near Westport in Mendocino County, California. It was the Hart family's GMC Yukon XL — driven straight off the edge with no skid marks. Inside were Jennifer Hart, 38, and Sarah Hart, 38, and three of their six adopted children.
The children were Markis, 19; Hannah, 16; Devonte, 15; Abigail, 14; Jeremiah, 14; and Ciera, 12. In the days that followed, searchers recovered Hannah's body from the ocean and later identified Ciera's remains through DNA. Devonte's body was never found.
The family had been unraveling for months. After moves from Minnesota to Oregon to Woodland, Washington, neighbors reported concerns about the children to child welfare authorities. When Clark County social workers tried to visit the home on March 23, 2018, the Harts packed up and fled to California. Three days later they were dead.
Many Americans already knew one of the children's faces: in 2014, a photograph of Devonte Hart hugging Portland police Sergeant Bret Barnum at a Ferguson protest — Devonte holding a “free hugs” sign, tears streaming down his face — had gone viral around the world.
Toxicology showed Jennifer Hart was over the legal alcohol limit and both women had diphenhydramine (Benadryl) in their systems. In April 2019, a coroner's inquest jury ruled that Jennifer and Sarah Hart died by suicide and that the six children died by homicide.