The Hart Family Murder-Suicide Case- Eight lives Lost

The Hart family murders happened on March 26, 2018, in Mendocino County, California, United States. It was a murder-suicide case.

Jennifer Hart and her wife, Sarah Hart, killed their six adopted children: 12-year-old Ciera, 14-year-old Abigail, 14-year-old Jeremiah, 15-year-old Devonte, 16-year-old Hannah, and 19-year-old Markis. Jennifer did this on purpose by driving the family's SUV off a cliff. Sarah was in the front passenger seat, and Jennifer was driving.

The family appeared on social media like a happy family, but what happened behind the scenes were horrible.

The Early Life Of The Hart Couple

Sarah Margaret Hart was born on April 8, 1979, and Jennifer Jean Hart was born on June 4, 1979. Both of them were born in South Dakota. The two women met at Northern State University, where they went to school (NSU).

Both women got their degrees in elementary education, but Sarah focused on teaching students with special needs. After Sarah graduated from college in 2002, Jennifer left college without getting her degree. Sarah asked a local court in 2005 to change her last name to match that of her partner. In 2009, the couple got married in Connecticut because same-sex marriage was not yet legal in all U.S. states.

Jennifer wrote on Facebook that the women used to hide their sexuality when they lived in South Dakota, and when they came out as lesbians, they lost friends. In 2004, they moved to Alexandria, Minnesota, and both women got jobs at a Herberger's store there. They chose to be open about their relationship in their new place.

Jennifer had different jobs until 2006, when she became a stay-at-home mom. Sarah, on the other hand, got a job as a manager at Herberger's. After living in West Linn, Oregon, for a while, the Harts moved to an area near Woodland, Washington. Sarah got a job as a manager at a Kohl's in Hazel Dell. At the time of the murder-suicide, the couple lived near Woodland.

The Harts received approximately half of their annual income from the state of Texas to pay the costs associated with raising their six adopted children.

How The Children Were Adopted

The Harts adopted Abigail (born in 2003), Hannah Jean (born in 2002), and Markis (born in 1998) from Colorado County, Texas. They were placed with the Harts on March 4, 2006, and they were adopted in September of that year.

In June 2008, they took in three more children from Houston: Ciera Maija, who was born in 2005, Devonte Jordan, who was born in 2002, and Jeremiah Hart, who was born in 2004. After their real mother, Sherry Davis, had problems with drugs and lost custody of them in August 2006,

Before the murders, 12-year-old Devonte got a lot of attention when he was photographed crying while hugging a police officer at a protest in Portland, Oregon, in 2014. 

People started calling the picture the "hug felt 'round the world." Jennifer was very active on social media. She used Facebook to give the impression that she had a loving, happy family and to talk about race, politics, and trips that the family took. Some of the problems in the family were hidden by this.

The Children Were Abused Before The Murder

There were several reports of abuse reported by the school authorities who noticed bruises on the children's back. The Hart finally pulled their adopted children out of public school in order to homeschool them. This was when the abuse escalated but was hidden from the public.

Hannah jumped out of her second-floor bedroom window around 1:30 a.m. in August 2017, after the Harts had moved to Woodland, Washington. She went to the house of their neighbor, the DeKalbs. Hannah is said to have begged, "Don't make me go back! They are racist and treat us badly." Soon after, Hannah was found by the Harts, who brought her back home.

The next day, Jennifer tried to explain what happened by saying Hannah's biological mother was bipolar.

The Dekalbs later reported the case to the police and the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services after they noticed other instances of abuse in the family. DSHS caseworkers attempted to contact the Harts twice: once on March 23, 2018, three days before to the murders, and again on the day of the murders.

The Murder-Suicide

Jennifer and Sarah Hart murdered their six children on March 26, 2018, when Jennifer drove their car over a 100-foot (30 m) cliff on California State Route 1 near Westport in Mendocino County, California.

Five of the children's remains (Hannah, Markis, Jeremiah, Abigail, and Ciera) were discovered in or near the overturned van on the beach below the cliff. Devonte's body is yet to be found.

A superior court judge decided that Devonte was in the vehicle at the time of the collision, and on April 3 of that year, a death certificate was issued.

Expert investigation of the SUV's internal air bag-deploying technology indicated that the car was deliberately driven off the edge of the cliff from a stop, accelerating to 20 mph in three seconds with the throttle at 100%.

Jennifer's blood alcohol level exceeded the legal limit at the time of the accident, while Sarah and two of the children had diphenhydramine in their systems, according to toxicology data. Before the accident, Sarah had used Google to research “How easily can I overdose on over the counter medications?”

“Can 500mg of Benadryl kill a 125lb woman?”

“How long does it take to die from hypothermia while drowning in a car?”

She also searched for a no-kill dog shelter; the family's two dogs were later found inside the family home.

The fourteen-member coroner's jury reached a unanimous verdict of murder-suicide.

References and Further Reading

Jennifer Hart drove her six children to their deaths as her wife looked up how much they would suffer, a jury says.

The Horrifying True Story of the Hart Family Murder-Suicide: Abuse, Lies and Unspeakable Tragedy.

Jury rules the deaths of a family of eight a murder-suicide after their drunk mother plunged their SUV off a California cliff while her wife and adopted children were drugged on huge doses of Benadryl