© Mendocino County Sheriff's Office A Washington family was killed after their vehicle plunged 100 feet off the highway, landing on its roof in the Pacific Ocean. Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman says the bodies of Jennifer and Sarah Hart, and three of their children were found in and around the vehicle. Their other three children are still missing.

A coroner's jury Thursday unanimously ruled that Jennifer and Sarah Hart intended for their six adopted children to die along with them when Jennifer Hart drove her family off a California cliff in 2018.

"The death certificates for Jennifer and Sarah Hart will be listed as suicide," Mendocino County Sheriff-Coroner Thomas Allman told reporters Thursday. "The six children who perished on that day, their deaths, certainly as a jury ruled, was determined to be at the hands of another, other than by accident, and their death certificates will list homicide as the manner of death."

The decision capped the coroner's inquest, a public hearing at the end of which a 14-person jury ruled on the official manner of the family's death.

Over the two days of the inquest, multiple law enforcement officers, a search-and-rescue leader and a forensic pathologist testified about their involvement in the recovery and investigation into the crash and deaths.

According to the Mendocino County Sheriff-Coroner's Office, jurors had the option to find each individual's manner of death as "Accident," "Suicide," "Natural Causes," or "At the hands of another person, other than by accident."

"Over the last two days the known facts have been provided to a jury. ... The jury had the ultimate responsibility of determining the manner of death for each of the eight people who died on that fateful day," Allman had said earlier at the press conference. "As the coroner of this county I will accept the jury's decision and certainly rule the manner of death as was decided."</s>SAN FRANCISCO — A coroner's jury in Mendocino County has determined the March 26, 2018, deaths of the Sarah and Jennifer Hart were suicides, and the deaths of their six adopted children were intentional acts.

Authorities had called the deaths intentional, but wanted a jury to decide.

On Thursday afternoon, the jury of 14 chose from four manners of death for each of the eight people who died: natural causes, suicide, accident or an intentional act by another.

Before her wife drove an SUV off a Northern California cliff, Sarah Hart spent hours searching on her phone for overdosing options and whether it was relatively painless to die by drowning, a highway patrol investigator testified Thursday.

California Highway Patrol investigator Jake Slates said despite the cell phone searches as they fled their Washington state home, the women weren't committed to killing themselves and their six adopted children. But at some point, Sarah and Jennifer Hart made the decision that would end with all eight presumed dead, the body of one of the siblings who gained notoriety years earlier still unrecovered.

"They both decided that this was going to be the end," Slates said at a coroner's inquest. "That if they can't have their kids that nobody was going to have those kids."

The crash happened days after authorities in Washington state opened an investigation following allegations the children, ages 12 to 19, were being neglected. The bodies of both women were found in the vehicle, which landed below a cliff more than 160 miles north of San Francisco.

The bodies of siblings Markis, Jeremiah and Abigail were found the same day near the car. Weeks later, the body of Ciera Hart was pulled from the Pacific Ocean. Hannah Hart was eventually identified through a DNA match.

The remains of 15-year-old Devonte Hart, who was photographed in tears while hugging a white police officer during a 2014 protest in Portland, Oregon, have not been recovered.

Related: Boy who hugged officer in viral 2014 photo missing after parents, siblings die in crash

In this Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2014 photo, Portland police Sgt. Bret Barnum, left, and Devonte Hart, 12, hug at a rally in Portland, Oregon. (Photo: Johnny Nguyen via MSNBC.com via Associated Press)

Authorities who testified on the second day of the inquest said that in their opinions, the crash was deliberate.

"It is my belief that both Jennifer and Sarah succumbed to a lot of pressure," said Mendocino County Sheriff's Lt. Shannon Barney. "Just a lot of stuff going on in their lives, to the point where they mad this conscious decision to end their lives this way and take their children's lives."

Slates said that Jennifer Hart, who rarely drank, had a blood alcohol level over the legal limit and may have been "drinking to build up her courage." Sarah Hart and the children had high amounts of generic Benadryl in their systems, he said.

A neighbor of the Harts in Woodland, Washington, had filed a complaint with the state, saying the children were apparently being deprived of food as punishment. No one answered when social workers went to the family's home.

Jennifer Hart searched suicide, drowning, Benadryl dosages and overdose methods throughout the drive to California, Slates said. Authorities recovered the deleted searches from her phone.

A witness who was camping by their vehicle says he heard their car rev up and peal out around 3 a.m. March 26.

Sarah Hart pleaded guilty in 2011 to a domestic assault charge in Minnesota over what she said was a spanking given to one of her children. Oregon child welfare officials also investigated the couple in 2013, but closed the case without taking any action.</s>A special coroner's jury has determined that the couple who drove themselves and their six adopted children off a northern California cliff last year did so deliberately.

The jury's verdict of murder-suicide on Thursday confirms authorities' suspicions that the March 2018 crash was intentional. It also concludes thousands of hours of investigation into the widely publicized deaths of Sarah and Jennifer Hart and their children.

Presenting the findings from two days of testimony, Mendocino County Sheriff- Coroner Thomas Allman told reporters that he would accept the jury's ruling.

"It is my belief that both Jennifer and Sarah succumbed to a lot of pressure," sheriff's Lt. Shannon Barney said on Thursday, The Associated Press reports. "Just a lot of stuff going on in their lives, to the point where they made this conscious decision to end their lives this way and take their children's lives."

Authorities said the crash occurred in the days after the married couple took their children and fled their home following a visit from social services authorities, AP reports. Neighbors had filed a complaint stating that the children were being deprived of food by their parents.

A witness who was camping near where the vehicle drove off the cliff, along California's Highway 1, said he heard sounds of a car revving up and accelerating early in the morning on March 26, AP reports.

Later that day, a passing motorist reported the family's smashed GMC Yukon at the bottom of the cliff.

The California Highway Patrol said at the time that there was reason to believe the crash was intentional. Police determined that there were no brake marks where the vehicle accelerated and drove over the cliff, The Washington Post reports.

The bodies of the women and three of their children – Markis, Jeremiah and Abigail – were found inside and around the vehicle on the rocky shore. The remains of two other children — Ciera and Hanna – were also recovered later.

The body of the last child, Devonte, has not been found. Devonte had made headlines several years prior as the young black child pictured crying and embracing a white police officer during a Ferguson-related protest.

"I'm certainly aware of a contingent of citizens who have a belief that Devonte was not in the car," Allman said Thursday. "It is our opinion and the jury's opinion that he lived with his family and unfortunately he perished with his family."

CHP investigator Jake Slates told the jury that Sarah Hart had searched for information on suicide, drowning and overdose methods with her phone. Slates also said that Jennifer Hart, the driver, had a blood alcohol level over the legal driving limit, AP reports, and Sarah and the children had high amounts of generic Benadryl in their systems.

Another crash investigator with CHP, Timothy Roloff, said he had examined the vehicle's computerized data recorder and determined that the vehicle accelerated rapidly before the crash, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

Authorities pointed out that, since there's no prosecution involved in the case, the jury's verdict can help bring closure to those who were close to the Hart family, as well as the investigators themselves.

"The blood relatives and adopted relatives of the entire family," Allman said. "Those are the people who I certainly want to tell you that our hearts are with you."</s>Jennifer and Sarah Hart gave their six children as many as 19 doses each of Benadryl before driving their SUV over a steep cliff, a jury ruled.

Jennifer and Sarah Hart gave their six children as many as 19 doses each of Benadryl before driving their SUV over a steep cliff and into the Pacific Ocean in the middle of the night last year, a jury determined on Thursday.

The children and their mothers all died in the crash in California’s Mendocino County. The verdict was the first confirmation that the married couple had planned the crash that killed their entire family.

The case has generated much interest, in part because the two white mothers and their six adopted children had been portrayed on social media as a happy, multi-racial family. Devonte Hart, 15, who was black, gained national attention when he was photographed in tears while hugging a white police officer during a 2014 protest in Portland, Oregon.

The family’s story began to unravel in March of last year, when they fled their Woodland, Washington, home after a visit from social workers investigating charges they were neglecting the children. A neighbor had filed a complaint with the state saying the children were being deprived of food as punishment.

New details about their last days emerged this week at a special coroner’s jury in Willits, California.

A coroner’s inquest is generally used in cases involving in-custody deaths or officer-involved shootings where public interest is high and the need for transparency critical, said Mendocino County sheriff’s Capt. Gregory L. Van Patten.

Mendocino County Sheriff-Coroner Tom Allman said, “When six children and two adults die in one incident, we as a society need to know the facts of that case," The Willits News reported.

Authorities had indicated they believed the crash was deliberate but wanted a jury to make official findings.

Evidence included testimony that Sarah Hart had used her phone to search for information about drowning and hypothermia.

California Highway Patrol investigator Jake Slates testified that the deleted searches had been recovered from her phone, The Oregonian reported. They included these questions:

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

The SUV’s “black box” computer, recovered after the crash, showed that Jennifer Hart drove over the cliff at full throttle, The Oregonian reported.

A witness who was camping by their vehicle says he heard their car rev up around 3 a.m. on March 26, 2018.

Another crash: After Hart family drove off cliff in fatal crash, another car plunges into water in same region

The jury decided the six children, 12 to 19, died due to their mothers’ intentional act. They also included Markis, 19; Hannah, 16; Jeremiah, 14; Abigail, 14; and Ciera, 12.

The family’s Garmin GPS was recovered several weeks after the crash. It showed that they had stopped at a Walmart in Washington state, where it is believed Jennifer Hart bought the generic version of Benadryl. Sarah Hart, who was not driving, had 42 doses of the generic, sleep-inducing drug in her system. The children also had high levels of the drug in their bodies, the autopsies found. The couple often gave their children Benadryl on long drives so they would sleep, authorities said in the hearing. Jennifer Hart had a blood alcohol level over the legal limit and may have been “drinking to build up her courage,” Slates said. Sheriff’s Lt. Shannon Barney said Thursday she believed the couple succumbed to pressure. This March 29, 2018, file photo shows ruts cut into the clifftop where the SUV of Jennifer and Sarah Hart that went off the cliff was hauled up and over by a tow truck off the Pacific Coast Highway near Westport, Calif. A California Highway Patrol investigator testified Thursday, April 4, 2019 that Sarah Hart searched whether death by drowning was relatively painless hours before her wife drove an SUV off a cliff, killing them and six adopted children in waters below. “Just a lot of stuff going on in their lives, to the point where they made this conscious decision to end their lives this way and take their children’s lives,” she said. “They both decided that this was going to be the end,” Slates said. “That if they can’t have their kids that nobody was going to have those kids.” The bodies of siblings Markis, Jeremiah and Abigail were found the same day near the car. Weeks later, the body of Ciera Hart was pulled from the Pacific Ocean. Hannah Hart was eventually identified through a DNA match. The body of Devonte Hart has not been found. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jury: Hart mothers drugged, killed all six children by driving SUV over California cliff into Pacific Ocean</s>(CNN) – As a drunk Jennifer Hart drove her six adopted children in their family SUV, her wife, Sarah, sat in the passenger seat looking up different ways to end a life.

The SUV carrying the Hart family would drive off a 100-foot Pacific coast cliff on that day in March last year — a tragedy police say took all eight lives and sparked questions about abuse and homicide.

As the car was in motion, Sarah was busy with the searches:

“How easily can I overdose on over the counter medications?”

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

One of her last searches was for a no-kill dog shelter.

They intended to kill their 6 children, jury finds

The horrifying details emerged Thursday after a coroner’s jury unanimously ruled that Jennifer and Sarah Hart intended to die along with their six adopted children: Markis, 19, Jeremiah and Abigail, both 14, Devonte, 15, Hannah, 16, and Ciera, 12.

At first, it seemed unfathomable the parents would drive their children from their home in Woodland, Washington, to their deaths in Mendocino County, California. Their social media pages included photos of beaming children holding “love is always beautiful” signs.

In some photos, they had on matching T-shirts and wide grins.

As the national spotlight on the story grew, more details emerged that the children desperately sought help from neighbors. Allegations surfaced that their parents abused and starved the six adopted children.

Driver got intoxicated to build her courage

The coroner’s inquest gave more insight into what led Jennifer and Sarah to end the lives of all eight Harts.

When authorities entered the Hart home, it seemed neat, orderly and newly remodeled, said investigator Jake Slates from the California Highway Patrol. But while Jennifer and Sarah’s were decorated, Slates said, the children’s rooms were bare.

Investigators noted that their luggage was left behind, and the family did not take their toothbrushes before leaving for two days.

“In my opinion, Sarah and Jennifer succumbed to a lot of pressure,” said Lt. Shannon Barney of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office. “They got to the point where they made a conscious decision to end their lives and take their children with them.”

As Jennifer drove down the US 101 highway, she had five beers in her system, enough to make it difficult for her to function, according to Slates. Witnesses told police that Jennifer rarely drank.

The theory is that she drank to build up her courage, Slates said.

“My feeling is based on talking to witnesses that they felt if they couldn’t have those kids, no one was going to have those kids,” Slates said.

Kids sought help in the middle of the night

Days before the family died in the crash, Child Protective Services in Washington requested a welfare check on the family. But no one answered the door on March 26; the family was already gone.

Calls to the police began just two years after the Harts became parents, while they were living in Minnesota. They were first called in 2008 when one child told an adult that Jennifer struck the child in the arm, but the state closed the case claiming the child fell.

After another call in 2011, Sarah Hart pleaded guilty to domestic assault after admitting to police she bruised her child by spanking her over the edge of a bathtub.

After the family moved to Woodland, Washington, the children started going to their neighbor, Bruce DeKalb, for help and food in the middle of the night.

According to a case report, the children also complained of racist behavior.

Witnesses told California Highway Patrol that the children were “extremely disciplined, almost to the point of being robotic,” walking single-file to the bedroom and being told when to go to the bathroom, Slates said.

On March 23, DeKalb called CPS to check on the family. The next day, they packed up their SUV and began their drive from Washington to California.

At first, only Jennifer, Sarah and three children were identified.

Jennifer was intoxicated, and Sarah and two of the children tested positive for diphenhydramine, an active ingredient in Benadryl.

Ciera’s body was found on a beach north of the cliff two weeks later. Parts of a foot in a shoe were found on a beach that May, but investigators could not identify the remains as a Hart child until January this year, when a DNA sample proved it was Hannah.

Devonte is still missing and, while they believe he perished with his brothers and sisters, authorities are hoping the public can provide information to prove them wrong.

Jennifer and Sarah cannot be questioned or stand trial for what happened on that California cliff. The inquest is closed, and their death certificates now list suicide while the children’s list homicide.

What can change now, Mendocino County Sheriff-Coroner Thomas Allman told reporters, is the federal oversight of abuse. Five states were involved with the adoptions and abuse allegations of the children.

“Where are the systematic failures that possibly could have prevented this?” Allman said. “We do not have a national database for child abuse allegations.”

This, Allman said, should be an “enlightening moment” for lawmakers.</s>MENDOCINO — After two days of listening to testimony from various witnesses about the Hart family and the car crash, a jury of 14 unanimously found that Jennifer and Sarah Hart died by suicide, while Markis, Hannah, Devonte, Jeremiah, Abigail, and Ciera Hart died “at the hands of another person, other than an accident”.

The state of California allows for only four manners of death: 1) natural causes; 2) accident; 3) suicide; and 4) at the hands of another, other than by accident. Mendocino County Sheriff Thomas Allman called the Coroner’s Inquest on Wednesday to determine the manner of death of the Hart family. The family’s SUV went over a cliff in the area of Juan Creek and North Highway 1 in Mendocino County on March 26, 2018.

The sheriff’s office said it will now record the manner of death on each death certificate as: Jennifer Hart – Suicide, Sarah Hart – Suicide, Markis Hart – Homicide, Hannah Hart – Homicide Devonte Hart – Homicide, Jeremiah Hart – Homicide, Abigail Hart – Homicide, Ciera Hart – Homicide. Devonte Hart’s body has not yet been found, but Allman said investigators believe he is dead.

The sheriff’s office said it will now be closing the investigation, pending any additional information on both Hannah and Devonte Hart.

Witnesses over the two days included people from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office in Washington, California Highway Patrol investigators and officers, Mendocino County Search and Rescue, a forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy, and a deputy from Clark County.

Day one included interviews from CHP Officer Michael Covington, who was on patrol on the Mendocino coast on March 26, 2018, and Dr. Greg Pizarro, who testified that Jennifer Hart had a blood alcohol level of .102 — over the legal limit in California. Pizarro also testified that Sarah Hart and the children had high levels of diphenhydramine, the active ingredient of Benadryl, in their system.

CHP investigator Jake Slates testified on day two that the vehicle had been intentionally driven toward the cliff, as data showed the brakes from the Hart vehicle were on for at least two seconds, and over the next three seconds, the vehicle accelerated to approximately 20 mph before going off the cliff.

Other evidence for the decision included cell phone information that showed Sarah Hart had done internet searches on her phone like “is death by drowning relatively painless,” and “what will happen when overdosing with Benadryl.”

Allman thanked the jury and investigators who worked on the case for gathering and considering the evidence in the case.

“I thank the jury for being willing to sit on the inquest, listen carefully to the difficult testimony, and render an appropriate decision,” he said.

A Coroner’s Inquest is rare in Mendocino County, with the last one taking place in 1967. However, as coroner as well as sheriff, Allman said he felt it was in the best interest to let the public know what happened on that day.

“While it’s not the sheriff’s office sole responsibility to bring all of this to light, I felt, as the coroner of this county, it was my responsibility to bring as much information together over the five-state family trail and bring it to light to the public,” he said.

Anybody who wants to watch both days of the inquest or Allman’s press conference can find the link on the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.</s>Jennifer and Sarah Hart killed themselves and their six children when Jennifer Hart aimed the family's SUV straight off a California cliff and into the sea, a unanimous Mendocino County jury determined Thursday.

Jurors reached their verdicts in just 57 minutes, ending a two-day coroner's inquest during which police for the first time made public evidence that the women had planned the crash.

The evidence centered on information collected from three digital devices: the family’s GPS device, the SUV’s “black box”-style computer and Sarah Hart’s cell phone.

Police found searches on Sarah Hart's phone about death by Benadryl, the effects of over-the-counter medications, drowning and hypothermia. The searches began as the family drove south from their Southwest Washington home through Oregon toward California, said lead investigator Jake Slates, a California Highway Patrol officer.

The computer in the family’s SUV indicated Jennifer Hart drove straight toward the cliff with the car’s gas pedal at full throttle. She never touched the brakes.

The jurors ruled that both Jennifer and Sarah Hart died by suicide. They also decided each of the six children died from their mothers’ intentional act.

As the jury of eight women and six men filed back into the hearing room for the final time, one female juror wiped tears from her eyes.

After the hearing, juror Tony Howard said reaching the decisions was not as hard as processing the tragic information investigators detailed over the previous two days. The testimony left jurors in pain, he said. “It’s kind of hard on the whole group,” he said.

A second juror, Steve Greenwood, said the jurors agreed from the start about most of their decisions, a fact that he felt was reflective of the investigative work and the way in which it was presented. The person whose death required the most discussion was Sarah Hart, he said, but ultimately all jurors concluded that it had been by suicide. “We made all of our decisions unanimously,” he said.

Slates testified that Jennifer and Sarah Hart packed their children into their SUV and left their Woodland, Washington home three hours after a case worker arrived to investigate reports of child abuses.

Slates said he believes the women left home without a clear plan. But by the time they drove to the scenic lookout point two nights later, they had agreed on what would come next, he surmised. Sarah Hart took at least 42 doses of Benadryl, he said. Jennifer Hart, who rarely drank, consumed the equivalent of five shots of alcohol.

The women administered Benadryl in some form to their children. Their oldest son, Markis, had the equivalent of 19 doses in his system, Slates said. Markis, 19, Hannah, 16, Devonte, 15, Jeremiah, 14, Abigail, 14, and Sierra, 12, all died in the crash. No one in the Yukon was wearing a seat belt, another California Highway Patrol officer testified.

"They both decided that this was going to be the end," Slates said.

Slates' testimony provided jurors the most comprehensive picture of the family's final days before the crash. Eight other people also testified, including a forensic pathologist who performed autopsies and several people involved in the search for children whose bodies were not immediately found. Devonte's body remains missing.

A Garmin GPS recovered weeks after the crash allowed police to piece together an incredibly detailed timeline of the family’s journey from their Woodland, Washington home to the Mendocino Coast, Slates said. Stops included a Walmart in Longview, where authorities believe Jennifer Hart bought the generic version of Benadryl, sold by Walmart under the brand name Equate, he said.

Police learned Jennifer and Sarah Hart often gave their adolescent children Benadryl on long drives “just so they would sleep,” Slates said.

Police found diphenhydramine-containing Equate medicine in liquid and pill forms in the wreckage found the afternoon of March 26, 2018.

Slates listed off several of the Google searches conducted on Sarah Hart’s phone:

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

The family often traveled and always took their two dogs with them, Slates said. Since the family fled Washington, no one has found their dogs. Slates said there is no evidence they in fact stopped at an animal shelter.

Slates said the searches on Sarah Hart’s phone began at 12:30 a.m. the morning after the family drove away from their Woodland home. Sarah Hart texted co-workers at 3 a.m. that she was sick and would be unable to work that day.

Slates said Sarah Hart deleted the searches from her phone but that a forensic search was able to find them anyway.

Slates said after testifying that others of the Harts’ electronic devices, such as Jennifer’s phone and the laptops collected at the family’s home, mainly contained family photos and emails not relevant to the inquest, he said.

A tourist from Alaska camping near the crash site told police that he heard an engine revving and tires squealing, then a loud sound, at around 3 a.m. that morning, Slates said.

The account matched with testimony from another California Highway Patrol officer trained to analyze crash scenes said. Computer readings from the SUV showed the vehicle idled, then accelerated at full throttle over a protective grass berm and off the cliff. Within two seconds, the vehicle landed upside down at the base of the cliff.

Based on all the evidence his crash investigation team collected, he said, they reached an inevitable conclusion about the cause of the crash: intentional.

“When you’re at a cliff edge with your family inside, how often do you apply 100 percent throttle?” asked Officer Timothy Roloff.</s>San Francisco — A Washington state woman's blood-alcohol level far exceeded California's legal limit when she drove a SUV with her partner and six children inside off a Mendocino County Cliff along Highway 1 last year, a forensic pathologist testified Wednesday. Dr. Greg Pizarro was among the witnesses on day one of a two-day coroner's inquest attempting to determine whether the deaths of Jennifer and Sarah Hart and their six adopted children were accidental, a murder-suicide or undetermined.

The 100-foot drop March 26, 2018, killed the two women from Woodland, Washington, and their children Markis Hart, 19; Jeremiah Hart, 14; Abigail Hart, 14; Hannah Hart, 16; and Ciera Hart, 12. Devonte Hart, 15, is believed to have also died in the accident, but his body has yet to be recovered. The two women and three of the kids died of broken necks, CBS San Francisco reports.

Pizarro told the inquest jury that Jennifer Hart's blood alcohol level was .102 at the of the crash — well above California's limit of 0.08. He also testified that Sarah Hard had a high level of benedryl in her blood stream at the time of her death. He added that is was not the cause of her death, but neared toxic levels.

"Her levels of benedryl were really high," Pizarro said.

The forensic expert said Jennifer Hart died of "multiple blunt force injuries" and was wearing her seat belt at the time of the crash. Sarah Hart also suffered numerous injuries and likely was not wearing her seat belt when the SUV plunged off the cliff.

Jared Chaney, who is the search and rescue coordinator for the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department, described the intense search launched to recover all the bodies.

Initially, Chaney testified that deputies hoped to find someone alive, but the search was made more difficult because the base of the cliff was not easily accessible and the SUV had came to rest in the surf.

"We found a lot of floating debris coming up on shore," he told the jury.

As the days passed, friends of the Hart family began showing up to help in the search, Chaney said. Hannah Hart's foot was found weeks later by a hiker's dog on a beach a ways from the crash scene.

Meanwhile, Mendocino County Sheriff Deputy Robert Julian told the inquest jury that the bodies of the women were inside the car and as it was being towed up the cliff.

"The vehicle got brought straight up and flipped onto its roof so unfortunately it got more damaged," Julian testified, according to CBS affiliate KOIN-TV. "And then I saw one of the decedents that was in the driver's seat fall from the vehicle, along with a bag."

Julian says he was able to identify Sarah Hart through a Minnesota driver's license found near the car. He says he was not able to immediately identify Jennifer Hart due to her fall.

Known as the Hart Tribe, the multiracial family of two married women — Sarah and Jennifer Hart — and six adopted children took spontaneous road trips to camp and hike and traveled to festivals and other events, offering hugs and promoting unity.

One of the children, Devonte Hart, drew national attention when the black youngster was photographed hugging a white police officer during a 2014 protest in Portland, Oregon, over the deadly police shooting of a black man in Ferguson, Missouri. Devonte was holding a "Free Hugs" sign.

A neighbor of the Harts in Woodland, Washington, had filed a complaint with the state, saying the children were apparently being deprived of food as punishment. No one answered when social workers checking on the report went to the family's home near Portland, Oregon, on March 23.

Sarah Hart pleaded guilty in 2011 to a domestic assault charge in Minnesota over what she said was a spanking given to one of her children. Oregon child welfare officials also investigated the couple in 2013, but closed the case without taking any action.</s>A family of eight who died last year when their SUV mysteriously plunged off a 100-foot seaside cliff in Northern California were killed as part of a murder-suicide at the hands of the two parents, a rare special coroner's jury ruled Thursday.

The crash occurred just three days after child-welfare officials visited the Hart family's home to investigate whether the six adopted children were being abused or neglected by their parents, Sarah and Jennifer Hart.

Investigators testified that Jennifer Hart was drunk, with an alcohol level of 0.102 when she deliberately drove her family off the cliff. Sarah Hart, meanwhile, had 42 doses of Benadryl in her system at the time of her death, according to prosecutors.

Investigators also told the jury that the couple's SUV had accelerated before going off the cliff, and that there were no brake marks on the ground to indicate that the driver had tried to stop.

Beyond that, Sarah Hart had even made a number of disturbing internet searches on her phone before the crash, looking up information on suicide, whether drowning was painful, and Benadryl dosages, according to investigators.

Read more: The boy from a viral protest photo and his family are presumed dead after their SUV mysteriously plunged off a 100-foot cliff

In this Wednesday, March 28, 2018 aerial image from Alameda County Sheriff's Office drone video courtesy of Mendocino County shows the pullout where the SUV of Jennifer and Sarah Hart was recovered off the off Pacific Coast Highway 1, near Westport, Calif. Alameda County Sheriff's Office via Associated Press

Since their death, rumors of physical abuse and food deprivation at the hands of the Harts have circulated throughout the media. One neighbor had filed a complaint accusing the Harts of starving the children as punishment, and multiple teachers reported that the children had bruises on their bodies.

Ultimately, the murder-suicide ruling came after two days of disturbing testimony before the Mendocino County jury. The jury was impaneled to determine the cause of the family's deaths, not to criminally prosecute them, The New York Times reported.

Jurors took just one hour to deliberate, according to CBS affiliate KOIN-TV.

The Harts were known as a free-spirited family who often traveled around the country attending events, offering free hugs, and advocating for social-justice causes, according to the Associated Press.

Outwardly, they appeared to be a happy family. Jennifer Hart posted videos of the children dancing and singing on her YouTube channel.

In this Nov. 25, 2014, file photo provided by Johnny Nguyen, Portland police Sgt. Bret Barnum, left, and Devonte Hart, 12, hug at a rally in Portland, Ore., where people had gathered in support of the protests in Ferguson, Mo. Associated Press/Johnny Huu Nguyen

One of the children, 15-year-old Devonte Hart, shot to nationwide fame in 2014 after an image of him embracing a white police officer at a Ferguson-related protest went viral.

Devonte's body was never found, though he is presumed dead.

Authorities have recovered the remains of the other five children, including 12-year-old Ciera, 14-year-old Abigail, 14-year-old Jeremiah, 16-year-old Hannah, and 19-year-old Markis.
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• A black attorney says he was detained in court because a deputy thought he was a suspect just pretending to be a lawyer
• A Virginia city's first black, female police chief resigned, saying she encountered racism 'so inflammatory' that she feared describing it publicly 'out of concern for public safety'</s>April 5 (UPI) -- Two mothers intentionally wanted to drive their sport-utility vehicle, which carried six children, off a steep cliff in Northern California a year ago, a jury has decided.

Eight women and six men on the panel deliberated for less than an hour Thursday before deciding on a verdict in the case of Jennifer and Sarah Hart , declaring the two women and six children all died of a murder-suicide.

"The Hart family is hopefully resting in peace. The tragedy of the six children murdered should never be forgotten," said Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman.

The Harts had adopted the six children from foster homes in Texas and later moved to Oregon and Washington state. On March 24, 2018, their SUV drove off a cliff about 160 miles north of San Francisco. The body of one child was never found.

Jurors heard testimony this week detailing how the women planned the deaths. Prosecutors said Sarah Hart sought answers on the Internet about whether drowning is painful, death by hypothermia and how much sleep aid it would take to cause an overdose. Toxicology reports showed the Harts and some of the children, who were between 12 and 19 years old, had high doses of diphenhydramine in their systems. Some had enough to put them to sleep.

"For a person to be at that level of intoxication and to have that much alcohol in her system, it would be extremely difficult for that person to function," California Highway Patrol investigator Jake Slates testified. "It was investigators' belief that she was drinking to build up her courage."

Thursday, testimony focused on visits by Child Protective Services just hours before the crash. It said no one answered the door, but Jennifer Hart called her wife at work within minutes of the visit. Neighbors had called CPS after two of the children said the women had been starving them.

CHP investigator Timothy Roloff said data from the SUV's computer showed it accelerated from 6 mph to 20 mph in three seconds with the throttle 100 percent open as it went over the cliff. All six children were thrown because none were wearing seat belts.
An inquest finds that Jennifer and Sarah Hart intentionally killed themselves. In 2018, a vehicle with the couple and their six adopted children drove off a cliff in California, killing all of them.