(Reuters) - Police on Monday searched the ocean off California and highways for three children missing since the sport-utility vehicle carrying their large family plunged off a cliff, killing at least six people in what may have been an intentional crash. A cellphone was discovered near the California crash site that could have belonged to one of the family members from Woodland, Clark County. Family's troubling history

Jennifer and Sarah Hart once lived in Minnesota, where Sarah Hart pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic assault involving one of the children in 2010, according to Douglas County court records. The family's wrecked GMC Yukon was discovered last Monday below the scenic California coastal cliff, only three days after child welfare authorities in their home state of Washington opened an investigation into allegations the children were being neglected, police and social services said. A tip led authorities to have divers search the water near the coastline about 30 or 40 miles south of the scene, but Allman said there was nothing yet to report from the search there. 'Information released... by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office incorrectly stated that Jennifer Hart and Sarah Hart were wearing a seat-belt during the incident,' the sheriff's office said in a news release, The Oregonian reports. While investigators initially said there was no indication the crash was anything but an accident, data from the vehicle's software now suggested the incident was deliberate.
Search and rescue operations continue for three children missing after an SUV crashed off a cliff and into the sea in California, killing five. The Mendocino County Sheriff says the crash was deliberate and a crime.