Mums who died with kids in car cliff plunge 'investigated over abuse'
Two mothers killed alongside at least three of their six children after their car plunged off a cliff had been visited by child services just days earlier, neighbours said.
Known as the Hart Tribe, they were a free-spirited family of two women and their six adopted children who raised their own food, took spontaneous road trips and travelled to festivals and other events, offering free hugs and promoting unity.
But their final journey ended in tragedy.
All eight were presumed dead after their SUV plunged off a 100-foot cliff along a seaside California highway in a mysterious wreck discovered Monday — three days after neighbours called child welfare authorities to visit the Hart’s rural Washington state home to investigate possible abuse or neglect.
“We know that an entire family vanished and perished during this tragedy,” Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said Wednesday as he appealed for help retracing where the family had been.
Investigators have yet to determine the cause of the crash, and the sheriff said there is “no evidence and no reason to believe that this was an intentional act.”
At the same time, he said there were no skid marks and no sign the brakes were applied at the highway pull-off area where the vehicle went over.
The case has now thrown a spotlight on the Hart family’s previous run-ins with the law and neighbours’ concerns about the youngsters.
Next-door neighbours Bruce and Dana DeKalb said they called child services last Friday because Devonte, now 15, had been coming over to their house asking for food.
Dana DeKalb said Devonte told her that his parents were “punishing them by withholding food.” He came over almost every day for a week and asked her to leave food in a box by the fence for him, she said.
Ms DeKalb said a Child Protection Services worker visited but the Harts did not open the door and left just hours later, KGW8 reported.
"The next morning when we saw that the vehicle was gone, and then Sunday morning when it still wasn't there, we figured something was off," Mr DeKalb added.
"We figured that they saw the business card and loaded up the kids as quick as they could and took off."
In 2011, Sarah Hart pleaded guilty to a domestic assault charge in Minnesota. Her plea led to the dismissal of a charge of malicious punishment of a child, according to court records.
According to a criminal complaint, a 6-year-old girl told a teacher at her elementary school that she had “owies” on her tummy and back and said, “Mom hit me.” Sarah Hart told authorities “she let her anger get out of control” while spanking her daughter.
The DeKalbs also recounted that three months after the family moved into the home on 2 acres with a fenced pasture last May, one of the girls rang their doorbell at 1:30 a.m.
She “was at our door in a blanket saying we needed to protect her,” Bruce DeKalb said. “She said that they were abusing her.”
Max Ribner, who has known the family since 2012, said allegations from neighbors don’t square with what he knows about the Harts.
“They are beautiful examples of opening arms to strangers, helping youth, supporting racial equality,” Ribner, who lives in Portland, said. “They brought so much joy to the world. They represented a legacy of love.”
Bill Groener, 67, was a next-door neighbor of the Harts when they lived in West Linn, Oregon, and said the kids stayed indoors most of the time. He said the family didn’t eat sugar, raised their own vegetables, had animals and went on camping trips.
“There was enough positive there to kind of counteract the feeling that something maybe wasn’t quite right,” Groener said.
Markis Hart, 19; Jeremiah Hart, 14; and Abigail Hart, 14, were all killed in the crash but Hannah Hart, 16; Sierra Hart, 12 and Devonte, 15, are yet to be found.
Devonte gained international attention when he was photographed hugging a white police officer during a 2014 protest over a fatal police shooting of a black man.
