Officials believe 6 kids were in SUV that plunged off cliff
SAN FRANCISCO — Searchers in boats and aircraft scoured the Northern California coast Wednesday for three missing children whose parents and three siblings died when their SUV plunged off a scenic highway onto rocks in the ocean below.
“We have every indication to believe that all six children were in there,” Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allmon said, appealing for help retracing where the family had been before the vehicle was found Monday. “We know that an entire family vanished and perished during this tragedy.”
One of the missing children was an African-American boy who gained widespread attention when he was photographed hugging a white officer during a 2014 protest over a fatal police shooting of a black man.
The California Highway Patrol has not determined why the vehicle went off the overlook on a particularly rugged part of coastline. A specialized team of accident investigators was trying to figure that out, Allmon said.
“There were no skid marks, there were no brake marks” at the roadside turnout where the vehicle went over, the sheriff said, adding that investigators have no reason to believe the crash was intentional.
Married couple Jennifer and Sarah Hart and their six children ranging in age from 19 to 12 most recently lived in Woodland, Washington, a small city outside Portland, Oregon, and recently had a visit from Child Protective Services, Clark County sheriff’s Sgt. Brent Waddell told The Associated Press.
He said the sheriff’s office later entered the house and found no obvious signs of trouble or violence. It appeared the family planned a short trip because they left behind a pet, chickens and most of their belongings.
Sarah Hart had pleaded guilty to a domestic assault charge in Minnesota in 2011. Her plea also led to the dismissal of a charge of malicious punishment of a child, online court records say.
The women, both 39, and their children Markis Hart, 19; Jeremiah Hart, 14; and Abigail Hart, 14, died when their SUV plunged 100 feet (31 meters) from an ocean overlook on the Pacific Coast Highway about 150 miles (241 kilometers) north of San Francisco.