Remains are found a mile from crash site
DNA analysis to show whether skeletal parts are from child missing in Mendocino County.
Authorities said Thursday that they have recovered human remains about a mile north of where a woman drove an SUV off a cliff and into the ocean in March, killing herself, her wife and at least four of their children.
A resident found a pair of girls’ jeans with a shoe inside a pant leg on the beach near Hardy Creek in Westport on Wednesday night, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff ’s Office. Skeletal remains were found inside the shoe.
A crime lab is working to identify the remains through DNA analysis. Sheriff’s officials searched for more evidence Thursday while the tide was low.
The deadly crash was reported March 26, when a passerby noticed the wreckage in the ocean from a dirt pullout along Highway 1 at Juan Creek. The bodies of the couple and three of their children were recovered at the scene.
Almost two weeks later, searchers pulled a body from the water that authorities identified as 12-year-old Ciera Hart.
Two children — Devonte Hart, 15, and Hannah Hart, 16 — are still missing.
Authorities say Jennifer Hart, in an apparently deliberate act, drove the vehicle off a cliff where it plunged 100 feet into the Pacific along Highway 1 in Mendocino County. Toxicology tests showed that her blood-alcohol level was 0.102%, higher than the legal limit, authorities have said.
Her wife, Sarah Hart, and at at least two of the children whose bodies were found at the scene had a “significant amount” of an ingredient used in Benadryl in their blood, authorities said.