Free Republic

Cliff plunge that killed family of 8 ruled a murder-suicide Two women drugged themselves and their six adopted children before intentionally killing the entire family by driving off a California cliff last year, a special coroner’s jury has ruled. A jury of eight women and six men unanimously found Thursday that Jennifer and Sarah Hart, both 38, committed suicide and that their six children — ages 12 to 19 — died “at the hands of another, other than an accident” in the Mendocino County murder-suicide on March 26, 2018, the San Francisco Chronicle reported

<p>But while the report provides a lot of disturbing details about the degree of physical and emotional abuse, it poses more questions than offers answers, and paints a gruesome portrait of the parents, who beat and starved and gaslighted their children before murdering them all, and committing suicide.</p>

After Jennifer Hart drunkenly drove a sport utility vehicle straight off a 100-foot cliff on the Northern California coast late last month, taking her life and those of her wife and their adopted children, at least two searches began. One was for the missing bodies; another was for answers. How, those who knew the Harts wondered, could a family that looked so happy and normal in photos have hidden such a dark life from public view? Dozens of pages of reports released this week by child-welfare officials offer some clues. Taken together they paint a portrait of a pair of...

Authorities believe the parents behind the wheel of an SUV that plunged off a California cliff with their adopted children did so intentionally, according to a report Sunday. “We do have reason to believe, however, that the crash was intentional,” said Greg Baarts, acting assistant chief for California Highway Patrol’s northern division. The state law enforcement agency made the stunning disclosure after searching Jennifer and Sarah Hart’s Woodland, Wash., home for possible suicide notes. A search warrant affidavit revealed the vehicle's speedometer was "pinned" at 90 mph after the March 26 crash, according to court papers obtained by KPTV-TV. The...