An Investigation Jury in California Judges Murder and Suicide in Cases of Death in a Cliff

(Update: the jury decides murder-suicide)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A coroner 's jury said Thursday that two women committed suicide and their six adopted children while they were walking to the foot of a cliff in northern California. last year.

The Mendocino County Jury deliberated for about an hour before issuing unanimous verdicts after almost two full days of testimony.

The accident occurred a few days after the Washington state authorities had opened an investigation into allegations that children aged 12 to 19 had been neglected by Jennifer and Sarah Hart .

The bodies of the women were found in the vehicle, which landed upside down under a cliff more than 160 km north of San Francisco.

The bodies of four children were found and a fifth was matched with remains found in a shoe. The remains of Devonte Hart, aged 15, have not been found.

Earlier Thursday, an investigator from the California Highway Patrol said that shortly before his wife was driving her family off the cliff, Sarah Hart had sought to find out if it was relatively easy to die by drowning.

A special coroner's jury was sitting to determine whether the death of the Southwest Washington couple and their six adopted children in March 2018 was a murder-suicide or an accident. Authorities had described the deaths as intent, but wanted a jury to decide.

During the investigation, Jake Slates said that Jennifer Hart, who rarely drank, was extremely intoxicated and perhaps "drunk to reinforce her courage".

Sarah Hart and the children had a large amount of Benadryl in their systems.

The accident occurred a few days after the Washington state authorities began investigating whether the children were being neglected.