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The Hart mothers drugged their six adopted children before leaving a California cliff, killing their entire family.
UNITED STATES TODAY & # 39; HUI

Jennifer and Sarah Hart gave their six children no less than 19 doses of Benadryl before driving their SUVs over a steep cliff and into the Pacific Ocean in the middle of last year's night, announced Thursday. a jury.

The children and their mothers all died in the Mendocino County crash in California. The verdict was the first confirmation that the married couple had planned the accident that killed the entire family.

The case generated a lot of interest, in part because the two white mothers and their six adopted children had been portrayed on social media as a multiracial and happy family. Devonte Hart, a 15-year-old black-haired, drew the country's attention when he was photographed in tears while he was hugging a white policeman during a protest at 2014, to Portland, Oregon.

In June 2014, a photo of the file shows members of the Hart family at the annual celebration of the film "The Goonies" in Astoria, Oregon. Authorities in northern California will hold a coroner's inquest to determine the death pattern of eight family members, whose SUV plunged off a coastal cliff last year. The captain of Mendocino County Sheriff, Greg Van Patten, said that during the two-day investigation beginning Wednesday, April 3, 2019, a jury would hear from officials and experts and decide whether deaths Jen and Sarah Hart and their six adopted children were accidental. , a murder-suicide or indeterminate. (Photo: Thomas Boyd, AP)

The family's story began to collapse last March, when they fled their home in Woodland, Washington, after social workers' visit investigating charges that they had neglected the children. A neighbor had lodged a complaint with the state, claiming that the children were deprived of food as a punishment.

New details about their last days were unveiled this week by a special jury of coroners in Willits, California.

The coroner's inquest is typically used in cases involving deaths in custody or shootings involving officers, where the public interest is high and the need for transparency is critical, said the Mendocino County Sheriff's Captain, Gregory L. Van Patten.

Mendocino County Sheriff-Coroner, Tom Allman, said, "When six children and two adults die in an incident, the company we need to know the facts," The news of Willits reported.

In this 27 March 2018 photo provided by the California Highway Patrol, a helicopter flies over steep coastal cliffs near Mendocino, California, where a vehicle, visible at the bottom right, plunged about 100 feet from a cliff. along Route 1, killing the passengers. (Photo: AP)

The authorities had indicated that they thought the accident was deliberate, but wanted a jury to make their findings official.

The evidence included testimony that Sarah Hart had used her phone to search for information on drowning and hypothermia.

The California Highway Patrol investigator, Jake Slates, said the deleted searches had been found on his phone, The Oregonian reported. They included these questions:

"Can 500 mg of Benadryl kill a 120-pound woman?"

"Is death by drowning relatively painless?"

"How long does it take to die from hypothermia by drowning in a car?"

The SUV's "black box" computer, found after the accident, showed that Jennifer Hart had crossed the cliff at full speed, reported The Oregonian.

A witness who was camping next to their vehicle said they heard their car start around 3 am on March 26, 2018.

Another crash: After the Hart family left the cliff in a fatal accident, another car dives into the water in the same area

The jury decided that the six children aged 12 to 19 had died as a result of their mother's intentional act. They also included Markis, 19; Hannah, 16 years old; Jérémie, 14 years old; Abigail, 14 years old; and Ciera, 12.

The Garmin GPS for the family was found several weeks after the accident. She showed that they had stopped at a Walmart in the state of Washington, where Jennifer Hart would have bought the generic version of Benadryl.

Sarah Hart, who was not driving, had 42 doses of the generic sleep-inducing drug in her system.

Children also had high rates of drugs in their bodies, according to autopsies. The couple often gave their children Benadryl a drive for them to sleep, officials said during the hearing.

Jennifer Hart had a blood alcohol level above the legal limit and might have "drunk to boost her courage," Slates said.

Lt. Sheriff Shannon Barney said Thursday that he thought the couple had succumbed under the pressure.

"There is a lot going on in their lives, to the point where they made the conscious decision to end their lives that way and take the lives of their children," he said.

"They both decided it would be the end," said Slates. "That if they can not have their children, nobody will have them."

The bodies of brothers and sisters Markis, Jeremiah and Abigail were found on the same day near the car. A few weeks later, Ciera Hart's body was removed from the Pacific Ocean. Hannah Hart was finally identified through a DNA match.

The body of Devonte Hart has not been found.

Contribute: The Associated Press

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