Mum made 4 sick Google searches before driving whole family off a cliff to their deaths

Late one night on the Northern California coast, Jennifer Hart drove a sport utility vehicle off a 100-foot cliff while intoxicated, ending the lives of herself, her wife and their six adopted children. This tragic event sparked two urgent searches: , the other for answers.

How, those who knew the family wondered, could a seemingly happy and normal family

Child welfare reports shed some light. They reveal a household dominated by two mothers — one controlling and eccentric, the other often absent due to work — who imposed harsh punishments and regularly withheld food from their children.

In the Hart home, disobedience was met with severe consequences. The children were described as "trained robots," even likened to "little soldiers" by a former neighbour, according to newly released documents .

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After the crash on March 26, 2018, search teams recovered the bodies of Jennifer and Sarah Hart, both 38, along with five of their children: Markis, 19; Hannah, 16; Jeremiah and Abigail, both 14; and Ciera, 12.

The body of Devonte, 15,.

The family’s SUV was discovered upside-down on the rocky shoreline. The sheriff’s office had said there were no skid marks near the cliff where the vehicle went off, implying that Jennifer Hart did not attempt to hit the brakes.

Child welfare agencies in Minnesota, Oregon and Washington — states where the Harts lived over the past seven years — had received reports of abuse. However, investigations often stalled. Some claims couldn’t be substantiated, one case was closed after assessment and another came too late.

“We hope releasing these records helps prevent future tragedies,” said Caroline Burnell of Oregon’s Department of Human Services, which continues to work on improving child protection efforts.

Oregon officials first learned about the Harts in 2013 after an anonymous tip about malnourished children. They reached out to Minnesota, where the family had previously lived. Minnesota’s child welfare had records of six concerning reports, two of which were confirmed.

One incident in 2010 involved physical abuse of Abigail, who was left bruised after being spanked over a penny found in her pocket. The parents admitted the punishment "got out of control" and agreed to therapy and counselling.

Sarah Hart was convicted of misdemeanour domestic assault around this time, admitting to spanking a child identified only as A.H.

In 2011, Hannah told a school nurse she had not eaten. Jennifer Hart responded by shoving food into her mouth and later dismissed the concerns, saying Hannah was “playing the food card”.

Eventually, the children’s school stopped contacting the family, fearing punishment for the kids. The Harts withdrew the children from school, began homeschooling, and later moved.

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One Minnesota welfare worker noted that the Harts “looked normal,” complicating the detection of abuse.

A neighbour, Lorraine Fealy, described the parents as friendly but said the children were rarely allowed outside and were extremely disciplined, walking in single file and behaving unlike typical kids.

But according to neighbours Bruce and Dana DeKalb, they contacted officials days before the fatal crash after Devonte had come to their house several times in the previous week asking for food.

The Dekalbs also described a night when one of the girls, at 1.30am, “was at our door in a blanket saying we needed to protect her. She said that they were abusing her.”

When Washington State opened an investigation into the family, the Harts seemingly responded by packing the kids up, fleeing the house and deciding it was better to end the lives of both mothers and all six children. They researched ways to do it beforehand, according to evidence, as they headed to the eventual scene of the crime in Mendocino, California.

“Sarah Hart searched suicide, drowning, Benadryl dosages and overdose methods on the internet throughout the drive to California," California Highway Patrol investigator Jake Slates said. She also queried whether death by drowning would be painful. Authorities recovered the deleted searches from her phone.

“They both decided that this was going to be the end,” Mr Slates said in 2019, when it took a jury less than an hour to rule that all eight family members died in a murder-suicide. “That if they can’t have their kids then nobody was going to have those kids.”

He added that Jennifer Hart rarely drank and had a high blood alcohol content on the night of the crash, when she revved the car around 3am - according to a witness - and drove the family vehicle off a cliff into the Pacific.

She may have been “drinking to build up her courage,” Mr Slates told AP, while her wife had 42 doses of generic Benadryl in her system. The children were also drugged to sedate them, he said.

Oregon’s investigation in 2013 revealed Jennifer, the more dominant mother, travelled with the children to music festivals, while Sarah worked retail. The family received around $2,000 monthly in adoption assistance.

Witnesses described strict rules: children had to raise hands to speak, were scolded for laughing at dinner, and once were forbidden to say “Happy Birthday” to a sibling.

On one occasion, Jennifer limited children to a small slice of pizza but was furious when it disappeared. She punished them by forcing them to lie in bed for five hours.

Despite these reports, child protective services couldn’t definitively prove neglect or identify a safety threat.

By 2017, the family had moved to Washington State. In March 2023, someone called authorities reporting that Hannah had fled the home months earlier, seeking refuge after being whipped and calling her mothers racists. Devonte reportedly came to the caller’s house multiple times asking for food, afraid to tell his mothers.

He claimed the parents punished him by withholding meals and that the children were hidden and sometimes abused.

Investigators tried to contact the family multiple times in late March 2023 but received no response. On March 27, they learned the family had died in a California car crash.