The California Highway Patrol has released a surveillance image of a woman believed to be Jennifer Hart, along with new information about the family’s movements in the days before their SUV went off a cliff into the Pacific Ocean in Mendocino County, California.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Jennifer Hart was killed along with her wife Sarah Hart and their three adopted children on March 26. Their bodies were found in and around the family’s SUV at the bottom of a highway cliff. Authorities have said they believe the car was intentionally driven over the cliff, but are still investigating the accident.
On Tuesday, the CHP released a still image from the surveillance footage they obtained, reportedly taken on March 25 at a Safeway grocery store in Fort Bragg, California.
The CHP also revealed for the first time that the family was in Newport, Oregon, at around 8:15 a.m. on March 24, the day after Child Protective Services knocked on their door in Woodland, Washington. Newport is on the Pacific edge of Oregon state, about 111 miles southwest of the Hart’s previous residence in West Linn, Oregon; and a three-and-a-half hour drive from Woodland.
From there, the family is believed to have traveled south until they reached Fort Bragg on Saturday evening, and remained there until Sunday, March 25, at about 9 p.m. Authorities have no further information on the family’s whereabouts between that time and that next afternoon, when a witness spotted their SUV in the water. As CrimeOnline previously reported, the CHP said in an earlier statement that investigators have not ruled out the possibility that the three missing children — Devonte, Sierra, and Hannah Hart — are still alive.
Anyone with information about any Hart family member’s whereabouts before or after the fatal crash is urged to call the California Highway Patrol – Ukiah Area office at (707) 467-4000 or the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 463-4086.
CrimeOnline will provide further updates when more information is available.
[Feature image: California Highway Patrol]