Authorities have released a 911 call made to police by a Child Protective Services worker about the Hart family — the same day Jennifer Hart is believed to have driven her SUV over a cliff in Northern California, killing at least five Hart family members in an apparent murder-suicide.
KPTV obtained audio of the 911 call, which was reportedly placed by a CPS worker to Clark County emergency dispatch at around 10;30 a.m. on Monday, March 26. The CPS agent, identified as Amanda Krotke, indicates she had already been to the home that day.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, neighbors of the Harts called CPS the previous Friday, and the agency dispatched a representative to the home. No one answered the door then, and the CPS worker reportedly went back again on the following Monday and Tuesday.
In the audio recording, the dispatcher asks who the CPS worker is calling about.
“The mothers are Sarah and Jennifer Hart, and according to my intake, they have six children in the home,” Krotke says.
“I’ve been to the home Monday and Friday and knocked on the door just this morning, and I can get no response,” she continues. “Different cars have been moving in and out, I noticed, so I feel like someone is there.”
Asked by the dispatcher why CPS was checking on the family, Krotke replies, “Concerns that the children aren’t being fed.”
The Hart’s neighbors told the News Tribune that they finally called CPS on Friday, March 23, after Devonte Hart had been to their home a dozen times asking for food, claiming that his parents were withholding food as punishment. They also said that Jennifer Hart’s SUV was the driveway when CPS visited the home on Friday, but the family is believed to have left home shortly after that. Investigators determined that by Saturday morning the family was in Newport, Oregon, and continued to travel south along the coast until the fatal SUV plunge the following Monday.
Sarah and Jennifer Hart, both 38, were found dead inside the SUV. Their adopted children Markis Hart, 19; Jeremiah Hart, 14; and Abigail Hart, 14, were found dead near the vehicle. Devonte Hart, 15; Sierra Hart, 15; and Hannah Hart, 16, are still missing.
On Saturday, tourists discovered the body of an African-American female in the water near the crash site. Authorities said it may be weeks before they are able to positively identify the body.
An autopsy is scheduled to be performed on the recovered body on Tuesday.
[Feature image: The Hart Family/Associated Press]
