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Inside The Tragic Hart Family Murder-Suicide Crash · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: On Tuesday, March twenty sixth, twenty eighteen, a German tourist
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  encountered a distressing site along California's picturesque Highway One in
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  Mendocino County, situated two hundred miles north of San Francisco. Typically,
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  visitors and residents marvel at the stunning views of the
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  rugged cliffs and the steep descents to the Pacific Ocean,
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  but on this particular day, an unsettling scene unfolded. The
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  tourist observed a GMC Yukon overturned on the rocks beneath
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  a steep one hundred foot cliff. Emergency services were notified
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  and rescue personnel descended the rocky terrain. Inside the vehicle,
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  the lifeless bodies of Jennifer and Sarah Hart, a married
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  couple age thirty eight, were found. Additionally, the remains of
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  three of their adopted children, Marcus nineteen, Jeremiah fourteen, and
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  Abigail fourteen, were also discovered nearby. The three remaining children
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  of the Hearts, DeVante fifteen, Hannah sixteen, and Sira twelve,
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  were unaccounted for at the sight of the accident. Those
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  who were close with the Hart family say they were
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  shocked by the crash. The friends and acquaintances of the
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  Hart family were initially taken aback by the tragic deaths.
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  Jen and Sarah Hart were perceived by those who knew
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  them as nurturing and committed parents, having adopted two sets
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  of three black siblings and devoted their lives to raising
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  the six children in an environment that emphasized love and acceptance.
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  Their close knit relationship earned them the nickname the Heart
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  Tribe among friends. However, as authorities began to investigate the
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  backgrounds of Gen and Sarah Hart, they uncovered a deck
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  arcaid long narrative of abuse and neglect that culminated in
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  a tragic incident on a remote highway over five hundred
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  miles away from the Heart residence in Washington State. The
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  complete account of the Hart family and the shocking fate
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  of eight lives was, as the adage suggests, indeed stranger
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  than fiction. Several children reported abuse to authorities at the
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  hands of the Hearts. In two thousand four, the couple
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  welcomed a fifteen year old foster daughter into their home,
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  whom they openly criticized to their colleagues. Now in her
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  late twenties, The young woman recalls how Jen and Sarah
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  shared their intentions to adopt three additional children, suggesting that
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  she could take on the role of a big sister. However,
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  one day, without any explanation, the Hearts left their foster
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  daughter at a therapist's office and never return. She never
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  received any further communication from Jen or Sarah. In two
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  thousand and six, the couple accepted three siblings from Texas
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  foster Care, Marcus aged seven, Hannah, age four, and Abigail
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  age two. Two years later, in two thousand and eight,
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  they took in another set of three siblings from Texas
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  DeVante aged five, Jeremiah aged four, and Sierra age three.
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  The family, now referred to as the Hart Tribe, appeared
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  to embody the ideal of a modern progressive family. Two white,
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  lesbian mothers raising six adopted black children. While Sarah was employed,
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  Jen remained at home to care for the children. However,
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  it soon became evident that there were troubling signs while
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  residing in Minnesota. In September two thousand and eight, their
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  daughter Hannah attended school with visible bruises on her arm.
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  When questioned by a teacher about the marks, the young
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  girl disclosed that her parents had struck her with a belt.
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  Although no charges were filed, the Hearts withdrew all six
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  children from school for nearly a year before re enrolling
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  them the following autumn. In November twenty ten, educators observed
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  indications of abuse on six year old Abigail Heart and
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  reported their concerns to the authorities. Abigail informed investigators that
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  her mother, Jen had submerged her head in cold water
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  and had struck her, believing she had stolen a penny
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  they had discovered. Law enforcement interviewed the other Hart children,
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  who revealed that they frequently experienced spanking, deprivation of food,
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  and grounding. During their interview, Sarah accepted responsibility for hitting
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  Abigail and and was subsequently convicted of misdemeanor domestic assault,
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  receiving a sentence of probation and one year of community service.
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  At this juncture, Gen and Sarah made the decision to
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  permanently withdraw their children from school, resulting in the complete
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  isolation of the six Heart children from external influences and
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  individuals who could provide support. Investigators found that the driver,
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  Gen was intixicated above the legal limit. None of the
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  occupants in the vehicle were utilizing seat belts. Subsequent investigations
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  revealed that Jenhart had a blood alcohol concentration exceeding the
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  legal limit, while Sarah and two of the children had
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  ingested antihistamines known to induce drowsiness. On April eighth, nearly
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  two weeks following the accident, the body of twelve year
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  old Sierra was recovered. The remains of Hannah were positively
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  identified in January two, thy nineteen. DeVante Hart's body has
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  yet to be located, but authorities suspect he also lost
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  his life in the incident. Nine months after the tragic
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  event that claimed the lives of eight members of the
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  Hart family, numerous questions persist