A 16-year-old Black girl named Hannah Hart was among the six adopted children of Jennifer and Sarah Hart. On March 26, 2018, in Mendocino County, California, the couple drove their SUV deliberately off a cliff in what has been determined to be a murder-suicide. The vehicle plunged into the ocean, killing both parents and their six children, including Hannah. All members of the family were adopted children of color, while the parents were a white lesbian couple.
The crash initially seemed accidental, but was ultimately ruled a violent, intentional act. According to official findings, Jennifer Hart was driving under the influence and intentionally drove off the cliff, while Sarah Hart apparently sedated herself and the children with high doses of diphenhydramine beforehand, a sedative found in their systems. No evidence such as skid marks, luggage, or seatbelts suggested a desperate last-minute plan to flee; instead, the crash was premeditated, a murder-suicide planned and executed by the parents.
Prior to the crash, numerous credible allegations of abuse had emerged spanning several years. As early as 2008, when the family lived in Minnesota, teachers and other adults witnessed signs of physical abuse on the children, such as bruises. One child told a teacher that Jennifer Hart had struck them with a belt. Reports continued over the years; a child later reported being struck with a closed fist by their mother after finding a penny in their pocket, leading to a charge against Sarah Hart for misdemeanor domestic assault. That charge resulted in probation and community service, after which the family pulled all six children out of public school and began homeschooling. Over the next years, child-welfare authorities received reports from multiple states—Minnesota, Oregon, Washington—but no coordinated action was taken. Even neighbors in Washington heard a child come to their door in the middle of the night pleading for protection, and one neighbor had called child services after one daughter sought food at their home. Child services visited but found no one answered the door; the next morning, the family had departed.
After the crash, investigators initially found the bodies of Jennifer and Sarah Hart and four of their adopted children at the scene or nearby. Hannah Hart and her 15-year-old adopted brother Devonte were missing. In May 2018, partial remains were discovered near the crash site; DNA comparison completed in January 2019 confirmed that those remains belonged to Hannah Hart. Her body was identified through matching with DNA from her biological mother.
A coroner’s inquest and jury investigation determined that both mothers died by suicide and that all six children, including 16-year-old Hannah—Black, adopted, teenage daughter—died by homicide, at the hands of their adoptive mothers. Evidence presented at the inquest revealed that Sarah’s system contained the equivalent of dozens of doses of diphenhydramine, while Jennifer was legally intoxicated with alcohol at the wheel. Investigators portrayed the event as a deliberate act insulated from evidence of an accident—no attempts to prepare, no signs of braking or escape, disabling GPS, cash-based planning. The tragic episode sparked national conversation around systemic failures in protecting vulnerable children, particularly adopted children of color, and raised urgent calls for improved inter-state communication and oversight in child protection systems.
