Officials search Wash. home of family in Calif. SUV crash

WOODLAND, Wash. (AP) – Authorities in Washington state on Thursday searched the home of a family of eight who are presumed dead after their SUV plunged off a California cliff.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office went to the home in Woodland, Washington, in search of information such as phone and bank records.

Jennifer and Sarah Hart and their six adopted children are believed to have been killed in the crash. Five bodies have been recovered, but three children are still missing.

The SUV was discovered Monday about 25 miles north of Mendocino, California. Experts say investigators should be able to determine how fast an SUV believed to be carrying a family of eight was traveling when it plunged off a cliff.

No one saw the 2003 GMC Yukon XL drive off a flat, dirt pullout overlooking the Pacific Ocean this week.

But Marcus Mazza, an engineer and reconstruction expert with Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based Robson Forensic, said Thursday that the SUV was required to have a “black box” that records accident data.

The family traveled to festivals and events, offering hugs. Some neighbors say they saw signs that caused them to worry about the children.

Friends described the married couple Jennifer and Sarah Hart as loving parents who promoted social justice.

But neighbors say they saw signs that caused them to worry about how the homeschooled children were being cared for.

Sarah had pleaded guilty to a domestic assault charge in 2011 after telling authorities “she let her anger get out of control” while spanking her 6-year-old adoptive daughter. Her plea deal in Douglas County, Minnesota, led to the dismissal of a malicious punishment of a child charge.

Sarah told police she and her partner, didn’t usually spank their children. She said she had done so to discipline the child.

The family gained attention for an emotional photograph of missing son Devonte, an African-American child, hugging a white police officer at a 2014 Portland protest.