MENDOCINO, Calif. (AP) - Another search for three children missing after their family's SUV plunged off a Northern California cliff has turned up no sign of them. But authorities discovered a cell phone near the crash site that could have belonged to one of the family members.

Sarah and Jennifer Hart were found dead at March 26 along with three of their adopted children. The crash happened days after Washington state authorities began investigating the Harts for possible child neglect.

Dozens of people on Wednesday combed miles (kilometers) of coastline near the site.

FILE - This March 27, 2018, file photo provided by the California Highway Patrol shows a helicopter hovering over steep coastal cliffs near Mendocino, Calif., where a vehicle, visible at lower right, plunged about 100 feet off a cliff along Highway 1, killing all passengers. The SUV carrying the Hart family, from Woodland, Wash., accelerated straight off the scenic California cliff and authorities said the deadly wreck may have been intentional. (California Highway Patrol via AP, File)

KOIN reports the Mendocino County Sheriff's office says a searcher found a cell phone that is being analyzed.

Authorities have said the crash was probably deliberate. </s> MENDOCINO, Calif. — Searchers looking for three missing children whose family’s SUV plunged off a Northern California cliff have found a cellphone that could have belonged to a member of the large brood.

There was no sign of the siblings who were missing but presumed dead in the crash that killed Sarah and Jennifer Hart and three of their other adopted children. Five bodies were found March 26 near Mendocino, a few days after Washington state authorities began investigating the Harts for possible child neglect.

Dozens of people combed miles (kilometres) of coastline Wednesday. The Mendocino County sheriff’s office told Portland, Ore., TV station KOIN that a searcher found a cellphone that was being analyzed.

Authorities have said that data from the vehicle’s software suggested the crash was deliberate. They said the SUV had stopped at a coastal highway overlook before speeding straight off the cliff and plummeting 100 feet (31 metres) into the rocky Pacific Ocean below.

Sarah Hart pleaded guilty in 2011 to a domestic assault charge in Minnesota over what she said was a spanking given to one of her children.
• Data from SUV shows deadly California cliff wreck may have been intentional
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Bruce and Dana DeKalb, the family’s next-door neighbours in Woodland, Wash., called child welfare officials two weeks ago because the couple’s 15-year-old son, Devonte, had been coming over to their house almost every day for a week, asking for food.

Dana DeKalb said Devonte told her his parents were “punishing them by withholding food.” The boy asked her to leave food in a box by the fence for him, she said.

Devonte, a black boy who is still missing, drew national attention after he was photographed in tears while hugging a white police officer during a 2014 protest. </s> Mystery continues to surround Mendocino County as three children remain unaccounted for following a car accident on HWY. 1 that killed their parents and three siblings on March 26.

A total of eight Bay Area crews continued the search of the three children ages 12, 15 and 16 Wednesday, combing the beach and water looking for any sign of them in the city of Fort Bragg.

“We had 74 searchers out today,” said Lt. Shannon Barney from the Mendocino County Sherriff’s Office, “We wanted to cover the beaches at low tide, so that if anything drifted up, we could find it before the storm comes in tomorrow.”

A helicopter, mountain rescue teams and resources from San Mateo to Mendocino, focused on the missing children who may or may not have been aboard an SUV barreled off a cliff.

However, search crews were unable to find anything of value in the quest to find Hannah, Devonte and Sierra Hart.

The only visual confirmation of the family before the crash is a surveillance photo of someone believed to be Jennifer Lawrence, a mother of the six adopted kids, buying groceries at Safeway the morning of the tragedy.

“It’s sort of like walking around, like it feels like there are ghosts around, or something,” said Fort Bragg resident Quinn Fields.

In a town as small as Fort Bragg, the tragic accident 20 miles north of the California coastline has left people feeling shaken.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a car accident, but there’s that like slow motion moment before like impact, or whatever- but I can’t imagine hurtling off of a cliff, and what those poor kids must have been thinking,” said Fields.

Mendocino County residents have places pinwheels and flowers next to the Juan River, where the family’s SUV crashed. </s> (AP) - Another search for three children missing after their family's SUV plunged off a Northern California cliff has turned up no sign of them. But authorities discovered a cell phone near the crash site that could have belonged to one of the family members.

 

Sarah and Jennifer Hart were found dead at March 26 along with three of their adopted children. The crash happened days after Washington state authorities began investigating the Harts for possible child neglect.

 

Dozens of people on Wednesday combed miles (kilometers) of coastline near the site.

 

KOIN reports the Mendocino County Sheriff's office says a searcher found a cell phone that is being analyzed.

 

Authorities have said the crash was probably deliberate.

 

Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman told HLN : "I'm calling it a crime." </s> (Reuters) - Police on Monday searched the ocean off California and highways for three children missing since the sport-utility vehicle carrying their large family plunged off a cliff, killing at least six people in what may have been an intentional crash.

The family's wrecked GMC Yukon was discovered last Monday below the scenic California coastal cliff, only three days after child welfare authorities in their home state of Washington opened an investigation into allegations the children were being neglected, police and social services said.

According to court records, the family had troubles in the past when one of its two white mothers was charged with domestic assault against one of their six adopted black children.

The Hart family gained attention in 2014 after one of the children, Devonte, was photographed crying in the arms of a white police officer at a protest after the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri.

Driver Jennifer Hart, 38, and Sarah Hart, 38, a married couple from Washington state, were killed. So were at least three of their six adopted children, Markis, 19, Jeremiah, 14, and Abigail, 14, police said.

The bodies of their three other children, Hannah, 16, Devonte, 15, and Sierra, 12, were not recovered, but officials have said they believed all the children were in the vehicle and the other bodies may have been washed into the ocean.

"The search for the additional three children belonging to the family continues both at the scene, through water rescue and recovery, and other locations including routes of travel," the California Highway Patrol said in a statement. "This situation may have been an intentional act and not the result of a traffic collision."

The SUV appears to have stopped at a dirt pull-off area about 70 feet (21 meters) from the cliff at the edge of California's coastal Highway 1 in Mendocino County, about 180 miles (290 km) north of San Francisco, according to the vehicle's on-board computer.

It then accelerated over the edge, leaving no skid marks or other indications of a collision, the statement said. The SUV fell into rocks and was found partially submerged about 100 feet (30 meters) below the highway.

Police searched the family's home in Woodland, Washington, about 500 miles (805 km) north of the crash site, but found no suicide note.

The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services said it opened an investigation into the family for potential child neglect or abuse after a complaint on March 23.

Neighbors Dana and Bruce DeKalb told the Oregonian newspaper that Devonte had asked them for food for himself and his siblings after his parents withheld it as punishment. The DeKalbs did not respond to requests for comment.

Sarah Hart was convicted of misdemeanor domestic assault of Abigail in 2011 in Minnesota. Court documents show that one of the children, Abigail, told a teacher: "Mom hit me." </s> The California Highway Patrol says that a crash involving an SUV that plunged off a cliff killing a family may have been an intentional act.Capt. Greg Baarts with the CHP Northern Division says information pulled from the SUV's software shows the vehicle was stopped at the highway pullout before it accelerated straight off the cliff.Baarts says the electronic information combined with the lack of skid marks led officials to believe it was intentional.A Mendocino County Sheriff's Office spokesman says authorities believe at least one felony was committed but declined to specify.The California Highway Patrol identified the adult victims Wednesday as Jennifer Hart and Sarah Hart, both 39. The agency says their SUV was driving Monday on the Pacific Coast Highway when it pulled into a dirt turnout and continued driving off the cliff.Jennifer and Sarah were a married couple who had previously resided in West Linn Oregon. It was later learned they had 6 adopted children. Three children were confirmed to have died in the crash.The Sheriff's Office, the California Highway Patrol, and the United States Coast Guard out of Fort Bragg initiated a second search after learning that three other children were missing following the crash.Fifteen-year-old Devonte Hart, 16-year-old Hannah Hart, and 12-year-old Sierra Hart are still unaccounted for. But, investigators say it's unknown if the children were with their parents or might be staying with friends.Devonte drew wide media attention after being photographed hugging a Portland Oregon Police Sergeant during a demonstration over the unrest in Ferguson Missouri.Child welfare officials in Washington state had recently visited the home of two women who died along with three children in that crash according to officials.Clark County sheriff's Sgt. Brent Waddell told The Associated Press that the family lived in Woodland, Washington, and recently had a visit from Child Protective Services.He says the sheriff's office later entered the house and found no obvious signs of trouble or violence. </s> Start your day with the news you need from the Bay Area and beyond. 

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MENDOCINO — Another search for three children missing after their family’s SUV plunged off a Northern California cliff has turned up no sign of them. But authorities discovered a cell phone near the crash site that could have belonged to one of the family members.

Sarah and Jennifer Hart were found dead at March 26 along with three of their adopted children. The crash happened days after Washington state authorities began investigating the Harts for possible child neglect.

Dozens of people on Wednesday combed miles (kilometers) of coastline near the site.

KOIN reports the Mendocino County Sheriff’s office says a searcher found a cell phone that is being analyzed.

Authorities have said the crash was probably deliberate. </s> As the search continued Tuesday for three siblings and questions mounted over how the rest of their family ended up dead at the bottom of a California cliff, investigators hope a laptop and iPad yield clues, an affidavit shows.

Police seized the devices from the Woodland, Washington, home of Jennifer and Sarah Hart, on Thursday, according to court documents related to the search warrant.

In the affidavit requesting the search warrant, a Clark County, Washington, sheriff's deputy says he is seeking evidence that will shed light on what happened to the family. That evidence could include travel itineraries, bank records, phone records, credit card receipts, hotel receipts or "handwritten or typed journals or notes related to travel, care for the children and or suicide note/s."

It adds that the California Highway Patrol's investigators believe "a felony has been committed."

The bodies of Jennifer and Sarah Hart and three of their children were found in and around their SUV. The bodies of the mothers, both 38, were discovered inside their overturned SUV near a remote stretch of Highway 1 in Northern California on March 26. Jennifer Hart was in the driver's seat, according to the search warrant affidavit. What we know about the mysterious crash Emergency responders found the bodies of three of their six adopted children -- Markis, 19, and Jeremiah and Abigail, both 14 -- outside the car, which landed upside down on the rocky shoreline below the cliff. Evidence from the scene and data retrieved from the car has led investigators to believe Jennifer Hart may have intentionally drove the SUV off the cliff. Their other children -- Hannah, 16, Devonte, 15, and Sierra, 12 -- are missing. Nobody reported seeing the crash. Though a police news release says the California Highway Patrol and Mendocino County Sheriff's Office are continuing an "active search" for the missing children, the search warrant affidavit says they, too, may have been in the SUV. The kids "have not been located and it is feared that they may have also been involved in the collision and presumed deceased," the affidavit says. </s> MENDOCINO, Calif. (AP) - Authorities say child welfare officials in Washington state had recently visited the home of two women who died along with three children when their vehicle plunged off a cliff in Northern California.

The California Highway Patrol identified the adult victims Wednesday as Jennifer Hart and Sarah Hart, both 39. The agency says their SUV was driving Monday on the Pacific Coast Highway when it pulled into a dirt turnout and continued driving off the cliff.

Clark County sheriff's Sgt. Brent Waddell told The Associated Press that the family lived in Woodland, Washington, and recently had a visit from Child Protective Services.

This photo provided by the California Highway Patrol shows a helicopter hovering over steep coastal cliffs Tuesday, March 27, 2018, near Mendocino, Calif., where a vehicle, visible at lower right, plunged about 100 feet off a cliff along Highway 1, killing all five passengers. The California Highway Patrol identified the victims Tuesday as two women from West Linn, Ore., and three children. (California Highway Patrol via AP)

He says the sheriff's office later entered the house and found no obvious signs of trouble or violence.
Search and rescue operations continue for three children missing after an SUV crashed off a cliff and into the sea in California, killing five. The Mendocino County Sheriff says the crash was deliberate and a crime.