SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — California Highway Patrol officials say preliminary evidence shows the cliff crash that killed a Washington state family may have been intentional.

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.

Five members of the Hart family were found dead. Searchers are looking for three more children believed to have been in the vehicle when it went over a scenic coastal overlook and landed on rocks in the Pacific Ocean below. </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> (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> 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> SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Authorities say five people were killed when a vehicle plunged about 100 feet off a cliff along Northern California's scenic Pacific Coast Highway near Mendocino.

The California Highway Patrol identified the victims Tuesday as two women from West Linn and three children. The CHP said the children were from Oregon and Washington. Their names and ages were not immediately released.

In a report on the crash, the CHP said a 2003 GMC was driving south along Highway 1 on Monday when it pulled into a dirt turnout along the road and for unknown reasons continued directly off the cliff. It's unclear when the vehicle went over the cliff. It was discovered about 3:40 p.m.

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The CHP said the vehicle landed on its roof on a large rock in ocean waters, killing all five. The two women were still in the GMC, and the children's bodies were found out of the vehicle.

Rescue crews rappelled down the cliff to reach the SUV, which was partially submerged, the CHP told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. The recovery operation went into the evening.

Investigators said it was not clear what caused the crash. The weather was reported as clear, and drugs and alcohol were not considered factors. </s> Authorities say a family of five was killed when the vehicle they were in plunged about 100 feet off a cliff along California's scenic Pacific Coast Highway near Mendocino.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) identified the victims on Tuesday as two women from West Linn, Oregon, and three children.

In a report on the crash, the highway patrol said a 2003 GMC Sierra truck was driving south along Highway 1 on Monday when it pulled into a dirt turnout along the road and, for unknown reasons, continued directly off the cliff.

In a photo of the crash, released by the CHP, the truck is seen on its roof on rocks just south of Juan Creek. Authorities confirmed the impact killed all five.

A CHP trooper said it is currently unclear if everyone was wearing seat belts at the time of the crash because the three children were found outside the vehicle and the two adults were still inside.

Firefighters had to rappel down the cliff to retrieve the bodies - after they were discovered around 3.40pm on Monday by a passerby - and a helicopter was called to lift them up, reported KOIN.

The weather was reported as clear, and drugs and alcohol were not considered factors. Investigators say they are not certain what caused the crash but an investigation is underway and autopsies will be performed.

A spokesperson from the CHP told DailyMail.com that the investigation is still ongoing and that the names and ages of the victims will be released once the family has been notified.

The CHP did reveal that the children were from Oregon and Washington, reported KGW. It is also unclear at this time what the relationship is between the five victims. </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> A family of five from West Linn died in a crash off a cliff in California on Monday.

California High Patrol reported two adults and three children were in the car.

Investigators said the driver drove a 2003 GMC into a large dirt turnout on the west side of SR-1 in the Ukiah area and then, for unknown reasons, drove directly off a large cliff.

The car overturned onto its roof and landed on a boulder on the beach south of Juan Creek.

Everyone in the car was killed as a result of the crash. The three children were thrown from the vehicle, according to police.

Read more HERE from KPTV.com </s> SAN FRANCISCO -- Authorities say five people were killed when a vehicle plunged about 100 feet off a cliff along Northern California's scenic Pacific Coast Highway near Mendocino. The California Highway Patrol identified the victims Tuesday as two women and three children.

According to CBS affiliate KOIN-TV, one of the women is 39-year-old Jennifer Jean Hart of West Linn, Oregon, while the other woman is 39-year-old Sarah Margaret Hart from Alexandria, Minnesota. The names of the children have not been released, and it's unclear what the relationship is between all of the victims.

In a report on the crash, the highway patrol said a 2003 GMC was driving south along Highway 1 Monday when it pulled into a dirt turnout along the road and for unknown reasons continued directly off the cliff. The vehicle landed on its roof on a large rock, killing all five.

A woman who owns a house near the scene told KOIN-TV the crash seemed strange because the turnoff is so large. So far it's unclear what caused the crash.

The weather was reported as clear and drugs and alcohol were not considered factors.
California Highway Patrol says a crash that left five dead and three children missing after a car fell off a cliff into the sea may have been intentional.