Hart family murders

Jennifer Jean Hart (June 4, 1979 – March 26, 2018) and Sarah Margaret Hart (April 8, 1979 – March 26, 2018, Both women were the eldest children of their families. Jennifer had two siblings and Sarah had three siblings. According to her father, Jennifer was not raised as a Lutheran but sought it out in college. Jennifer attended Huron High School. The two women attended and began their relationship at Northern State University (NSU); Sarah had initially attended the University of Minnesota for one semester before transferring to NSU, The couple went to Connecticut to be married in 2009; at the time same-sex marriage was illegal in every U.S. state. where both women worked at a Herberger's store. In the new location, they made a choice to be open about their relationship. Jennifer worked miscellaneous jobs until she became a stay-at-home mom in 2006, while Sarah became a manager at Herberger's. the Harts moved to an unincorporated area near Woodland, Washington; Sarah became a manager at a Kohl's in Hazel Dell. The couple were living near Woodland at the time of the murders. Members of Jennifer's and Sarah's families stated that the two women distanced themselves from them, although both families were accepting of their sexual orientation. Jennifer estranged herself from her father after 2001. ==Adoption==

All of the children the Harts adopted had Black African ancestry. Prior to adopting their six children, the Harts were foster parents to a 15-year-old girl. Abigail (born 2003), Hannah Jean (born 2002), and Markis Hart (born 1998) were adopted by the Harts from Colorado County, Texas; the placement came on March 4, 2006, and they were adopted that September. Devonte Jordan (born 2002), and Jeremiah Hart (born 2004), originating from Houston. lost custody due to substance abuse problems in August 2006, As a result, the children were removed from Celestine's care and a court prevented Celestine from obtaining permanent custody. Ciera was sometimes referred to as "Sierra". Prior to the murders, 12-year-old Devonte came into the national spotlight when he was photographed crying while embracing a police officer during a 2014 protest in Portland, Oregon resulting from the Ferguson unrest. The image became known as the "hug felt 'round the world." Jennifer was very active on social media and used Facebook to project an image of a loving, happy family while also sharing her thoughts on race, politics, and trips the family went on. This helped mask some of the problems within the family. One allegation of child abuse from 2013 touched upon Jennifer's use of Facebook, saying that "the kids pose and are made to look like one big happy family, but after the photo event, they go back to looking lifeless." ==Abuse==

Minnesota In 2008, while the family was living in Minnesota, a teacher observed bruises on Hannah's left arm and was told she had been hit by Jennifer with a belt. Within months, all six children had been pulled out of the public school system for a year. Oregon In 2013, Oregon authorities were notified of the abuse allegations in Minnesota. Their investigation included separate interviews of everyone in the family, as well as interviews of people who knew the family. Two family friends stated that the children were forced to raise their hands before speaking, could not wish each other a happy birthday, and could not laugh at the dinner table. There were other reports that the children were poorly fed and looked small for their ages. One family friend reported that Jennifer had ordered a pizza for the children, but each was only allowed to have a small slice. When Jennifer discovered that the pizza was gone, she punished the children by not feeding them breakfast and forcing them to lie on their bed for five hours. after the Harts moved to the Woodland, Washington area, Hannah jumped out of her second-story bedroom window at around 1:30 a.m. and approached the residence of her next-door neighbors, the DeKalbs. Hannah reportedly pleaded, "Don't make me go back! They're racists and they abuse us!" Soon afterwards, the Harts found Hannah and took her back home. The following day, Jennifer attempted to explain the incident by claiming that Hannah was lying, that the children occasionally acted out because they were "drug babies", and that Hannah's biological mother was bipolar. After this incident, the DeKalb family came into contact with Devonte, who constantly begged for food and asked the DeKalbs not to tell Jennifer about these requests. In later conversations with Devonte, he told them that his adoptive mothers withheld food as punishment and that the children were sometimes abused. This, combined with the earlier incident with Hannah, made the DeKalbs report the Harts to both the police and to the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). Case workers from DSHS tried to reach the Harts twice: once on March 23, 2018—three days before the murders—and once on the day of the murders. ==Murders==

On March 26, 2018, Jennifer and Sarah Hart murdered all six of the children when Jennifer drove their vehicle, a GMC Yukon XL, Expert analysis of the SUV's internal air bag-deploying computer determined that the Yukon had been intentionally driven off the edge of the cliff from a standing stop, accelerating to in 3 seconds with the throttle at 100%. A fourteen-member coroner's jury unanimously ruled the case a murder–suicide. The inquest was called to determine cause of death, but not any responsibility in the civil or criminal fields. The California Highway Patrol stated that criminal prosecution was not possible due to the deaths of any responsible parties. Toxicology results showed that Jennifer's blood alcohol content was over the legal limit at the time of the crash, The Mendocino County Sheriff's Department officially closed the case and released declassified records in 2019. According to an incident report following the murders, it was reported that Sarah told a co-worker "[that] she wish[ed] someone told her it was okay not to have a big family. Then she and Jennifer would not have adopted the children." ==In popular culture==

An episode of the television series Atlanta was inspired by the Hart case. The episode, called "Three Slaps", had Loquareeous, a character inspired by Devonte. In the 2024 novella collection American Spirits, author Russell Banks included the story "Homeschooling", which fictionalizes the Hart family murders. In Slate magazine, Rachelle Hampton opined that child protective services authorities give harsher treatment to African-American parents and guardians compared to white parents and guardians, citing how the authorities did not resolve the Hart case. == See also ==