Authorities receive new information on whereabouts of Washington family before fatal crash
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
NORTH COAST, Calif. – On Tuesday the California Highway Patrol and the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office shared new information gained in their parallel investigations into a fatal wreck that killed five Washington family members, with three of the family’s children still listed as missing and search efforts to find them set to continue Wednesday.
Jennifer Jean Hart and Sarah Margaret Hart, both age 38, and three of their children, Markis Hart, 19, Jeremiah Hart, 14, and Abigail Hart, 14, all of Woodland, Wash., died when their GMC SUV went off a 100-foot cliff at the edge of a dirt turnout along Highway 1 at County Road 430, just south of Juan Creek in Westport.
On Sunday, the CHP and Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said that they believe that the crash may have been intentional. That’s based primarily on the evidence developed in the crash investigation so far, which has shown that there were not skid marks or signs of braking in the turnout.
While the crash was reported on the afternoon of March 26 – after a passerby spotted the overturned vehicle sitting on a rock in the ocean – but authorities aren’t certain when the wreck actually took place.
Authorities said they believe that the family’s three other children – Devonte Hart, 15, Hannah Hart, 16, and Sierra Hart, 12 – were also on the trip.
However, the children remain missing, and Capt. Greg Van Patten of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office reported Tuesday that it’s still unclear if the missing children were inside the vehicle during the incident.
Van Patten said the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office is focused on search efforts as if they were inside the vehicle while the CHP is focused on search efforts as if they were not inside the vehicle. “At this point there in no obvious information to suggest either possibility.”
On Tuesday, the CHP’s Ukiah Area office said that, based on the investigation to date, it is believed the Hart family was in or around the Newport, Oregon, area around 8:15 a.m. on Saturday, March 24, and that they continued south along US 101 until they reached Highway 1 in Leggett.
From there, authorities said the Harts traveled south along Highway 1 until they reached the Fort Bragg area in Mendocino County around 8 p.m. on March 24.
The CHP said the family remained in the Fort Bragg and Cleone areas until approximately 9 p.m. Sunday, March 25.
They were traveling in a 2003 GMC Yukon LX with black rims, authorities said.
In putting together the timeline, officials were aided by information they received on Monday that Jennifer Hart may have been seen on March 25 in a Fort Bragg business, Van Patten said.
He said sheriff's office investigators obtained video footage from the business and noted it was of a poor quality resolution. The footage was provided to CHP investigators who are working with FBI agents in an attempt to enhance the viewing quality.
Meanwhile, authorities have been conducting ongoing searches by aircraft and watercraft, and on land in the area of the crash site and the shoreline in Mendocino County and Sonoma County. Search and rescue divers have been unable to dive in the area of the crash site due to unsafe ocean conditions, Van Patten said.
He said a large scale search and rescue operation with approximately 71 searchers is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday during low tide conditions, with the base of the operation being located at MacKerricher State Park in Fort Bragg, according to Van Patten.
The search area will focus from the Noyo Harbor to the MacKerricher State Park based upon ocean current and drift pattern analysis conducted by the US Coast Guard, he said.
Van Patten said a further search will be conducted from the crash site with focus to the south of that location. This search is anticipated to include aircraft, boat and land searchers.
Agencies set to participate in the Wednesday search operation include CAL ESAR, Contra Costa County Search and Rescue, Bay Area Mountain Rescue, Lake County Search and Rescue, Marin County Search and Rescue, Mendocino County Search and Rescue, San Mateo County Search and Rescue and Sonoma County Search and Rescue, Van Patten said.
Anyone with information pertaining to the Hart family’s route of travel or places where they stopped, who may have come into contact with them or who has any other information about them are asked to call the CHP’s Ukiah Area office at 707-467-4000 or the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office at 707-463-4086.
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