CA - Hannah,16,Devonte,15,&Ciera Hart,12 (fnd deceased),Mendocino Cty,26 Mar 2018 #6

[fridaybaker]

Look at who Jen has her hands on in that photo, too - just her favorites. IIRC in that photo Hannah and Devonte aren't next to each other, but both are tense with clenched fists.

Another observation, one that I'm nervous about sharing... I watched the birthday adventure video a few times, and I saw two interesting moments where Devonte grabbed Sarah in rather personal spots, and laughed. There's one near the middle where he gets her around the upper waist or lower torso, and once near the end where he slaps her bum. Both times she startles but seems to relax when she sees who it is. I wonder what Jen thought.

Digital, I've seen the video but can't find it now. Is it something that can be linked here?

 

[Silverfang]

And this is why: 1. You should never get behind a wheel if you are, A: Drunk or, B: at risk for being suicidal. Nevertheless, RIP, young ones.

 

[Lilibet]

This is excellent, but IMO is missing an important event/date.

September 1, 2009: Jen and Sarah Hart married in Connecticut.

I think it’s also significant that this gives them equal rights as parents and spousal immunity.

It also should be added to the timeline that the body found on shore was identified as Ciera (Sierra) April 17.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/body-found-near-cliff-crash-scene-id-d-one-missing-n866806

Thanks again for doing the timeline, Kaboom.

 

[human]

It's baffling. Jen and Sarah abused the kids on one hand and allowed things like piano lessons and amusement parks on the other. Maybe the two just didn't know how to discipline properly. Some parents believe in food deprivation and "spankings" as "good" forms of punishment. Especially, "old school" disciplinarians.

They went to college in education. Unless it is some bizarre place, teachers learn behavior techniques that are not spankings or food deprivation, Beating with a belt and holding a head under water is not approved discipline in most schools.

I am sure that people have seen the meme on FB how “parents spanked me and I am OK. “ Even today there are younger people that believe that and I imagine teachers as well as paddlimg is allowed in some states.

Can you imagine if your spouse paddled you for breaking rules? That is assault. Not for children. Smaller and vulnerable.No problemo.

 

[fridaybaker]

They went to college in education. Unless it is some bizarre place, teachers learn behavior techniques that are not spankings or food deprivation, Beating with a belt and holding a head under water is not approved discipline in most schools.

I am sure that people have seen the meme on FB how “parents spanked me and I am OK. “ Even today there are younger people that believe that and I imagine teachers as well as paddlimg is allowed in some states.

Can you imagine if your spouse paddled you for breaking rules? That is assault. Not for children. Smaller and vulnerable.No problemo.

Human, I thought I'd read this somewhere -that one of the girl's head was held under water; however, I then have seen articles that mention the parents punished her by "making her take cold baths". Maybe the head-holding was in the police report? Anyway, I'm glad I'm not crazy. "Taking a cold bath" and having one's head held underwater are not in the same league. The latter is terrorizing!

 

[human]

Human, I thought I'd read this somewhere -that one of the girl's head was held under water; however, I then have seen articles that mention the parents punished her by "making her take cold baths". Maybe the head-holding was in the police report? Anyway, I'm glad I'm not crazy. "Taking a cold bath" and having one's head held underwater are not in the same league. The latter is terrorizing!

I hope someone will weigh in on this as I do not keep links. The only thing I have read is at the time of the report of the bruises which resulted in Sarah’s criminal complaint, it was said that the child’s head was held under cold water.

 

[KaaBoom]

This is excellent, but IMO is missing an important event/date.

September 1, 2009: Jen and Sarah Hart married in Connecticut.

I think it’s also significant that this gives them equal rights as parents and spousal privilege.

OK, thanks. I have added it.

March 2004: Earliest known public record that shows Jennifer Hart and Sarah Gengler, both from South Dakota, residing in Alexandria, Minnesota.

Summer 2004: The Harts take in a foster child named Lee. Then they later abandoned her the next Spring after they dropped her off at a therapist’s appointment, never to see her again.

May 2005: Sarah Hart petitions to change her last name from Gengler to Hart.

September 2006: Jennifer and Sarah Hart adopt siblings Markis, Abigail and Hannah.

September 2008: According to a police report from Alexandria, Minnesota, Hannah, then 6, tells authorities that one of her mothers bruised her with a belt. Asked about the beating, Jennifer and Sarah Hart tell a police investigator and social worker the girl had fallen down the stairs.

February 2009: Jennifer and Sarah adopt Devonte and two of his siblings — bringing their number of children to six. An article from Paper Trail, a New Zealand-based news outlet, describes his adoption. The article said by age 4, the boy had been abused, neglected, shot at and had endured other traumas.

September 1, 2009: Jennifer and Sarah Hart are married in Connecticut, Jennifer is listed as the groom and Sarah is listed as the bride.

November 2010: Police in Alexandria, Minnesota interview Abigail Hart, 6 at the time, after a teacher discovers bruises stretching from her sternum to her navel. The girl says Jennifer Hart hit her with a closed fist, put her head in a cold bath, then hit her again, court records show. She was then grounded, the girl told police, which meant she had to stay in bed and miss lunch.

December 2010: Alexandria, MN home listed for sale.

April 2011: Sarah Hart pleads guilty to abusing Abigail Hart and is sentenced to a year of probation for misdemeanor domestic assault, court records show. Sarah told police she was the one who hit Abigail, even though the girl told authorities her mother Jennifer had done it. The next day, all six of the Hart children are taken out of public schools. They never attend public school again.

October 2011: The family lives in Alexandria, Minnesota, for a time and takes part in local activism. Hart family members including Devonte and Jennifer Hart participate in an Occupy Minneapolis demonstration.

2012: According to friends in Oregon, Sarah Hart travels to Portland to look for work. Jennifer Hart and their children later join her. Hannah loses front teeth after allegedly falling in house acceding to Jen's FB post.

August 2012: Alexandria MN house re-listed for sale.

October 2012: Sarah begins work at Kohls in Oregon (Sarah's LinkedIn resume).

December 2012: Jen and kids travel to Oregon, getting a ride with the Lees after rollover accident in Missoula According to Statesman Journal article.

April 2013- Alexandria, MN house sold. The family moves to West Linn, family friend Alexandra Argyropoulos tells Oregon child welfare officials that the Hart parents have been depriving their kids of food as punishment, she says. The Harts break off contact with her when they learn of it. Argyropoulos says she was told the Hart children had been interviewed by Oregon officials; it was apparent that each child had been coached by their mothers on what to say; and nothing more could be done by the Oregon Department of Human Services.

2013: Portland Portland musician of the band Nahko and Medicine for the People Ribner began offering music classes to the Hart children. The Hart children also started volunteering at the Good Neighbor Family Pantry

July 2013: The police department responds to a call to the Hart's house.

November 2014: Family members participate in a Portland protest of a Missouri grand jury declining to indict a Ferguson police officer in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. Devonte and a Portland police officer hug, and the photo of the moment goes viral.

March 2016: Family members join U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont onstage during a presidential campaign rally in Vancouver.

May 2017: Jennifer and Sarah Hart buy a two-story, 3-bedroom home on 2 acres of land in the Woodland area of Clark County, Washington, property records show.

June 2017: Jennifer's rough year FB post.

March 23, 2018: The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services opens a Child Protective Services investigation in which the Hart children are "identified as potential victims of alleged abuse or neglect."

March 23, 2018: The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services attempts without success to make contact with the Hart family.

March 24, 2018 - 3:00 AM: Sarah Hart sends a middle-of-the-night text message to friend Cheryl Hart, only hours after child protective services first visited the family's home, saying she was so sick she might have to go to the hospital. The friend never made contact again.

March 24, 2018 - 8:14 AM: The family is in or around Newport, Oregon, police say. It's believed they continue south on Route 101 until they reach State Route 1 in Leggett, California.

March 24, 2018 - 8:00 PM The Harts travel south on State Route 1 until they reach the Fort Bragg area in Mendocino.

March 25, 2018 - 9:00 PM: The family leaves Fort Bragg.

March 26, 2018: The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services again unsuccessfully attempts to make contact with the Hart family. They call 911 and ask the Sheriff's Department to do a welfare check on the family.

March 26, 2018 - 1:15 PM: Cheryl Hart calls 911 and asked the Sheriff's Department to do a welfare check on Sarah Hart. "Nobody has been able to get ahold of her, talk to her or seen her since," she told the dispatcher.

March 26, 2018: A passer-by along Highway 1 in Westport, California, calls 911 after looking down a 100-foot embankment and seeing an SUV upside down on the rocky shoreline. Five people are found dead: three children outside the SUV and two women inside.

March 27, 2018: The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services makes a third unsuccessful attempt to contact the Hart family.

March 28, 2018: The women are identified by the Mendocino County's Sheriff's Office as Jennifer and Sarah Hart and their children as Markis, Jeremiah and Abigail. Three of their other children: Devonte, Hannah and Sierra, remain missing. Sheriff Tom Allman said a search is ongoing for the remaining three children.

March 29, 2018: Police continue to search for the three missing children, including Devonte, and to investigate why the SUV plunged off the California cliff. Authorities don't know if the kids were also in the car, but are basing their search on the assumption that they were thrown from the car into the cliffs or the surf.

March 31, 2018: Officials reveal the speedometer on the Harts' wrecked SUV was "pinned" at 90 mph.

April 2, 2018: Officials say the crash may have been intentional, saying data taken from the family's SUV shows the vehicle came to a complete stop at the Route 1 pullout before speeding off the cliff. The search for the missing children becomes a "recovery effort."

April 2, 2018: "I'm to the point where I'm no longer calling this an accident, I'm calling it a crime," Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman tells HLN's Ashleigh Banfield.

April 7, 2018: An unidentified body, believed to be that of a black female, is found in the ocean near the site of the crash. Officials said an identification could take weeks.

 

[?mysterian?]

Was this the same person who told you two remaining children are partially skeletionized and their bodies have sunk to the bottom?

Im not goldenbear, but depending on variables including water temperature, water salinity, presence/absence of scavengers, etc., it's possible the bodies (if they've been in the ocean since the tragedy) have decomposed to this point. Warning: GRAPHIC photos and information at link. http://eknygos.lsmuni.lt/springer/657/85-116.pdf

 

[HoldySi]

Look at who Jen has her hands on in that photo, too - just her favorites. IIRC in that photo Hannah and Devonte aren't next to each other, but both are tense with clenched fists.

Another observation, one that I'm nervous about sharing... I watched the birthday adventure video a few times, and I saw two interesting moments where Devonte grabbed Sarah in rather personal spots, and laughed. There's one near the middle where he gets her around the upper waist or lower torso, and once near the end where he slaps her bum. Both times she startles but seems to relax when she sees who it is. I wonder what Jen thought.

Are you allowed to link to this video?

 

[Mira_Eg]

I hope someone will weigh in on this as I do not keep links. The only thing I have read is at the time of the report of the bruises which resulted in Sarah’s criminal complaint, it was said that the child’s head was held under cold water.

- 2010 abuse( / torture imo) case; court document as a PDF file:
https://www.scribd.com/document/375...-domestic-abuse-case-court-documents#download
- More detailed police report (putting the child under the cold water and hitting her) https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4427098/2010-12844-Report.pdf

 

[GreenTeam]

This article had a bit of interesting info that I hadn't seen elsewhere (sorry if it's been posted already):

https://www.twincities.com/2018/04/...v-with-family-off-cliff-was-drunk-police-say/

"Alexandra Argyropoulos, who told The Associated Press previously that she contacted Oregon child welfare officials, said in an email Friday that Jennifer Hart ran the household “like a regimented boot camp.”

Argyropoulos wrote that as a family friend she initially thought Jennifer Hart was a loving mother. But after spending two weeks with the family Argyropoulos said she noticed kindness, love and respect for the children was largely absent. She says the six kids were regularly punished for common childlike and adolescent behavior, such as laughing too loudly."

 

[gcharlie]

Among other things, the sheer number of contradictions in this case make it stand out.

Sarah and Jen were really big on a certain festival scene that preaches love, yet there are multiple records of actual and suspected abuse towards adopted their children.

For all this love and festival friends, there is family estrangement, few reported relationships with neighbors or life long relationships with others. Instead, reports are that these kids were socially isolated from others outside of attending festivals and social protest gatherings.

Both Sarah and Jen had higher education backgrounds in education, yet the reports of abuse are contrary to this. Likewise, Jen's posts and sharing of information with her "friends" about their background prior to adoption shows little sensitivity to these kids and their outcomes.

For kids who have been adopted out of extremely abusive and neglectful situations, it defies imagination that anyone with a background in child development would withhold food as a punishment.

Sarah and Jen both seemed to live a non-conformist lifestyle, with Jen having a creative streak as shown through her photography, costumes, artwork and more. Yet these kids seemed to be defined through their adoptive parent's narratives only, with no real sense given to any of the kids as individuals when it came to their interests or personalities.IMO, these kids had to conform to their parents' expectations and lifestyle.

 

[kizzykat]

- 2011 abuse( / torture imo) case; court document as a PDF file:
https://www.scribd.com/document/375...-domestic-abuse-case-court-documents#download
- More detailed police report (putting the child under the cold water and hitting her) https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4427098/2010-12844-Report.pdf

Abigail is very specific in the details of that incident, what JH was doing and what SH was doing and she said SH was carrying stuff into [child's name crossed out] room during this incident. I wonder why SH would so readily take the blame. I know abuse has been covered as a reason, but what I'm wondering is there something in JH's background that the Harts didn't want to come out during an investigation? Something that somehow flew under the radar during adoption years, or occurred after the adoptions but before the bath tub spanking.

 

[pinklilies]

With most pics being staged, I don't think they often got chance to choose who they stood next to but maybe when they could choose, then maybe they chose it that way.

But, my fave photo of them all is this one. It's still full of props and the like but I feel they all look genuinely happy here, as though they're having a good day. Hannah particularly but Markis too, seem to be enjoying the moment.

What I sometimes notice with Hannah, is she doesn't always seem to conform in the photos, well not to the fullest anyway. I love that by the way, a bit of self determination and wisdom comes through in her pics.


https://imagesvc.timeincapp.com/v3/...press.com/2018/03/hart-family.jpg&w=1600&q=70

Tutting, sighing and shaking my head, these beautiful children.

Sorry for re-quoting my own post but the link identifying where the pic was from didn't post correctly so here it is.

http://people.com/crime/family-car-plunges-california-cliff-police-say-maybe-intentional/


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[digitaldevolution]

Digital, I've seen the video but can't find it now. Is it something that can be linked here?

Posting here so everyone can see it before I have to take off for the day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjpDkSfivgk&feature=youtu.be


edit: I do have to run soon, but I wanted to add that I've watched this on .25x speed at certain points and it was very interesting. For those who have the time and interest, I recommend going slow-mo during points where they're interacting (Jen/Sarah kissing, Devonte horsing around with Sarah) and looking closely at their facial expressions. I don't know how much I should speculate about it, really... I'm interested in what other people have to say.

 

[Mira_Eg]

....I'm wondering is there something in JH's background that the Harts didn't want to come out during an investigation....

Maybe she (JH) was sentenced to probation for similar crime and hence her partner and accomplice 'SH' acted that way to protect her. imo jmo

 

[LeighB]

Among other things, the sheer number of contradictions in this case make it stand out.

Love-promoters who don't love, educators who don't educate, community-promoters who isolate, non-conformists who force conformity ... they certainly had the hypocrite thing nailed, didn't they?

 

[gitana1]

Remember this thought:

In abusive/neglective families there is the "Public Face" and then there's the "Private Face".

Parents who abuse or neglect their children are extremely careful to not expose their 'private at home lives' to

the outside world. their children are not allowed to have friends/playmates come into the home for fear the parents'

cruel treatment will be exposed. They have secrets, usually BIG secrets.

I speak from experience. Even the parents act differently in public. The whole world thinks the parents are like

paragons of virtue, can do no wrong. Meanwhile the kids know this is an act. The kids hardly recognize the faces

the parents put on in public, cause this sure isn't the mean, abusive parent they know at home. This is common.

Not unusual at all, IME, that the outside public friends think JH and SH are just so 'special' and would never commit

such sins. It's just the way these families operate. I've seen it and lived it.

Exactly. Exactly. Abused kids' homes are off limits. Kids are often isolated but when out in public they are tightly controlled and know before hand and after what they are allowed to do and not do and how they are to perform. There are severe consequences for going off script. So they don't.

But other than that abusers tend to keep their lives private and hidden.

They supposedly rejected the "free hugs" movement guy who wanted to mentor Devonte. They also rejected a fellow festival goer, who was also adopted, who wanted to help with the girls.

Oh how do we know all that! Makes sense.

Just thinking here: Why would the Hart's reject a meeting with the officer in the photo (as well as the photographer?) They seemed to always be putting their children "front and center", taking them to very public places/situations, and photographing them, then putting these photos online. They were incessantly photographing them, it would seem. So, privacy doesn't seem to be an issue.

Now, JH stated that there were many negative reactions to the photo but, how would this affect having a private meeting with either the photographer or the officer?

Here is a thought, which just struck me. Maybe the fact that the white officer gave a wonderful, generous hug and smile to Devonte didn't fit the image the Hart's liked to convey, which someone touched on earlier: Generous white couple adopt poor, drug addicted/affected, disadvantaged, etc., children and aren't they so wonderful for doing so? The hug with the white officer took a little of this heroism/wonderfulness away from Jen (and Sarah?) in her eyes. Everything about that photo they viewed as "taking away" from them, so didn't want to have anything to do with any of it -the photographer, officer- anything/one.

Any thoughts here?

I think they loved that photo because it gave them attention and made them
progressive heroes through their son. I think they didn't want anyone else to get credit for any of it. Dante was a prop. The cop was a prop. The photographer was a tool they used and they likely were unhappy that that. Tool was the one that ended up creating such an iconic photo because that took attention from them.

Actually meeting the props and tools they used would be useless to them and as they were secret abusers, I'm sure the parents wanted nothing to do with that or allowing such people to get to know them better.

Running around giving hugs or dancing and smiling is different from having a discussion and acrually getting to know someone. The latter would've been dangerous to them.

 

[kizzykat]

Posting here so everyone can see it before I have to take off for the day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjpDkSfivgk&feature=youtu.be


edit: I do have to run soon, but I wanted to add that I've watched this on .25x speed at certain points and it was very interesting. For those who have the time and interest, I recommend going slow-mo during points where they're interacting (Jen/Sarah kissing, Devonte horsing around with Sarah) and looking closely at their facial expressions. I don't know how much I should speculate about it, really... I'm interested in what other people have to say.

I'd also like to add a recommendation to yours: watch it with the volume turned all the way down. When you're not hearing the music, it's also a different experience.

 

[bluesneakers]

Im not goldenbear, but depending on variables including water temperature, water salinity, presence/absence of scavengers, etc., it's possible the bodies (if they've been in the ocean since the tragedy) have decomposed to this point. Warning: GRAPHIC photos and information at link. http://eknygos.lsmuni.lt/springer/657/85-116.pdf

But where did this information come from? Why are LE still acting as if the children might be missing IF they are so certain the children are in the water??

It seems like a contradiction which is why I asked for the source of the "bodies are skeletonized and will be recovered by divers" comment.