Broken Harts

I have reported a vehicle accident

near Juan Creek on Highway 1.

What caused a family to drive over a cliff

to their death? That's the question

multiple agencies are investigating.

Jen and Sarah really were the kind of parents

that I think the world desperately needs.

I honestly don't know

at what point it turned,

there were no red flags at all.

You never can reconcile

this picture-perfect family

with these incredible details on the other side.

I knew that this couldn't be

the first moment of tragedy.

This couldn't be the first moment

of violence.

I was trying to help them and protect them

and this is the result.

How can they be so close

to something so awful

and not even know?

March 26th, 2018,

I heard a report on the radio.

They dispatched the deputy

to the northern part of Highway 1

to perform coroner duties

at a multiple fatality traffic accident.

I knew exactly where it was because I've been there

so many times.

It's a big dirt turn out...

with a 75, maybe 80-foot drop off...

no guardrails whatsoever, no protection.

When I pulled up the scene...

fire engines there,

ambulance was standing by,

highway patrol helicopter.

I saw one of our deputies

and I went to him and said,

"You know, what do we have?"

And he said, "We have a car that went over."

I walked to the edge of the bluff.

And I saw a crumpled SUV.

The waves were coming in and going out,

and you saw this car rocking back and forth.

This was not a normal traffic accident

from the very onset.

And it continued to be

anything other than normal.

So that morning, I get into work.

I was told that they had located

two female adults

within the passenger compartment

of the vehicle,

and they had located

two male juveniles,

and a female juvenile outside

on the rocks.

Some of the fire crew as they're

examining the scene on the beach locate

a Minnesota State driver's license

in the name of Sarah Hart.

We did some Google research

and located a photo of the Hart Family

and a story that had gone viral.

Yeah, someone around here said today

what the world needs now might just be

what we see in this photo.

I was Googling Hart Family,

Devonte Hart,

the first picture that popped up is Devonte

hugging the Portland police officer.

Born to a drug-addictive mother

and into a violent life, he and his two siblings

were adopted into a loving family

and Devonte was at that rally with a message of peace

and holding a sign offering free hugs.

And then, when you start really bringing up

Hart Family, we get, you know, a lot of pictures

of smiling and laughing,

and videos of them singing.

The moms looked happy and loving.

And there's beautiful six children

that looked like they were having a time

of their life.

Before I actually met the Harts,

I heard about these kids

that would come to these festivals

that I attended.

People mentioning like, "Oh, you know,

the Hart kids, they give free hugs."

I heard, oh, these two brave

lesbian women went against all odds

and adopted numerous children

and are giving them

this unprecedented life really,

that no child is so lucky to have.

These kids were just pure joy.

All they could do is just smile

from ear to ear.

They were always like, propped up

on people's shoulders,

dancing in the crowd.

And memories of that are so sweet.

They were a unit.

It wasn't difficult to just...

really enjoy getting to know Jen.

She had a great sense of humor

and she was just so social

and frankly just fun to talk to.

Sarah was, from what I could tell

like very reserved, very quiet.

She seemed sweet but...

not really conversational.

Jen was a little bit more of the like outgoing

and connecting with people on.

Jen and I did become Facebook friends.

She was pretty active in posting and I would see

pretty regular posts of them,

you know, the six of them.

They always seem kind of calm and happy like even serene.

Jen's photos were incredibly beautiful.

They could've been in a magazine,

the way they were framed and how the kids...

Like the colors the kids were wearing

and whatever exposure or lighting she was using.

And they would be having like,

really the foster kid's dream.

Jen seemed to be leading

the most exceptional life.

This supermom,

this champion of racial reconciliation,

willing to sacrifice herself

for the greater good of these beautiful children,

we all felt like we were along for the ride.

To know that we had

possibly six children...

...two adults,

I don't think I know

it was on everybody's mind of...

this is what we're dealing with.

By mid-morning,

we had one person positively identified

that being Sarah Hart.

We suspected the other adult female

was Jennifer Hart, her married partner.

And two deceased children.

And one that was believed to be a child

but was late teens, so we weren't really sure.

We were pretty positive

we had this family,

but we only have three kids.

So we're missing three children.

We had a vehicle out of state

with possibly eight fatalities.

We knew that these two mothers

had adopted these kids

and they were from, I believe, it was Woodland, Washington.

So we had lots of questions.

What's between Mendocino County

and Woodland, Washington?

How long would it take 'em to get here?

Why did this happen?

My name is Cheryl and I knew Sarah Hart.

We worked together at Kohl's Department Store.

She was the assistant store manager.

Saturday, March 24th,

I had gone into the store

and when I came in I realized

that it was a different manager

when it was supposed to be Sarah.

And so I, kind of, looked at her and was like,

"What are you doing here?" And she said that,

Sarah had sent a text message

at like 3:00 in the morning that she was sick.

"I possibly needed to go to the hospital."

We both just thought it was kind of weird

because she had just worked the day before

and she seemed totally fine.

But on Sunday evening,

they still hadn't heard from her.

She was a dependable person.

If she said she was gonna be there,

she was gonna be there.

I sent a text message and told her,

"Can you let us know what's going on?

You're kind of freaking everybody out."

But there was nothing.

Just radio silence.

Everybody came in Monday

and we kind of kept waiting to see

if Sarah was gonna come in.