This March 20, 2016 photo shows the Hart family, of Woodland, Washington, at a Bernie Sanders rally in Vancouver, Washington. (Tristan Fortsch/KATU News via AP, file)

This March 20, 2016 photo shows the Hart family, of Woodland, Washington, at a Bernie Sanders rally in Vancouver, Washington. (Tristan Fortsch/KATU News via AP, file)

Coroner’s inquest set in family plunge off California cliff

Eight members of the Hart family, from Woodland, Wash., perished in the crash.

  • By Wire Service
  • Wednesday, April 3, 2019 8:23am
  • Northwest

Associated Press

WILLITS, Calif. — Authorities in Northern California will hold a coroner’s inquest to determine the manner of death for eight members of a Woodland, Washington family whose SUV plunged off a coastal cliff last year.

Mendocino County sheriff’s Capt. Greg Van Patten says that during the two-day inquest starting Wednesday a jury will hear from officials and experts, and decide whether the deaths of Jen and Sarah Hart and their six adopted children were accidental, a murder-suicide or undetermined.

The family’s SUV plunged off a seaside cliff more than 160 miles north of San Francisco. A tourist spotted the car in the water on March 26, 2018.

Five bodies were found that day. The remains of two more children were found weeks later. The remains of a teenage boy have not been found.

Related stories:

SUV plunge off cliff may have been intentional, police say

Woman driving SUV with Washington family off cliff was drunk

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