Coroner’s inquest set in family plunge off California cliff
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 3, 2019
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.
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