Justine Harman: The cliff is the kind of place Jennifer Hart would have loved to photograph her kids. Located 200 miles north of San Francisco, it has a green-edged bluff right off of California's Highway 1, with a gravel path leading to a dramatic 100 foot drop into the Pacific. On other trips, Jen and her wife, Sarah, might have pulled to the side of the road and had their brood line up as they often did: backs to the camera, hands raised in peace signs, a Technical sunset framing their silhouettes. They were Markis, 19, Hannah, 16, Devonte, 15, Abigail and Jeremiah, both 14, and Sierra, 12; two sets of biological siblings, both black, adopted by two white moms. A beautiful family by most accounts. Friends called them the Hart Tribe. But this trip wouldn't be like the others the Hart Tribe took to places like Bliss, Idaho, or Zion National Park in Utah.
Speaker 1: Investigators have been desperate to figure out how that family flew off that cliff in California, and whether it was on purpose.
Speaker 2: I was at the scene two days ago. There was no skid marks. We have no evidence and no reason to believe that this was an intentional act. Certainly people are wondering what caused this.
Liz Egan: On March 26, 2018, a German tourist spotted the family's 2003 GMC Yukon XL belly-up on the rocks below the picturesque Mendocino cliff. The car plummeted more than 100 feet. Here's what we know happened in the days leading up to the crash. On March 24, at 3:00 A.M., Sarah's coworkers at Kohl's, where she worked as an assistant manager, received a text from Sarah saying she was too sick to open the store that morning. That same morning the Hart's next-door neighbors Bruce and Dana DeKalb noticed that the Yukon was no longer in their driveway, and that the bright red kayak that typically sat on top of it had been removed. Cinder blocks littered the driveway, suggesting that the family had crashed into a retaining wall in their rush to leave. On March 25, at 8:05 A.M., a surveillance camera in a Fort Bragg Safeway captured Jen in eyeglasses and an ill-fitting gray hoodie, paying $20.08 in cash for groceries. She bought bananas, saltines, and Chef Boyardee ravioli, and used a club card for discounts. Friends said she looked 25 pounds heavier than they'd ever seen her. On March 26, at 1:12 P.M., Sarah's coworker, Cheryl Hart—no relation—called 911, asking for a welfare check on her friend.
Speaker 3: Thanks for holding, can I help you?
Cheryl Hart: Yes, I was calling to see if I can get a welfare check done.
Speaker 3: OK, and who are we checking on?
Cheryl Hart: Sarah Hart.
Speaker 3: Tell me the reason that we're checking on her.
Cheryl Hart: She sent out a text message at 3:00 in the morning on Saturday morning, stating that she was sick, but nobody's been able to get ahold of her, talk to her, and seen her since that text message.
Speaker 3: OK.
Cheryl Hart: Or her wife, which is Jen, so we're just concerned.
Speaker 3: OK, and when she said she was sick, did she say what was going on?
Cheryl Hart: She just said that she just is unable to come out and wasn't able to go to work, and thought she was going to have to go to the doctor. I've checked the hospitals. They didn't have any record of her. I think her phone is now dead.
Speaker 3: OK, and just the two of them live there?