FBI Continues Search for Two Missing Hart Children

Devonte Hart

Devonte Hart

The FBI continues to look for Devonte and Hannah Hart whose family vehicle plunged off a steep cliff near Hwy 1 on March 26. The bodies of the two parents, Jennifer and Sarah Hart, and four of their six children have been located. The Mendocino Sheriff’s Department is calling this a crime and indicate they believe the driver, Jen Hart, was intoxicated when she drove the vehicle off the cliff.

Hannah Hart

Hannah Hart

According to The Oregonian, Devonte and Hannah Hart were the two children associated with reaching out for help from the outside. According to this article,
“Hannah Hart, who was then 6, told authorities her mother Jennifer had beaten her with a belt after a teacher noticed bruising on her arm… .” Later, the article quotes neighbors as saying Hannah, who looked younger but was 16, rang their doorbell in the middle of the night saying, “[W]e needed to protect her.”

The neighbors reported the incident, according to the article, “after Devonte came to their home more than a dozen times to ask for peanut butter, tortillas and other food for him and his siblings. The boy told his neighbors his parents were withholding meals from them as punishment.”

This sparked a response from child protective services who found no one home when they came on March 23, the Oregonian article says. “By early the next morning, the family was in Newport. By 8 p.m., they were in Fort Bragg, California.”

According to the FBI, “The missing children could currently be traveling together and may have last been seen with their family members traveling in a brown 2003 Yukon XL SUV with tinted windows.”

Devonte had several brushes with fame. Besides being known for hugging a police officer in a famous viral photo, Devonte in an animal costume was also caught on video being called on stage and getting a hug from musician Xavier Rudd. (See about minute 8:49.)

Press release from the FBI:

On March 26, 2018, at approximately 4:15 p.m., the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol responded to a fatal traffic accident off Highway 1, north of Westport, California. The bodies of a Washington couple and four of their six children were found in and around a vehicle that had crashed over a cliff and landed along the surf line. Two of the couple’s children are currently unaccounted for and their whereabouts remain unknown. The missing children could currently be traveling together and may have last been seen with their family members traveling in a brown 2003 Yukon XL SUV with tinted windows, which is the same vehicle that crashed.

The names of the missing children are:
Devonte Jordan Hart, a 15-year-old African-American male
Hannah Jean Hart, a 16-year-old African American female

The FBI, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, and California Highway Patrol are asking for assistance from anyone who has any knowledge of
the whereabouts of these children, including sightings prior to the traffic accident. The family may have traveled to, or visited, the following locations or campgrounds prior to the accident:

Ten Mile Beach in Westport, California, near Fort Bragg, California
Russian Gulch south of Fort Bragg, California
MacKerricher State Park in Mendocino County, California
Surfwood Campground in Mendocino County, California
Pinewood Campground in Mendocino County, California
Cleone Campground in Mendocino County, California

If you have any information concerning this case, please contact the FBI’s Toll-Free Tipline at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), your local FBI office, or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate

Posters that can be printed and downloaded about Hannah and Devonte can be found here and here.

Earlier Chapters for Hart Family:

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47 Comments
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Bc
Guest
Bc
5 years ago

Why are they called African American, did they just get here or am I Norwegian American, why can’t we just be Americans…. people wonder why rascism exits…

Uhhh, ok?
Guest
Uhhh, ok?
5 years ago
Reply to  Bc

I don’t wonder why, I just have to read your opinion.

Life is Good
Guest
Life is Good
5 years ago
Reply to  Bc

Word

TreeFairyPrincess
Guest
TreeFairyPrincess
5 years ago
Reply to  Bc

In my opinion it’s equally ignorant to pretend we ARE all the same…we need to come to a place beyond merely accepting diversity,to where we truly celebrate it

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago

Please please change your name. It is getting harder and harder to rise above the cheap shot.

TreeFairyPrincess
Guest
TreeFairyPrincess
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Which only exemplifies your ignorance…I’m proud to have roots as a flower child of our beautiful forest. I celebrate it daily😊

shak
Guest
shak
5 years ago

Hell yes! There’s a world of difference between welcoming others and tolerating others.

Terra
Guest
Terra
5 years ago

This has nothing to do with these missing poor children.

TreeFairyPrincess
Guest
TreeFairyPrincess
5 years ago
Reply to  Terra

Why? Because it’s not spending energy trying to imagine the dark insidious things that drove Jen to do the things she did? I’m sorry,but no amount of getting upset will bring those lives back… However,I hope,that if we could choose to invest energy in a more positive manner,encouraging each other to open up our hearts&minds,that it might in turn open up communication&understanding with one another,so that next time god forbid a young innocent soul reaches out for help maybe more could be done before any more tragedies occur.

“You may say I’m a dreamer,but I’m not the only one…”

Sara
Guest
Sara
5 years ago
Reply to  Bc

It’s a description… when describing a missing person you should be as descriptive as possible. Obviously.

Anonymous Humboldtian
Guest
Anonymous Humboldtian
5 years ago

I didn’t even know them, but watching Devonte hug that guy really hit me. How can bad things happen to young people with such a big heart like his. This world doesn’t even make sense anymore.

CoveTroll
Guest
CoveTroll
5 years ago

That’s because People=Sh!t. Plain n simple

Hmmm
Guest
Hmmm
5 years ago

When searching for a lost person its always good to know as much as possible about what they look like. Skin hair and eye color being top 3.
If it was you they would say caucasian.
And to get technical you would need to say united states citizen/north american as an American denotes anyone living on the north or south american continent, not just the US. Our country tends to take that title tho its not truly ours.

AS
Guest
AS
5 years ago

To indicate the ethnicity …
African-American = Black American = Afro American

I guess you know the connection to Africa for that ethnicity !!

Brian
Guest
Brian
5 years ago

How awesome it would be if those 2 kids were still alive.

Unfortunately I think they would have been found by now if they were.

Devonte seemed to have no problem reaching out to strangers for help – so if he was out there…

shak
Guest
shak
5 years ago

Oh Dearest souls, I hope and pray you are reunited asap. Just know that we are with you in spirit.

Peasblossom
Guest
Peasblossom
5 years ago

I pray that these two children be found and did not suffer. according to all media reports they were the two children who were most abused. Has law enforcement searched the Washington home from which they fled. Searched with cadaver dogs? I’m sure this is a given protocol for missing people. However I noticed in one of the photos on the Oregonian that there are numerous garden beds and only a few of them were filled with dirt with nothing yet growing in them.

Praying they are alive
Guest
Praying they are alive
5 years ago

I don’t care if they call him African American American American black American American or what as long as they find them alive

CoveTroll
Guest
CoveTroll
5 years ago

Found alive. Thrown back into foster care. Sold to more abusive sic “caregivers”. Rinse and repeat. Sorry for the negativity but think about that for a moment along with living through knowing the only “siblings “ you had died a horrible death. If it was me….I wouldn’t want to be alive

ernestine
Guest
ernestine
5 years ago
Reply to  CoveTroll

it sounds, from the note and tone of most of your posts, that ‘not wanting to be alive’ is already your state of being.

thich naht hanh recommends smiling as a habit in order to change one’s outlook from negativity toward positivity.

Don't Drink While Pregnant
Guest
Don't Drink While Pregnant
5 years ago

This is a horrible question to ask, but…

is there any reason to believe that these two children are alive? That they somehow ran away before the crash and were not in the vehicle?

Carol
Guest
5 years ago

Another heartbreaking tragedy in our beautiful area. Thank you law enforcement and all the people assisting, including you, Kym. Peace.

Sad
Guest
Sad
5 years ago

How disgusting that the people who have race holdups cant see past the color of the skin in this comments section… even in tragedy.. Sad group of small minded commenters with prejudices, the world shaking their head at these small hearted people….. shame on you guys

Fog is thick
Guest
Fog is thick
5 years ago

I think it is canned release by FBI to cover their bases. I have been following this from the start and all reports indicate the family “went everywhere” together. It would be a miracle (they do happen) if Devonte and Hannah were found alive, or found at all.. the ocean … Poor Hannah, she lost her two front adult teeth cleanly extracted including root in a bizarre alleged fall in the Hart home.. tho Jen claimed they sought dental care there is a suspicious vibe to their whole “perfect” life. Poor girl underweight for her age and +out of embarrasment at never having gotten a flipper replacement while waiting to be old enough for implants + she is seen rarely smiling in pics. This family had red flags waving all over the place. And the “hugs” like the one with creepy Xavier , or the cop?? and the rest of the free hug thing? In my opinion they were just one more manipulating staged “act” by Jen Hart .

No confusion.
Guest
No confusion.
5 years ago
Reply to  Fog is thick

I agree with the teeth issue. They do offer dental assistance to minors for the bullying reasons. That’s a fact. I’m not certain on all the rest you’re saying. Some of the publicity issues maybe a silent cry to get attention in a way? But no one can be certain. If you look at millions of kids missing persons posters they are almost always smiling… look at kids murdered in any news feed, all smiles.. so I wouldn’t say its creepy or manipulative. I do think Hannah was sad and unhappy about the teeth, but even the photos show the kids happy because they were at those moments.. I think it’s a tough think to narrow down and say they are abusing them. I think they were but made attempts to cover it as fast as they could if someone caught on. Like moving to Oregon when they had the first charge. The system failed these kids that’s for sure. But why?

Jonathan Dowe
Guest
Jonathan Dowe
5 years ago

I agree with Fog is Thick`s comments. The most likely explanation to the whole sad scenario is:

The 2 adults were seriously (and apparently quite dangerously) maladjusted losers and either unable or unwilling to make their own way in the world engaged in any sort of useful remunerative activity. The children were adopted entirely as a means of getting government money. Since the entire purpose of the children was as a source of income, the least amount of money was spent on their upkeep. When the whole scam looked as if it were going to fall apart, beginning with scrutiny of the treatment of the children, the adults then pulled off the stunt of driving everyone off the cliff. The alcohol was good old fashioned “Dutch courage”. The Benadryl was to keep the children quiet, and perhaps a minor consideration to was keeping them stupefied for the drive over the cliff.

I know a woman personally who has adopted 4 children and gets a considerable amount of money from the public till for their maintainence; I belive it`s around $70k per year for the lot.

Don't Drink While Pregnant
Guest
Don't Drink While Pregnant
5 years ago
Reply to  Jonathan Dowe

I think it was for worse reasons than the $2,000 per month they received. I think they just wanted attention. They wanted to be the white saviors, being so cool and progressive by adopting six black children from foster care. They were probably fishing for book deals. Almost a muchausen-by-proxy condition.

Inquiring Minds
Guest
Inquiring Minds
5 years ago

No book deals if they were starving and beating the kids. Jen and Sarah never let anyone get too close to the kids. The kids were their props. Why they had to starve them to the point they were severely under normal weight and height charts was pure evil.

Inquiring Mind
Guest
Inquiring Mind
5 years ago
Reply to  Jonathan Dowe

Yes! You nailed it in the most concise possibly way.

Sara
Guest
Sara
5 years ago

So many assumptions. We have a million ideas, but the facts will eventually come out. Breaks my heart these innocent children went through so many horrible things in their short lives. I wonder if they believe there is a possibility the two others are alive, have searches expanded in more remote areas near places they’ve stopped or the crash site? Also, is the benadryl like substance present in Dramamine? You know, for motion sickness? I used to give my daughter that and she’d knock right out. If I didn’t, she’d throw up. Just a thought.

Life is Good
Guest
Life is Good
5 years ago

Unless the FBI has dry suits and diving gear the whole thing is PC. By.the way, where’s BLM weighing in on this? This is pretty darn close to a mass murder.

Don't Drink While Pregnant
Guest
Don't Drink While Pregnant
5 years ago
Reply to  Life is Good

You mean the Bureau of Land Management? I don’t think they’re in charge of anything past the high tide mark. Or do you mean various people who use the “black lives matter” hashtag when decrying the failure of American institutions to adequately protect black lives? Because there has actually been MUCH discussion of how the foster care and judicial system split up black families; how white adults adopting black kids is becoming some sort of modern day martyrdom/sainthood thing, often with bad consequences for the kids; and how many black people thought the “free hugs” photo with the cop looked like Devonte was forced in to it by the adults.

You just have to know where to look, most conversations about this aren’t going to be spoon fed to a white audience on the nightly news. Look at the twitter hashtag #DevonteHart and you’ll find plenty.

memy selfandi
Guest
memy selfandi
5 years ago

I am so very tired of liberal whites using people of color ..that poor child was in pain and dressed up in an outfit and his hair used as a billboard for the parents’ issues; the musician and so many others only thought it cute when clearly a child doesn’t go up to an adult and cry like that unless they are hurting. WTF? Too high , too little empathy to have a clue? People just plain ole suck. That was the same boy who had a clenched toothed “Smile” in the family photo in which his hands were clenched in a fist; LOOK CLOSER PEOPLE!!!!! When the hell are we going to start noticing one another for real and stop with total obliviousness via racism or obliviousness due to airy fairy denial?

Jonathan Dowe
Guest
Jonathan Dowe
5 years ago

Two lesbians in a “same sex marriage” run a scam using 6 negro children to line their own pockets, then kill them in cold blood when the scam begins to unravel. There is much wringing of hands among the liberal/social justice warrior type and zero censure about the 2 parents exploiting then killing these children.

If a white — especially male — kills a negro in self defense, however well justified, the same liberals and social justice warriors squeal like Bobby in Deliverance about “racism”.

Seems a bit of a double standard here…….. Not surprising, though, sadly

ikicjittoyou
Guest
ikicjittoyou
5 years ago

Seems like a weak attempt to imply what they haven’t yet been able to prove. What are they trying to say? Are the kids suspects?

Farce
Guest
Farce
5 years ago

Fuck those bitches. And pretty much fuck everybody who was close enough to call an end to their shamily antics but didn’t. I’ve known liberal festival-going whites my whole life. They are some of the weakest people. If they see something abusive they tend to ignore it or go to another camp so they don’t have to see it. “Who are we to judge anybody?” And “karma will get them” are the weak excuses that hippies and liberals use every day to walk away from bad situations instead of stepping up and doing something. So it’s no wonder that nobody intervened for the children. These bitches ran them through the exact crowds that would never question or notice or care enough. “Let’s all be positive in our fairy fantasies everybody!” And then a carload of children goes off the cliff. Awesome job. And the neighbors? They called Child Protective Services? Big deal. A teenage girl shows up in the middle of the night and says you need to protect her and what- you send her home?! That girl would be living in my spare room until I got to the bottom of that shit. I’d hope everybody reading this would do the same thing- protect her. Step up…WTF is wrong with us?!

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Farce

Because as horrible as this whole thing is, nothing is simple. Sociopaths are very plausible people. And children, teenagers especially, can emotionally derail without much cause. I can remember a sister screaming at my mother, saying “I hate you” because my mother stopped her from doing something risky. Then these people moved around so that no one could sort it it out. People who have not had much experience would be confused about what needed doing and would find themselves questioning themselves about their own feelings. Yet some people tried anyway to do what they thought was right to no avail. There are few roadmaps on how to behave in extraordinary situations.

And then there is the ridiculous social agendas that pervade right now. So many people looking to be a victim and noisily blaming. Even now, with the whole situation raising so many questions, way too many here can’t sort out reality from fictions in conflicting claims of being a victim and attack those who would question. I imagine these poor children themselves were conflicted between wanting some security, sometimes getting it, sometimes not and the reality of being placed where they were.

Those who have been subjected to abuse in such cases may very well have seen the ominous signs but the rest of us would have mostly been confused and afraid of doing harm. I’m sorry that we are not so good at it and don’t understand. And I’m sorry for those who bear and bare the scars of that are still not heard.

Guest nailed it
Guest
Guest nailed it
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

*****Sociopaths are very plausible people.*****

And in a nutshell explains why tons of crazy betrayal, abuse, manipulation, bullying , neglect, and murder happen everyday. Every day. By someone the victim knew, trusted and possibly loved.

The sociopath /narcissist is skilled at charm, likeability, and “appearing” calm, capable and loving. It is all an act.

Oh, and it’s no dis to be fooled by them. They prey on the kind-hearted & empathetic souls in our world.

Peasblossom
Guest
Peasblossom
5 years ago

You got that right. Living in lying in plain sight to achieve their objective which is the oppression of people to get what they want. These children were basically human trafficked by the support and of governmental agencies

Life is good OG
Guest
Life is good OG
5 years ago

Why do people use someone else’s tragedy as a means to get on their soapbox and extoll all what they think is righteous and wrong in this world. It’s not about you fools and your opinions about anything. Bless these kids where ever they may be.

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago

Because that is the only time people tend to pause while on their own soapbox and listen. Nothing wrong with that. In fact probably the only good that can be squeezed out of it, if done with respect the situation deserves. It’s too late for all the good intentions in the world to help the children themselves.

Brutus
Guest
Brutus
5 years ago

I know I’m dark and cynical, but it’s weird that the two children who reported abuse and neglect are the ones who are missing. I hope they weren’t disposed of earlier, before the rest of them went over the cliff.

Jonathan Dowe
Guest
Jonathan Dowe
5 years ago
Reply to  Brutus

I`m just as dark and cynical since I had the same thought. It`s likely the 2 missing will be found elsewhere if they`re ever found. I would like to think the cops have looked over the house and yard very thoroughly. When was the last time the 2 missing youngsters were seen?

Peasblossom
Guest
Peasblossom
5 years ago
Reply to  Jonathan Dowe

Has anyone looked in the garden bed boxes in the backyard? A picture on the Oregonian showed about 10 garden boxes and only three of them had soil in them with no plants.

Divide by Zero
Guest
Divide by Zero
5 years ago
Reply to  Brutus

Bingo

Word Shark
Guest
Word Shark
5 years ago

Why ask for SIX of everything the night before CPS was expected to show up and save them all? Surely he did not think they would eat all that by morning. “You called right?” Making sure the others would be rescued. Jen coming and going the next day….CPS shows up. They FLEE suddenly. Maybe they thought CPS had the kids and really they had run away. Because there is the little issue of the missing dogs. Jen would not have killed them. Maybe the two kids took them. You can live on Peanut Butter and torillas for a long time when you are used to starving in the first place. They also asked for protein bars and cured meat. Who knows how much they had for the road. They COULD still be out there.

era
Guest
era
5 years ago

Please lend your support to the investigation in behalf of the Hart kids. 6 Black children adopted in Texas. 4 of the children are dead and 2 are still missing. #whataboutthechildren #thesechildrenmatter #betheirvoice #untilwefindthem https://www.gofundme.com/Hart-Children-Investigation