Jennifer and Sarah Hart with their six adopted children who were starved, abused and punished before being murdered in deliberate cliff crash. Photo / Facebook
Jennifer and Sarah Hart with their six adopted children who were starved, abused and punished before being murdered in deliberate cliff crash. Photo / Facebook
The six children who died when one of their mothers drove off a cliff in California were severely malnourished, neglected and abused, welfare records reveal.
Child protection officers began investigating mothers Jennifer and Sarah Hart, both 38, as far back as 2013 when the adopted children, Jeremiah, Ciera, Devonte and biological siblings Hannah, Markis and Abigail, were aged between 8 and 15.
Five of the six children were so small in 2013 that their heights and weights were not listed on growth charts for children their age, Oregon Live reported.
Authorities believe Jennifer Hart intentionally drove the family SUV over a cliff last month, killing the entire family.
Welfare authorities investigated neglect claims against the children, from left, Hannah, Ciera, Jeremiah, Devonte, Markis and Abigail. Photo / Facebook
Preliminary toxicology reports found Hart was drunk when she drove at 145km/h over the edge of the Pacific Coast Highway near Westport, 250km north of San Francisco.
None of the occupants was found to be wearing a seatbelt and the bodies of Devonte and Hannah have not been recovered.
Department of Human Services files from when the couple lived in Oregon and Minnesota reveal Sarah and Jennifer were regularly accused of withholding food from the children.
A Minnesota welfare worker estimated Abigail Hart, when aged 6 was the size of a 2-year-old.
Abigail's Minnesota school contacted child protective services when the girl was seen rummaging through garbage for food.
One woman contacted authorities to report that when she questioned Jennifer Hart about the paucity of food given to the children, Jennifer claimed daughter Hannah was morbidly obese when adopted.
Police gather after a search for the children still missing after their mother drove an SUV over the cliff. Photo / AP
The girl was adopted in 2006 as a 4-year-old and Facebook photographs of her with siblings Markis and Abigail show a normal-sized girl.
But Jennifer insisted to the woman that Hannah was "so much better now".
When the woman complained, authorities noted that Hannah was "very small" and had missing front teeth.
Another friend told authorities that when the family had stayed with her, the children were only allowed to eat a tiny piece of pizza.
When Jennifer realised the next day that the entire pizza had been eaten, she became enraged and took all the children into a bathroom.
The woman said the kids would not answer a question without looking at Jennifer first, and seemed "lethargic".
A Minnesota case worker reported that all six children denied being abused.
In near identical accounts, each of the children said instead their mothers disciplined them by making them meditate.
Case workers in Oregon reported Hannah and Markis, the eldest of the children, were the targets of Jennifer's abuse, according to two women who contacted children's services.
One of the women said Markis was punished on his July 1 birthday by the mothers forbidding anyone to wish him "happy birthday", Oregon Live reported.
Jennifer told the woman that Markis had tried to kill her and Devonte had to save her.
A Minnesota child protection officer wrote in a report that Jennifer and Sarah knew how to blame apparent red flags on the children.
The children were severely malnourished when they died. Photo / Facebook
When Oregon welfare workers interviewed the two women about the complaints, Jennifer said the kids were thriving at home.
They said many of the complaints were because people did not understand her family's "alternative lifestyle".
The apparent murder-suicide by Jennifer Hart came days after a social worker visited the family in Washington state to investigate a complaint that the children were being neglected.
At the crime scene, Californian police reported there were no skid marks and the vehicle was at a full stop before accelerating off the cliff.
Preliminary reports said the SUV had stopped about 20m from the cliff's edge, then sped off.
Only three of the children's bodies were found.
But the body of 12-year-old Ciera Hart, the youngest child, was found off the northern Californian coast this month.
Searches in the waters off northern California continue.
