A Thread of Deceit: The Hart Family Tragedy (2018) - full transcript

♪ This is the place
for all my relations

♪ Bring celebration
through meditation

♪ Giving thanks for
all of creation

♪ We are so provided for

♪ We are so provided for ♪

JENNIFER: They were
a flock, if you would,

'cause there are
so many of them.

They were giggling and laughing

and I remember
commenting to Amanda, like,

"Wow, those kids
are so beautiful."

You know, like, "Who
are their parents?"



Yeah, their smiles
were just infectious,

you know, just like,
lit up the entire room.

So without even
knowing their names,

you just wanted to meet them.

CHRISTOPHER: Couldn't miss them.

Just because it was
an entourage, you know.

And they would always roll
together as an entourage.

NUSHEEN: You have no idea
what those two women went through.

You don't live
their life and I think

and I think a lot of people
are having trouble

because they were
made of so much light,

also accepting the fact
that there was a lot of turmoil

in the family, and
a lot of suffering

and a lot of tragedy
that they had to get over.



Most of the social interactions
that these two women had

was outside people who
were, you know, online, or

ways that you can perfectly
curate a temporary image

of perfection.

Love you.

I think Jen took on
more responsibilities

then, you know, found
herself in over her head

probably pretty quickly.

Didn't really anticipate
what she signed up for.

I love you.

WOMAN: Wipe that tear.
I don't like to see that.

[CAR HONKING]

REPORTER 1: Still
searching for the missing kids.

MAN 1: Amid allegations
of child abuse or neglect.

MAN 2: Cellphone pings
and surveillance pictures

giving us a better idea of
what happened to the family.

MAN Raise your right
hand, please.

Do you affirm
you'll tell the truth,

the whole truth and
nothing but the truth.

MAN 4: Yes, I do.

REPORTER: A complicated legacy
that remains a mystery.

MAN 5: All we know is
that the vehicle ended up

at the bottom
of a 100 foot cliff,

and that's what
we're looking for now,

to see if we could figure
out what happened.

They were all just a big hug.

And every memory I have of them,

is connected and punctuated
by the same moment,

of just a flood of them arriving

and us all hugging
each other in one big ball.

Every time.

And no pretense.

No dishonesty. Just...

totally present and
completely full of, like this

effervescent, intoxicating love.

That was just undeniable.

All of us thought Devonte
was gonna be the president.

You know what I mean?
Markis, God bless him,

you know, I mean,
Markis never talked.

I knew Markis for
four years, and he had

his head in the
books all the time.

The most excited I ever
saw him was when that

bird landed on the podium
at the Bernie Sanders thing.

He was, like, clapping
and he was, like, smiling

and that was, that was Markis.

Devonte, he reached out,
but he was also, like,

the most sensitive of the group.

Hello, Nusheen, how
are you doing today?

I missed you. Thank
you for that birthday mask,

I loved it so much.

[WOMAN LAUGHING]

Making some bean
wraps today for my siblings.

To me, it seemed like,

these children were so

joyful and well adjusted,

and engaging, I mean,

they were all different.

And Markis and Hannah
were much quieter,

they were much,
much more observers,

and peripheral, and the part
of me that prefers the edges

related to them in that way.

And then Devonte and Jeremiah,

and Sierra were
always right up in there.

You know, engaging
with everybody.

JEN: Go, Abby, go.

She's washing her hair, I think.

[ALL LAUGHING]

Got it up my nose.

JENNIFEDevonte was definitely
the most outgoing and charismatic.

And you could
tell that within him

that he's a very old soul.

That, as we got to know
the rest of the family,

I really feel like
Jeremiah and Abby,

would jump out of their shells

and they'd just be
these characters...

[CHILDREN GIGGLING]

I think that,
because their brother

was so outgoing,
that it helped them

to feel more comfortable
in their own skin.

I first met Jen in 2015.

At that time, I was
the leader of the game

that we were playing,

but it ended up being almost
an everyday interaction.

Jen was more of
an inspiration, I think,

on multiple levels
for a lot of us,

being active politically

for the rights of
Black Lives Matter.

Huge.

She was a huge
person in that, actually.

I can't put into words.

But she motivated me
to actually speak out

and use my voice more.

She was very honest,

she would straight up
tell you a lot, like,

"Oh, my God, your
children are perfect.

"Everything is wonderful."

And she was, like,
"No, they're still kids,

"they're still kids, like,
there's still stuff that happens,

"that, like, you know,
you gotta deal with.

"But, yeah, I'm really lucky.

"Because these kids
are really amazing.

"And I am very, very blessed
to have them in my life."

ZIPPORAH: So Sarah
was often quieter,

kind of, like, Markis
and Hannah were,

And Jen was always,
like, right there, as well.

Right in the middle of things.

- SARAH: What?
- You can see a snake for real?

Not a real one, honey.
Look at, right here.

BOY: I got snake there.

What's this?

- You guys like it here, don't you?
- Yeah.

Jen was, you know, just
a very friendly person,

good smile, good laugh,

seemed like a reasonable
play person to me.

She seemed frustrated with
the problems of the world.

Sarah was very quiet, definitely
seemed a little more shy,

I didn't really...

I feel like I only really talked to
Sarah once, you know, at a party.

Like, all the other time, Sarah
was, like, "Hi." "Bye." Kind of like that.

I started working
with Sarah at Kohl's

in Beaverton, in 2015.

She was always
backed by kids and home.

She had an earthy
flow vibe to her.

NUSHEEN: Sarah's
a mystery to me.

She was, like, this very
quiet, very go with the flow,

just like solider, right?

Constantly exhausted
from working so hard.

Gets home, calm, even keeled.

[SINGING]

There was that moment
at Beloved festival,

you see Xavier, gestured, like,

"Come, give me a hug."

[SINGING]

[PEOPLE CHEERING]

As Xavier was hugging Devonte,

and still singing, all of us saw

he became very
overcome with emotion,

which would happen a lot.

[PEOPLE LAUGHING]

It was a very common occurrence

that people would start crying,

and he turned, and,

with his sobbing face, he
ran straight into Jen's arms.

And when I saw that,
I just started bawling.

Because what I saw
so clearly there, was that

he loved her, and she loved him.

What I saw there, and again,

I'm looking through
my confirmation bias,

I saw pure love.

OFFICER: You are in the street
blocking the roadway.

You're unlawfully assembled.

Everybody want me to be calm.

Do you know how
many bullets hit my son?

Burn this bitch down!
Burn this bitch down!

Burn down!

We are Darren Wilson.

OFFICER: You need to
disperse immediately.

Or you will be subject
to arrest. Do it now.

What the world needs now

might just be what
we see in this photo,

after days of disturbing
media imagery.

MAN: That moment in time,
the picture that is out

floating around on the Internet,

and throughout the world.

I think that just
captured the moment.

So apropos of what not only
the community is asking for,

what the nation is asking for,

but what the world
is asking for right now.

I saw it online
like most people did,

I remember,
it very specifically,

because Kim Kardashian

came out with that ridiculous,

uh, paste article of her
butt, like, popping something

up in the air, and they were, like,
Kim Kardashian broke the Internet,

- and then it was, Devonte Hart...
- BOTH: Saved the Internet.

In the same day
because, like, it shut down

the Internet of her butt, and
then it was Devonte hugging,

you know, someone that
brought everyone back up.

I remember people posting,
and things, just saying

resharing and resharing

of, "Oh, my God, this
child is healing me in a way.

"I didn't ever think that I
could feel this type of hope,

"in a picture like this."

If you've ever received
a hug from Devonte,

you know, you knew
that he meant it.

He hugged you with
the entirety of himself.

He wasn't the type of person that
just, like, one of those little arm pats.

It was, he... I remember when
we first had our exchange of a hug,

he said, "Oh, you're
a good hugger."

- Yeah.
- "You hug heart to heart.

"You know that
that's what it's about.

"It's about our hearts."

He's like, "We've to hold,
we've to give a second,

"and you squeeze, so people
know that you really mean it."

And at the time, I was "Wow.

"My mom taught me that.
Who taught you that?"

And he's like, "My mom."

I was like, "It's a good mom."

He's like, "Yeah, she's okay.

It felt like, to me,
like, he really did,

you know, in his own young way,

wanna make the
world a better place.

In that, he was initiating that.

That photo going
viral is an example

of social media
success in some ways.

It felt like a real story,

a real human moment

being captured that's
not, um, negative

and it's really beautiful.

Devonte was at that time,

telling us about his
birthday coming up

and how one of his
favorite things to do

was to raise money
for different organizations,

that had to do with the
Earth and protecting her.

- And, uh...
- AMANDA: That's what I think I saw the first Free Hugs.

The sign, he was wearing

the Free Hugs sign
at that benefit.

And we're like, "What's
up with the hugs?"

No, down at the square.

Yeah, that's what I mean,
at the square benefit.

And then, that's
when he explained,

"Every year, I raise, like, try to
raise funds for my favorite charity

by giving hugs and people,
you know, donate to that.

I was struck when I
went back and looked at

how much interesting
Facebook posts about her family

and how often
she was doing that.

That would give you
a lack of privacy,

you know, to be posting
that much stuff about yourself.

I don't think she
did it intentionally

but it's definitely cultivating
seeds to have a viral video

happen for you,
or a viral photo.

That kind of behavior. Putting
yourself out there that much.

Now that I see tons
of posts about the kids,

interesting snippets
where it's, kind of, personal.

I never understood
that dichotomy of it.

The... What she would tell me about how
much she didn't want to be in limelight,

and then how much the
posting and those type of things

caused them
to be in the limelight.

I think this is
an example of how

that extremist and rapid

environment of
sharing information

blows over and doesn't
look back to check back in on

parts of the story that, um, don't,
maybe, necessarily fit a narrative,

that is, that could go viral,

that are more complex,
more nuanced, and, like,

that's where our humanity is.

The deepest truths about us are

not totally black and white.

There's a gradient,

all the shade exists there

and, like, that is so important

to be able to have a
venue for discussing that,

and the mainstream
media and social media,

are moving at such a pace,

that we don't even discuss

in a context where our
humanity can be understood.

NUSHEEN: I remember Jen
telling me she felt like she had PTSD,

as a result of that
photo coming out.

Someone taking
something so beautiful,

and running with it and
creating so much hate in diversity.

She felt like...

they would never...

escape people looking
in from the outside,

and...

being suspicious
and judging them.

And honestly, the
more people did that,

the more they closed off.

I started to notice, like, the
Sarah that I thought I knew,

she started to hide more.

She started to, I guess,
withdraw herself.

I think they probably
didn't know how bad

the reaction was gonna be.

I think they probably just...

God, I don't know.

After the picture
of Devonte went viral,

and, you know, the moms, or Jen, perceived
herself to be the target for harassment,

at least according
to one of her friends,

that seems to be one of
the theories about she fell

into a deep depression.

It had to do with
that photo going viral

and all the perceived
harassment.

From my observation, from

things Jen told me personally,

and shared privately,
on Facebook,

that,

the public response
to the hug photo,

was the snare that
began the unraveling.

WOMAN: My name is
Tammy Sheurich,

I'm the mother of Markis,
Hannah and Abigail.

When they took my children away,

I went through a very
deep and dark depression,

I'd sat myself in the house,

I didn't know what was
happening, I didn't understand.

I just started comin'
out of the house,

when I was arrested.

My rights weren't
terminated by Child Services.

I voluntarily
relinquished my rights.

I was trying to make the
most unselfish decision

for my children.

WOMAN: My name is Shonda Jones,

I'm an attorney
here in Houston, Texas,

I've practiced
for over 22 years.

I practice primarily
in the are of family law.

I really don't know, honestly,

about the specifics of Sherry
and Mr. Davis' relationship.

Um, I do believe Mr. Davis
really truly loved those kids.

But CPS, from my recollection,

didn't think
that he was eligible.

My guess is that Mom,

one can look at it, and
say she made the choice.

You know, she chose
the drugs over the children.

Um, and I don't mean to say
that in a way to try to blame her,

because I don't know
anything about Sherry's past.

So when I was young,
I was in a placement,

You know, if I'd done good
I'd have been with my brothers.

You know, when I was
young, I used to always fight.

You know, get into
stuff, get in trouble.

So I didn't have the time to,

you know, regroup with them,

By the time I calmed down,
they got adopted.

I used to always ask, like,
"I wanna see my brothers.

"Can I see my brothers?"

And they'd be like,
"No, you're a bad influence."

At the stage that I
came into the case,

that's when Sherry Hurd
and Clarence Celestine's

rights were being terminated.

And I think, like I said,
that was the damage control.

They were panicking, and
then that's when they thought

that Celestine would be
the most suitable candidate

to be the caretaker
for the children.

I thought that maybe
I would see the kids again

and I just wanted to hold on
to let them know

there was somebody
who fought for you.

Because once the rights
are terminated,

they don't know anything
about why they wound up

where they were,
they just know we're here.

And they think that
no one cared about them,

so I wanted them to know, you
had an aunt who fought for you.

I felt that it was an injustice

when the children
were abruptly removed

from Miss Celestine
without having an opportunity

to be brought into court,

to have a hearing,

to some due process.

The reason for removing the children
from Celestine I think was very cold,

I think it was very callous

and I think
it was a benign reason.

I think it was something
that could've been handled

in a much more, in my
opinion, humane manner.

I think they could've
brought her into court,

they could've issued
her a warning,

and make her aware
of the seriousness

of letting the mom
see the children.

Once CPS takes the position,

and their position is that the
rights are going to be terminated

that's exactly
what's going to happen.

The courts normally, honestly,
rubber stamp whatever CPS says.

I mean, they just do.

Really...

I want to say it's my fault

but then again, it's not.

I had no control over it.

When I had control over it,

I feel like
it was kinda my fault.

[NATHANIEL SPEAKING]

[KIDS CHATTER]

DANA: They moved in, I
want to say May 17th, 2017.

I knew the house had sold

and I had looked up
that it had closed

and they moved in
shortly thereafter.

We've had kids live
next door before.

You hear them, you see them,

they speak to you,
you know, and...

So this was completely abnormal

to have six kids
that we never saw,

heard, or spoke to.

Sarah didn't really tell us
much about her family.

I don't know anyone
that worked with us

that knew more than
she's married to Jen

and she has six kids.
I mean, she didn't really

tell much about her family.

To me, that was
a little weird 'cause

I brag about my son
24/7, you know.

And besides knowing
that she has six kids,

we didn't really know
much about her.

One of the impressions I got
when you sent me the photos,

you know, of their Facebook
feeds, of Jen and Sara.

Is like how perfect they are.

And the word perfectly curated
comes up a lot.

And what that implies is,

curation implies an act of
image manipulation essentially.

So they were,
they lived the kinds of lives

that they can project this
perfect image of themselves

because most of their quote-unquote
"friends" were either through Facebook

or they were, kind of this
temporary encounters at festivals

where they could,
on a temporary basis

project everything positive
they want to project about them.

The pictures of them
playing in the snow

those kids were not outside
playing in the snow

but yet there is this
picture of them, you know,

and it's so perfectly propped

with Devonte and I think,
it was Jeremiah

and they're sitting out
in the snow

and they have a mug
in their hand

and they're probably, you
know, drinking hot chocolate.

Or where they're on the side
of a lake

and they are turning around
and blowing kisses to mom.

I am Investigator Jake Slates,

S-L-A-T-E-S.

I am currently employed by
the California Highway Patrol

and I've been employed with them
for approximately ten years now.

Um, my current position is

I'm in our investigative
services unit.

At one point, there was a call

from the elementary school,

of one of the children
being abused.

That would've been Abigail.

CPS department ended up doing
an investigation in to that report.

They observed that
the child had extensive

injuries to her body.

At that point, there were
some indications

that the kids
were not eating properly.

When both Sara and Jennifer
were questioned about the incident,

um, Abigail named Jennifer

as the one that was
the abusive parent,

but when questioned
by authorities,

Sarah was the one
that took the blame.

We'd kind of established
at this point

that there seemed to be
a pattern that was going on

and when Clerk County told me
that there was another CPS report

that had been opened up

into allegations
of child misconduct,

that indicated to us

that this is potentially
another situation to that effect.

MAN: Yeah, there are some kids
that I feel are being highly abused.

DISPATCHER: Where at?
MAN: I can't wait till Monday...

In Woodland, Washington.

DISPATCHER: What's the address?

MAN: Okay, I'm gonna give you
the address of my daughter's house

- 'cause it's right next door.
- DISPATCHER: Okay, and what's going on there?

The doorbell rang,
the dog went crazy

and Hannah just came
barging in the door.

She was just covered
in blackberry weeds

and grass, you know, just...

you could tell she's been
running through the weeds.

MAN: The other night, a little girl
jumped out of the second story window

on the roof
and then down onto the ground.

And ran to my daughter.
This is like, 2:00 in the morning,

begging them to help her,
to help her.

And she just kinda
barged her way in

and was pleading to Bruce
to help her

and to please protect her,
"save her" type of thing.

And so, he starts
yelling my name

for me to come down, 'cause
he didn't know what to do.

DISPATCHER: Did the girl ever
say why she was scared?

MAN: No, she... She was crying

and when they came
looking for her,

she was begging my daughter

not to let them know
she was there.

And then eventually
my son in law let them know.

So I got up and...

got her to calm down
a little bit and talk

and she started telling us
how they were, you know,

abusing her, they were racist.

In the meantime,
her moms and siblings

were all out in the property

yelling her name and had
flashlights looking for her.

And so Bruce went
and said, "She's here",

then they came to the door

and they just kinda
barged in the house

and found her in my bedroom.

And she had huddled down
between my bed and dresser

and was, you know, just scared.

I mean, I... so when the
moms approached her,

I could see her
just like, freaking out

so I told them, "Whoa, back up.

You need to give her some
space, you're freaking me out now".

And so, Jennifer took Sarah
by the shoulder

and pulled her back and said,

"You go back with the
other kids, I'll deal with this".

They left, and she stood
right there in the entry

and she kind of
crouched down to Hannah's size

and was telling her, you know,

you just need to tell
these people you're sorry...

"Yes, ma'am."

and you need to explain
to them you know,

that you've just been really
sad, it's been a tough week.

"Yes, ma'am."

Just total

you know, robot.

MAN: And then she had all
four of the kids come back later

and to say everything was okay

and they're all standing
at attention

like they were just
scared to death.

The next morning,

6:30 in the morning,
my doorbell's ringing.

"Dear Dana Bruce,

I stopped this morning because I
feel awful about disturbing your peace

and worrying you
in the middle of the night.

I was very frustrated
with my brother

and didn't handle things
very maturely

and I am sorry for telling lies
to get attention.

I am working
on being more honest

and finding better ways
to communicate my frustrations.

I've been pretty sad about
two of our cats dying recently.

So I was just very sad
and frustrated last night.

Thank you for being kind,
Hannah."

MAN: Since she's told me
about it, I just can't live with it.

I am very concerned
for these kids

I just can't let this go
any longer,

those kids, I think
are in very serious danger.

DANThe first time he came
was March 15th,

he showed up late evening,

and Bruce was actually outside,
it was like at 9 o clock at night,

and he caught him
running down the driveway,

and he yelled out to him,
you know, "What's going on?"

So he came back
and asked for tortillas.

So the next morning at 9am,

he's asking me for bread

and I said,
well, I don't eat bread

but I have tortillas.

And he goes, "Yeah, okay."

So I went out to the garage and I
gave him a huge Costco pack of them.

And then he left.

Well then he came back,

you know, and each day
it was, you know,

it went from once a day,
twice a day,

three times a day,
as late as 11 o clock at night

he was showing up and he
started asking for more staples,

like peanut butter and,

um, at one point
he literally said,

I need non-perishables.

I need that can't be, you
know, that aren't frozen

or don't need refrigeration,

like uncured meats

and tortillas and peanut butter,

and I need six of them.

So I am thinking, "Oh, my God."

You know, "It's six kids..."

and so I...
I wanted to earn his trust,

so then I started asking him,
"What's going on?"

You know, "You're starting to
scare me, this is not normal."

and he said, "Well...

we're teenagers and
we do bad things sometimes"

and he kinda shrugged
his shoulders

and he laughed and he said,

"You know, so we get punished",

and I'm like, "No,
what do you mean punished?"

And then he goes,
she used to not feed us a meal

but now it's going into
days at a time.

And I'm like, there's nothing a kid
can do wrong enough to not be fed.

And so, he's like, "Don't
tell Mom, don't tell Mom."

You know, that's how
he would leave it every time.

So I said, "Okay, well, who's
Mom? You have two moms.

Who are we talking about?

And he said,
"No, it's Mom and Sarah".

And then he,

as the week went on,
he told us that

they were abusing him
as well as not feeding them,

and that Sarah didn't,
used to go along with it,

but she was tolerating it now.

It is highly controlling
to an unusual degree

to withhold food from your
children on a regular basis

to sculpt their behaviors,

you know, Where The Wild Things
Are, where Max doesn't get his supper

because he was being,
causing a ruckus.

You know, where you don't
give a kid dinner for a few hours

but to actually withhold food to
the point where they seem like

they would be in medical
definitions of being malnourished,

that's obviously very extreme.

So the next morning, he came
over at like 9:00 in the morning.

[SNIFFLES] And he said,
"Have you been to the store yet?"

And I said,
you know, "No, not yet."

And he goes, "I need you
to go right away."

And I said, "Okay."

And I told him
I was calling CPS,

which, as soon as he left,
I called them.

I didn't see any obvious signs

and you know, I...

I guess, you know, I
don't know what to look for.

I know what signs to look for
if your kid gets abused,

you own kid,
and how their behavior changes,

but you know, I don't really
know how to see that in others.

He did actually
use the word "abuse"

and then he to... [STUTTERS]

then he told me, um...

Ah, sorry, this makes me cry...

[SNIFFLING]

He told me that...

I'm sorry.

He said on Thursday night
that...

[EXHALING]

everything Hannah
had told us was true.

It just broke my heart.

So, you know,
'cause Hannah had told us

they were abusing her,
whipping her with a belt...

When he told me that,
I was just like,

Oh, my God!

BRITTINI: No one besides
that family knows

exactly what happened
in that house.

We all know them
from outside the house

you know, we know them
from the gaming world,

we know them from past
work experience with them,

we don't know what happened
behind those closed doors.

We just know
what they wanted us to see.

OCTAVIO: All the people
that knew Jennifer and Sarah

through these
kind of online contacts

were these very brief
encounters at festivals,

they obviously were not
in a position

to really know
what was actually happening.

Jen and Sarah
lived the kind of lives

that made it easy for them to hide
their behaviors inside the house.

In the early morning hours, I
believe it was just prior to 3am,

Sarah began texting
three of her co-workers.

One of those texts
to the friend was,

"Hey, I need you
to open the store, I'm sick."

Some of the others were indicating
that she needed to go to the hospital.

Jen was, you know,
gaming at least

an hour or two a day,
on average.

So when she didn't respond to us

within a 24-hour period

you know, we got worried.

But then she said
that she had a family emergency

and asked one of us
to take over.

And then her actual last three
letters she typed were FML.

FML means "fuck my life."

She disappeared.

The last thing
that she wrote to me was,

"I am trying so hard
to take my own advice today

trying to look into the eyes
of my wife and children

and tell them I'm never
gonna give up on them.

I am trying to remind myself
of all the good in the world,

trying to believe that everything
I've fought for my entire life

didn't just get buried in a
pile of hate-filled ignorance.

Trying to allow myself to
feel all the fucked-up feelings

that are circling
through my weary body,

because it's okay to feel rage,

disgust and deep sadness.

And it's okay to be fueled
a vast array of emotions

and not just love.

And now I need to breathe and figure
out how to act and that's the hard part."

MALE REPORTER: Neighbors last
reported seeing the Harts at their home

on Friday, March 23rd.

So, exhibit 10 is

the actual GPS points
that we were able to download

and put into
Google Earth Pro software.

And what this is is an overview

from the Harts' home
in Woodland, Washington,

all the way down to Fort Bragg.

Once they left their house, every
place that we were able to track them to,

they always used cash.

The first digital evidence
that we came across

that they were using
was a Safeway Club Card.

WOMAN ON RADIO: There's an
overturned vehicle, 11:24

unknown if it's just
occurred or it's been there...

March 26th,

um, I actually heard the
call come out over the radio.

But at that time we thought
it was a fatal collision scene.

The cause of the crash
remains a mystery right now,

investigators have said the
weather was clear at the time.

FEMALE REPORTER: Authorities
say Jennifer and Sarah Hart

along with their six children

died when it plunged off a cliff

along Northern California's
Pacific Coast Highway.

We have the vehicle
going from 34% throttle

to 100% throttle.

And there's no subsequent
application of the brake.

Once we get to Sarah's phone,

one of the last searches
that she did

was while they were traveling
through Oregon,

"Is death by drowning
relatively painless?"

"How long does it take
to die from hypothermia

in water while drowning
in a car?"

"What will happen
when overdosing with benadryl?"

Some of the witnesses
stated that

they would typically
give the children benadryl

on long drives,

that they know
the effects of benadryl,

and what it does
to the children.

They exceeded the normal
therapeutic dosages.

The children were
more than likely

um, unconscious
or asleep at that point.

The death certificates
for Jennifer and Sarah Hart

will be listed as suicide.

And the six children
who perished on that day,

their death certainly,
as the jury ruled,

was determined to be at the
hands of another other by accident

and their death certificates
will list homicide

as the manner of death.

They didn't want
to tell me nothing,

'cause I might flip out,
in the place I was.

So, now that I found out,
you know,

I'm really kind of hurt,

but then again,

I can't bring them back.

So, crying
ain't gonna bring them back.

So...

I'll take care of my son.

Be a better father to him.

Within an hour of finding out,

I was sitting in my desk

and I was just sobbing.

I couldn't even wrap
my head around it.

I didn't know any
of the details yet. I just...

All I knew was that

the Harts, the entire
Hart tribe, was gone.

But, at the same time, this
just like piercing grief of like...

thinking about
all of those children.

When the news broke, I...

Gut told me it was them.

I just knew it was them.

But, then the next morning,

Tuesday morning,

like at 7:00 in the morning,
our phone rings,

and a reporter
had called and said,

"Your neighbors
have been identified

as being the people
in the crash."

Which we didn't
answer the phone.

He left us a message

and wanted us to call back.

But I was like, "Wow."

I don't know what happened.

The evidence
overwhelmingly suggests

that last moment
was intentional.

Um, which is, given the...

undeniable...

and overwhelming beauty
of that family of children,

that decision is um...

impossible.

I just love them still.

You know.

If I...

I just... I know it sounds really
weird and fucked up to say,

but I would be like, "I have
your back," you know. [SNIFFS]

And I know that

that's the part that nobody
wants to hear, but it's like...

I just feel like
I can feel their pain

that they were in.

And I feel so sad

that somewhere along the line,

someone missed something
or we just let them down.

And so, I would just
let them know, like...

yeah, I have their back and...

And if they were here,
I would listen to their story,

and if we could do it all over
again, I just would've helped 'em.

[VOICE SHAKING] I, unfortunately,
think something horrible happened to 'em...

first, and that's why they left.

CHRISTOPHER: I don't know
what the internal turmoil was,

and desperation
in different ways, and...

I don't know. I guess...

things can get hard, and
desperate, and people make...

people make...

extreme, rash decisions. And...

I don't...
I do not understand it.

There's no understanding it.
I don't...

JAKE: It was extremely
comprehensive, large case.

It involved
11 different agencies

from across the nation.

It involved ten departments
within the California Highway Patrol.

They would include,

our Investigative
Services department.

Our Computer Crime Lab
also assisted,

in the determination
and downloads of cellphones.

We reached out
to several allied agencies,

like the Sacramento
High Tech Crime Unit,

the FBI,

Mendocino County
Sheriff's office,

Clark County Sheriff's Office.

We've reached out as far as

the Saint Paul, Minnesota,
Police Department,

to help us
in tracking down a cell phone

that we were
actively trying to pin down.

Our case even
took us up to the point

of interviewing witnesses

outside of home, or Alaska.

By no means

was this a case
that we took lightly.

[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]

SHONDA: It's very touching...

[SIGHS] I'm sorry.

And the reason why
it's touching, is because...

it just seems like
the children from...

kind of like,
from the beginning,

didn't stand a chance, really.

Because, like...
[CHUCKLES] I'm sorry.

Because both parents,
like I said...

[VOICE SHAKING]
they had their issues.

I used to pray every night.

Like, you know,
how you pray for somethin'

and it don't happen,
so you start to believe...

"Where's god?
Who is god?" You know.

I wasn't really the prayer type.

When I was young,

I used to pray
to put us to sleep.

You know, and...

hoping something good
would happen

later on in the future.

It did, but...

then tragedy happened again.

JAKE: While driving around
on the Mendocino coast,

they both decided that
this was going to be the end.

That based on talking with
all their friends and witnesses,

that if they
can't have their kids,

that nobody was
gonna have those kids.

The teachers knew,

the neighbors knew,

and now the children are dead.

There was all this hate,
and it was so immense.

I mean, there were
these threads upon threads

of people who had
never met them,

who were talking about how
viciously disgusting they were.

I mean,
I had people who were like,

"Eat glass and die."

All I was trying to do
was protect my friends,

but that wasn't happening.

There was all this like,

we're afraid to talk about it.

We're afraid to...
say how we feel,

because we are
just immediately attacked.

One of Jennifer's closest friends
is speaking out for the first time

to our Gabrielle Karol,

to help answer the question,

"Who was Jennifer Hart?

What do we know about her?"

We weren't duped.
That love wasn't fake.

They loved their children.

They weren't white supremacists.

They... they just were isolated.

They were in pain.

It's certainly not
the fault of the, you know,

of an online game player,

or a festival musician

who knew their kids
for a couple of days

to determine whether they're

secretly abusing
their kids inside.

[VOICE SHAKING] Myself...

and everyone else who...

shared our love publicly...

we've been judged as though

there was some precedent

by which we were
supposed to behave.

That there was some...

better way to do it,

some right way that...

You know,
I realized, really quickly,

that no matter what I said
or didn't say...

there was no way I was
coming through this unscathed.

We've had friends
basically tell us that

they can't even
associate with us

because we defend
the Hart family.

If our current dialog
is so extremist, and...

and violent,

that we can't even
make space for that,

we're really...

We've lost our way completely.

Festival friends of mine...

um, so they were very accusatory

in saying that
we were completely off-base,

and that we should've
minded our own business.

They called us
all kinds of names.

Being nosy neighbors.
I was racist.

ZIPPORAH:
One of our friends said,

"Forgive me for not...

assuming my friends
were murderers."

Again, everyone being
so angry at us for speaking up.

I wanna say like...

Imagine. Try to put
yourself where we are.

Ideologues scare me, you know.

Ideologues scare me because in
the pursuit of that perfect, pure vision,

they can be so extreme

that they ignore all sense,
all common sense and precaution.

People would attack.

[VOICE SHAKING] And
at one point I even told 'em,

"It's easy for you people
to sit here and accuse me, or...

say that I should have...

But, until you've
walked in my shoes,

until you know who I am,

you can't really...

It's not fair to say."

There's no evidence
that they're racist.

And I don't see why, um...

the number of stories
why they would,

you know, make that up.

They might not have interpreted
everything that happened,

exactly what was going on,

but they're certainly not
just fantasizing about that.

I think there was
a huge tragedy.

I think... I think all these...

In the very beginning,
there was a huge anger

that I did feel, though,
with the social media.

There was a lot of
Black Lives Matter pages

taking arms and being like,

[IN HIGH-PITCHED VOICE]
"Told you so.

These white crackers
should never adopt us."

And I was like, hold on.

You know what I mean?

You can think whatever you want,

but to exploit
the tragedy of these children

to try and further your agenda
on this just...

really just
frankly disgusting platform,

which is Instagram,

you know what I mean,
or Twitter,

I just felt like it was,
you know,

hashtag too soon, social media.

And really just callous, and...

just such propaganda.

They were put under a
microscope in a way that

I don't think anyone
deserves to be put under.

I imagine that...

Jen must've got
to a point where she just

degenerated to, I guess,
some kind of insanity.

Um, you know, exactly how
and when that happened,

and to what... I don't know.

But, I can't imagine
getting to the point where

I mean, if you wanna kill
yourself, that's one thing.

But, I don't see
why you'd need to

take anyone else with you.

This road trip
down to California

was quite impulsive
and unplanned.

It might be interpreted as

kind of running away
from Child Protective Services

who were kind of wrapping
up their investigation.

So, this might be
a woman who feels like,

"You know what, I'm about
to be found out by the world.

I've had this
perfectly curated image.

I spent so much of my time

blogging about
and posting pictures about,

and presenting this
particular image to the world.

And now that's
in danger of crumbling."

So, I'm not saying
that's what happened,

but that is
a very plausible story to me.

That someone feeling, like,
a bit desperate,

their mask is
gonna be ripped off,

and they'd rather die, frankly,

than to be revealed
in front of everyone

about what they are.

Ultimately, I feel that,

based on Sarah
and Jennifer's past history,

the pattern that we see of
the alleged child abuse,

and confrontations that they may
have received out of the community,

that this was just another case

where they would run.

By the system being broken,

it enabled them
to just keep hiding.

Um, you know, when you have
allegations against you

in Minnesota, multiple times,

and then allowed
to adopt children

even after
the first allegations,

seems insane to me.

But then, to be able to
move to Oregon,

have allegations
against you there,

and talk your way through that.

Then to move to Washington,

they get a report,

but none of
the agencies connect.

So, it just allowed them
to keep hiding their abuse,

and no one be able
to connect the dots.

And once the dots got connected,
we still ignored them.

I believe that
they left their house

not knowing exactly
what they're gonna do,

and that they left
in a very hasty manner.

Example of being,
knocking over those blocks,

forgetting the luggage,

not taking toothbrushes.

I feel that they didn't know
what they were doing.

Even though we know
Sarah's phone was

searching those
types of question about death,

and suicide, and how
drowning can be painful,

I don't believe that they were
committed to that at that point.

I think their ultimate goal was
to get to Mendocino County.

And once they got here,

paying for cash along the way for gas,
and items, and stuff that they'd received,

I still don't believe that,

even based on video footage

and items that they bought

while at the Dollar General,

I don't believe
they committed at that point.

But, sometime after that,

while driving around
on the Mendocino Coast,

they both decided that
this was going to be the end.

I'm really grateful for

the law enforcement
taking their time to...

to come to this result
in this way,

where it was decided by a jury,
so that there was no...

real option for doubt.

And, although the conclusion is

the worst possible case,

at least we know what happened,

so we can stop arguing about it.

People need to be honest
about their pain,

and like let it out.

And, I feel like maybe they
lived in this silo of positivity.

So, it was really hard
to reach out for help.

And it makes you feel bad.

Quit looking at it.

Because, people
only post perfect things.

They're not posting when they're
sitting home bored like you.

You know, and that's how
I feel like social media is...

It's crippling people.

We're losing
our social connection,

our innate need to be connected.

Um, and portraying life
to be better,

which I think, actually,
is just adding to depression.

I'm talking in
psychological terms now,

not necessarily
psychiatric terms.

And this goes back to Freud,

but the more you push away the
dark side and compartmentalize,

the those compartments
can grow independently,

and become monsters.

The goal of
a successful psychotherapy

is to integrate all the different
parts of your personality

into one coherent whole,

that could all peacefully
co-exist with one another.

I think that Jen felt a...

loss of whatever control
she imagined she had,

or tried to maintain.

Um, in a misguided...

In a misguided attempt
to protect the family,

I think she was trying
to be too controlling.

And, I feel like she

arrived at a place
where she genuinely

doubted they would ever be safe.

There's, um, I guess,
a balance of light and dark.

And, it doesn't
excuse what happened,

because those children
were completely innocent,

and just wanted love,

and acceptance,
and guidance in this world.

Devonte would've been
16 this year.

Jeremiah would've been 14,
shoulda been 13, this year.

You know, and...

really hard
to not have 'em around.

Know what I'm saying? 'Cause...

'Cause I see other kids,
other brothers,

play with their brothers,
I wish would've had my brothers.

CHRISTOPHER: Maybe Sarah and
Jen aren't who we thought they were.

We should question it.

We should question everything.

But, then we should come back

to things we know.

And, the things we know are

there are facts
that lead us to believe

Jen and Sarah might not have
been who they were to us publicly.

But, the kids are.

The kids are exactly
who we thought they were.

And, that's why
the effect of that family

is so widespread
in our community,

and why this tragedy is so huge.

One, that we lost them.
And, two, that the story of it

removes what they meant.

That's two losses.

To have to lose them,
and to lose, like,

the ability to tell the story of

what authentically they meant.

I have no fear
or doubt in my mind

in saying that
about those children.

What they represented
was 100% authentic.

It wouldn't have had the effect
on people that it did if it weren't.

It's impossible.

[SINGERS HARMONIZING]

CHRISTOPHER: Let's come
in on that and let's land 'em.

[ALL HARMONIZING]

One, two, three.

ALL: [SINGING] ♪ Fighting

♪ Keep on fighting

♪ You

♪ Trying

♪ You gotta keep on trying

♪ We do

♪ Where did the light go?

♪ Darkness can take A hold of me

♪ Where did the time go?

♪ I'm feeling so empty
On these streets

♪ Knowing what I know

♪ All of the lies
Are not concealed

♪ I know you had high hopes

♪ For these All-forgotten dreams

♪ Where did the light go?

♪ Hiding

♪ You keep on hiding

♪ The truth

♪ Why then

[PIANO NOTES PLAYING]

♪ You're still fighting

♪ Ain't you?

♪ Where did the light go?

♪ Darkness can take A hold of me

♪ Where did the time go?

♪ I'm feeling so empty
On these streets

♪ Knowing what I know

♪ All of the lies
Are not concealed

♪ I know you had high hopes

♪ For these All-forgotten dreams

♪ Where did the light go? ♪

[CHEERING AND LAUGHING]

♪ Where did the light go? ♪

[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]