5 Family Members ID'd After Crash Off West Coast; 3 Still Missing

MENDOCINO COUNTY, CA — Three children are still missing Thursday after an SUV carrying a Washington State family crashed off the Northern California coast, authorities said. Police have identified eight family members, but only the bodies of five people — two adults and three children — have been found.

Mendocino County law enforcement identified the crash victims as married couple Jennifer and Sarah Hart, both 38, and their three children, Markis, 19, and 14-year-olds Jeremiah and Abigail.

Jennifer and Sarah's three other children, Devonte, 15, Hannah, 16, and Sierra, 12, are currently unaccounted for, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department, which noted that "it is unknown if the missing children accompanied their parents on the trip to Mendocino County or if they might be staying with friends."

Officers who visited the family's home in Woodland, Washington, on Wednesday did not locate the three kids or obtain any information on the their possible whereabouts, if not with the rest of their family.

One of the missing children, Devonte, drew national media attention in 2014 after a photograph of him hugging a Portland police officer during a Ferguson-related demonstration in Portland, Oregon, went viral.

"The hug shared around the world," as it was called by The Oregonian/OregonLive, came during a protest over a St. Louis County, Missouri, Grand Jury's decision not to indict Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown Aug. 9, 2014.

The family later joined U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on-stage during a campaign rally in Vancouver, Washington; but intense media attention reportedly spurred the family to move from West Linn, Oregon, a suburb of Portland, to a new home in Clark County, Washington, in 2017.

According to Mendocino County Sheriff's officials, deputies were dispatched to Highway 1 near Juan Creek around 4:16 p.m. March 26 after receiving a call of a fatal crash. A passerby reportedly used a pullout along the road and observed the vehicle off the embankment, upside down on the rocky shoreline.

Authorities immediately launched a search and rescue effort in the ocean waters where the accident occurred with the help of the California Highway Patrol and the Coast Guard.

Authorities believe the family may have left for a temporary trip as there were many family belongings still in the home, as well as a pet and some chickens.

The cause of this accident is being investigated by the California Highway Patrol.

— Photo via Mendocino County Sheriff's Department

This post includes additional reporting from Hoa Quách, Patch staff