The Murderous Mothers of the Hart Family Massacre

these are the videos of six adopted children given a vital second chance to flourish in their youth and at face value the actions of their new mothers jennifer and sarah hart seemed to be profoundly kind but behind these videos along with a never-ending stream of positive social media lay two monsters upholding a grim and ugly facade and this story would ultimately lead to mass tragedy welcome or welcome back to coffee house crime my name is adrian and in today's video we're looking at the deceptive case of the hot family the heart seemed to be a progressive family living a holistic lifestyle surrounded by love happiness and freedom but was this an accurate reflection or just an evil facade just so you know i post solved unsolved and strange cases here on a weekly basis so if that sounds like a kind of thing please consider subscribing to coffeehouse crime so let's dive straight into today's case pull up a seat grab a coffee and sit back this is the heartbreaking case of the heart family massacre today we head into the northern region of the united states to the seldom populated state of south dakota found in the heart of mainland america south dakota is expansive with wide open prairies the badlands national park and incredible natural beauty this makes hunting hiking and fishing very popular activities amongst south dakota's residents all the same for tourists looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and it's here in small town south dakota that were introduced to jennifer hart and sarah gengler jen came from the city of huron where sarah grew up just outside of big stone city i say city but big stone city has around 500 residents the same capacity to fill an airbus a380 the two had very similar upbringings they were the oldest sibling in their families brought up in a rural area and graduated high school at a respectable level and these similarities between the two grew as they both decided to pursue higher education and go to university they both wanted to become school teachers although sarah decided to focus on special education and whether by coincidence or fate the two also ended up transferring from former universities to northern state university found in aberdeen south dakota this meant that in 1999 jennifer and sarah met each other while studying the same course and very little did either of them know that this would progress from classmates to friends to a romantic relationship now south dakota was not the most open-minded of states in the 90s and especially seeing as both women had grown up rurally they felt that they couldn't express their relationship in public so jen and sarah began their relationship in secret telling those close to them that they were merely good friends unfortunately jen ended up dropping out of university before completing a course but on the other hand sarah persevered and eventually earned her degree in special education it was after her graduation that jen and sarah decided their relationship could no longer be covert thus leading them to coming out to their family and friends the couple knew that some of them would have an issue with this and they actually ended up losing a good number of friends as a result and so following graduation and a public relationship the ever transforming couple moved to alexandria located in minnesota a city famous for its lakeside lifestyle the couple gained work at the biggest department store in town and while sarah progressed to management jen stayed in the junior section their time at work was rather uneventful sarah was more level and reserved whereas jen was described by those working with her as bold brash and considered rather abrasive however yin and yang the two seemed to pull into each other's strengths and weaknesses creating a balanced partnership jen and sarah lived and worked together and by the mid-20s they felt that their lives have started to lose its flavor which in response led them to look elsewhere for satisfaction the couple therefore decided to apply for adoption eligibility which can be a wonderful opportunity and a blessing for most as it turns out jen and sarah qualified were thanks to them being in the prime of their lives employed and educated and so in 2014 they took a 15 year old foster daughter under their wing who they were to look after until she turned 18 and could strike out on her own their new daughter's name was lee the first few months with their new daughter was pleasant and jen and sarah would take lee out on many adventures they would often go camping to amusement parks and to various local events and celebrations however around six months after adopting lee those around the family began to notice how the couple would constantly complain about the young girl often sneering at her habits attitude and interests and apparently it seemed as if the young couple were not taking their role as foster parents seriously they even went as far to tell colleagues and co-workers that the new foster daughter had a bad habit of picking food out the trash to eat it which if you ask me says more about them as parents rather than the child they were supposed to be caring for although the novelty of fostering seemed to be wearing off for the couple the small family of three would eventually welcome two new additions to the family a younger brother and sister they were also planning to adopt a fourth child from a pregnant mother once they were born after returning home from initial visitation jen and sarah showed pictures of the children to lee the couple were very enthusiastic but lee's excitement seemed to be all for naught and just one week later lee was dropped off for what she thought was a routine therapist appointment but when she got there she was told that jen and sarah were not coming back to get her there was no goodbye and no explanation to this decision they'd abandoned the young girl once again entirely ripping her out from a stable environment in the year 2006 two years after sending lee back to the foster care system they officially adopted three new children they were two-year-old abigail four-year-old hannah and seven-year-old marcus statistically these children were part of several categories that made them more difficult to place in care as sadly race plays a big part in succession rates when it comes to foster care their terms and conditions meant that they also had to be adopted together which in turn made them harder to house now this is where gen hart began to regularly post on facebook she documented their first night as a family of five which surprisingly included accidents of urination pooping on the walls a tumble and even the need for the heimlich maneuver this all sounded very hectic for a first night and although jen expressed that the children were unruly misbehaved and troubled she insisted that her and her partner were committed to healing the children over time stating if not us who will and although raising three children was obviously a challenge just two years later jen and sarah were once again looking for more children to adopt this application was eventually approved and in the spring of 2008 the couple were given three more young children they were five-year-old devonte four-year-old jeremiah and three-year-old sierra with the introduction of three new family members came complications as now crack started to form within the family's dynamics later that year the couple would be called into school over abuse allegations as hannah had shown up to classes with bruising on her legs and when asked by one of her teachers she told her that one of her mothers had hit her with a belt jen and sarah claimed ignorance and perhaps maybe she was bruised while playing as a result no charges were filed rather suspiciously but all three children at school were then taken out of schooling not long after this incident before finally being re-enrolled after social services were informed after officially adopting the final three children jen frequently took to social media in order to show the world of the rather unconventional family which now consisted of two white lesbian mothers and six black children sarah stayed in retail to support the family and all in the meanwhile jen stayed at home with the kids often taking them out and away to what jen described as transformation festivals events of music dance yoga and other activities which could last for several days this change in lifestyle led the family to relocate from minnesota to oregon in the year 2013 where they could now focus on a community that accepted them and be close to their favorite musicians soon after moving jen and sarah finally married taking jennifer's last name heart for sarah and the children and it's from here that jen's carefully created online feed exploded with posts about her family she would post pictures of them at festivals in their garden looking after the house and other activities jen's posts were overwhelmingly holistic and based around the values of love acceptance and community and the family would often be seen going to festivals rallies and even protests jen posted as if they were a perfectly progressive happy family and it raked in the likes when it came to the hearts the general public attitude was always centered around the two mothers saving their adopted children and of course that they were the perfect family this performative behavior is best displayed in a video from the beloved festival in 2013 where devon supported his free hug sign and got on stage to give the performer an emotional embrace in front of a large crowd however offline government files began to paint a very different picture the school began to notice bruises on these children and they would also tell teachers they were locked in doors and left without food leading them to steal from other children abigail also claimed that jen had accused her of stealing and punished her by dunking her head in cold water before striking her with the back of her hand but before any thorough investigation could be conducted all six children were removed from school and the family officially began homeschooling instead shortly after this whistleblowers around the family started contacting child protection services they claimed that jen ran the family-like boot camp and that the children seemed to fear her and a very twisted detail but jen supposedly withheld food from the children only rewarding them if they posed her facebook photos or as she asked photographers that worked with the hearts often described how when taking photos the children were smiling and seemingly happy but as soon as the session was over they'd go back to being miserable and lifeless the cps would eventually interview these children about their home life and although these interviews were independent they all gave strangely similar accounts all of which denied any abuse taking place it was now becoming a possibility that the lifejan had posted about online was a complete fabrication and those close to the family were now starting to see that public attention to the family came in 2014 when this image of devont went viral he would become known as the boy who hugged a police officer at a black lives matter protest and it gained so much attention that it was eventually featured on several news channels and saturday night live jen always wanted attention that was plain to see through her social media but eventually her accounts would go radio silence in 2016. only to return in 2017 to claim that those around them didn't understand their alternative and progressive lifestyle in the hiatus they decided to move to woodland in washington it was a convenient time for them to do so as things were heating up with the cps they therefore moved silently not to alert them they would eventually find a spacious two-floor farmhouse in washington countryside and jen's facebook posts would resume after this images of the children started to resurface and jen was trying to return to her previous attention seeking updates however behind the scenes the abuse was still happening so much so that in the middle of a warm night in july 15 year old hannah hart jumped out from her bedroom window and ran to a neighbor's house donna and brewster cab were awoken by a distressed child at their door she begged for food and pleaded not to go back home and not long after this they could hear the rest of the heart family calling for her and of course not to be surprised jennifer explained hannah's behavior away claiming that she was lying for attention very shortly after this the cps were called over the situation yeah there's some kids that i feel is being highly abused okay i'm gonna give you the address of my daughter's house because it's right next door okay what's going on there 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 and this is like two in the morning begging him to help her to help her and when they came looking for her she was begging my daughter not to let him know she was there and then eventually my son-in-law let him know and then she had all four of the kids come back later and to say everything was okay and they were all standing at attention like they were just scared to death and i think there's something very serious going on there i'm very concerned for these kids the very next day the dekarbs received an apology letter which was supposedly written by hannah however the wording and terminology used doesn't quite reflect that of a 15 year old girl the dekarbs didn't want to get involved in any neighborhood disputes but this incident made donna very uncomfortable so as a direct consequence she began to keep tabs on the family grounded children incessantly shut blinds and a very distinct lack of food and malnourishment were all recorded in her diary and very shortly after this the next child to knock on their door was devonte and he was more coherent and subtle with his wording asking the dekalbs for food he requested if they could place a care package at the edge of their property and out of sight of his parents he also admitted that hannah's claims were true and he wanted the family to call social services social health services were deeply concerned and on march 23 2018 they responded by marching to the family residence however after arriving there was no answer at the door back three days later more concerning details arose the driveway was now empty the family truck no longer visible and debris and cinder blocks were scattered across the driveway the result of their car driving through a small wall it appeared that the family had left in a hurry donna had a sinking feeling about this she knew why they were running that was obvious but despite her suspicions she was not prepared for the events which followed two days prior on march 24 2018 sarah and jen ushered their six adopted children into the family truck they explained to them that they were going on a road trip and although they did this often it was never so abruptly jen hart took to the driver's seat of the car and seconds later drove the family away in a hurry this resulting in her smashing through the wall in the process contrary to her usual gloating there were no posts online about their road trip but their phones would ping at multiple towers along coastal roads heading south as they left washington passed through oregon and then entered california along the way they stopped at a service station to buy food and with the kids kept inside the car at all times they were never spotted at any of these stations on march 25th the day before cps returned to their now empty house a surveillance camera captured jennifer at a safeway the couple eventually stopped at a walmart in california where sarah bought a large bottle of benadryl an antihistamine with strong side effects such as drowsiness sarah then returned to the car and while preparing food for the family she slipped benadryl into their sandwiches nineteen-year-old mark is receiving the highest dosage of around 20 pills and all in the meanwhile jen was drinking several beers this was out of character she didn't drink often but today was evidently different with the children now deceptively fed sarah and jen returned to their seats jen behind the wheel after around five drinks with sarah scrolling away on her phone the family left walmart in the early hours of march 26th and took off along the coast once again and during this time sarah was on her phone searching for answers to questions like how much benadryl would it take to kill a 130 pound woman how long does it take to die of drowning in hypothermia and does it hurt to die following these searches sarah herself consumed 42 pills of benadryl and driving further along the coast the family stopped at a cliff near westport california the children still in the back of the car without seat belts drowsy and delirious the family truck stopped but only for a brief minute and as the atmosphere around settled into quietness jen ruptured the silence as she put her foot on the gas pedal accelerating heading towards the edge of a 100-foot cliff and picking up speed the truck cascaded off the edge with the family inside and falling at 90 miles per hour the truck hit the rock riddled ocean waiting for them at the bottom at 4 15 p.m on the 26th of march 2018 officers were alerted to a car wreckage at the bottom of a cliff near westport police and fire officials arrived at the scene to find the upturned vehicle partially submerged beneath as well and floating in the tide were the bodies of abigail jeremiah and marcus hart upon raising the vehicle two adult bodies were discovered and now five of the family were accounted for they had all died from blunt force trauma upon impact there's no mystery surprise or trial to this case the actions of jennifer and sarah were both obvious and deliberate over time and in the wake of this terrible tragedy a community would be left to grieve over the loss of six young children with not all children accounted for there was still a small gunner of hope that maybe the missing three had survived therefore missing persons reports for hannah sierra and devonte heart were distributed however just two weeks later sierra's body was discovered floating near the crash site and a further two months later authorities discovered a small foot which was identified to belong to hannah hart to this day devon's body has never been recovered but it's very likely that he was swept out to sea initially authorities thought that maybe this was some tragic freak accident maybe the brakes had failed or maybe they'd been driving while tired however there were numerous pieces of evidence to suggest that this event was deliberate and heavily rested on the fault of jen and sarah the first piece of evidence was more a lack of evidence there were no skid marks at the scene leading officers to believe that the car had not attempted to break and rather it seems to have accelerated this was backed up by the truck's black box which showed that the card stopped briefly before rapidly accelerating before the crash although the bodies took months to recover the investigation into what led up to this tragedy began on the day of the crash upon exploring the lives of the heart family they found a household devoid of any childhood joy inside the home there was no indication that the six children had even lived there there were no toys or games and the frames that hung up on the walls and placed on the mantelpiece were all empty as a result of autopsies conducted on the children they found that all but one of them were malnourished and underweight being the size of a child around three is less than their respective ages so as it turns out the holistic happy lifestyle that jenna had portrayed online was all a fake and evil fabrication these poor children were showboated for her own satisfaction only to be neglected until they performed well again and in a sick twist of irony the good mother that she'd relentlessly pursued to express would instead lead to her becoming one of the most internationally recognized terrible mothers nobody will ever fully understand why these two women decided to end the lives of six innocent children they were being chased by child protection services and they had debts piling up from raising such large family but there is nothing that should have caused this tragedy it's understandable if they felt overwhelmed with having so many children but their solution to this problem was by far the worst of all options available their actions prior to this day were not innocent either and in the end they claimed six innocent lives all of which because they were too scared to face the consequences of their negligent actions and that's why we should remember these children instead abigail hannah marcus sierra jeremiah and devonte they were all young individuals who were already given the shorthand in their childhood and when enrolled into a system designed to improve their lives they became puppets for selfish gain and gratification they were failed by their caregivers the system that put them there and of course the evil carers jennifer and sarah had cps acted sooner in the two states they lived in before then maybe something could have been different and as for jennifer and sarah these two women expressed themselves as upstanding citizens who wanted to help those in their fragile time of need and while their attempts to create this facade initially worked their final actions in life will permanently smear them as cruel heartless negligent evil parents who are master manipulators not only to themselves but to everyone around them too it is such a shame that these six children would ultimately walk into their path this was a really tough case to cover not just by the amount of lives lost but all the potential and youth lost too we all know that life can be unfair but these kids deserved so much better ultimately there is no silver lining to this story and unfortunately that just about completes today's video but thank you so much for watching another video today by coffee house crime if you found this video interesting or insightful then please remember to like the video and subscribe if you haven't yet as always please share your thoughts in the comment section down below and of course i'll be back again real soon for another video but until that moment arrives remember to look after each other goodbye

Channel: Coffeehouse Crime

Views: 1,733,000

Keywords: coffeehouse crime, true crime, coffee, house, crime, hart family, family, social media, adoption, runaway

Id: JO3PCiCKAno

Length: 21min 15sec (1275 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 25 2022