BANFIELD: First, the pieces are starting to come together tonight for the investigators who had been desperate to figure out how that family flew off that cliff in California and whether it was on purpose. Three kids and their moms were found dead and three other kids are still missing tonight. And this has now been over a week. The searchers are still scanning that crash site today. But tonight we have an idea of exactly where they were and what they were up to just before that road trip ended in tragedy.
Because one of the moms was caught on camera right here at this California check-out counter seemingly buying fruit snacks for her kids, the very
morning they went off that cliff. And based on apparent pings from cell phones, investigators have laid out a massive part of their travel route. They think the family or at least five member of that Washington family drove down south from a town in Oregon, hundreds of miles down the coast to a town in California, where they spent about 24 mysterious hours.
After that, the drive continued straight to that cliff-like pull out where they may have stopped 70 feet before taking that plunge. With me, Shane Kavanaugh, staff writer for the Oregonian, Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman and defense attorney, Randy Zelin. Sheriff, I want to begin with you. We are starting to get at least a picture of where these family was before this horrible accident. Is that helping you in any way to figure out why the accident happened and where those three missing kids are?
SHERIFF TOM ALLMAN, MENDOCINO COUNTY SHERIFF`S OFFICE: Well, it certainly helping us determine the route. I`m to the point where I am no longer calling this an accident. I`m calling it a crime. And we -- the fact that the grocery store did have her own video buying multiple fruit pieces, multiple bananas, it all leads us to believe that she was at least buying some food for her family. And Ashleigh, we haven`t released the name of the driver, but I`m prepared to do that. I just got to a phone with the CHP commander and Jennifer, the same woman that was in the video from the grocery store is the woman that we believe was driving the vehicle when it crashed.
BANFIELD: Sheriff, that is so distressing on so many levels. Jennifer Hart, the driver also pictured here in the super market, who would know? I mean, who would think anything looking at this picture and it just seems so normal. A mom buying bananas for the kids and getting back into the SUV.
Can I ask you, do we know this, because they were found strapped in those seatbelts in the crash site?
ALLMAN: That is correct. The two adults were seat belted and the children were not seat belted in.
BANFIELD: I know this is going to be a difficult question to answer, because the forensics obviously take time, but is there any indication that there was a struggle between Sarah in the passenger seat and Jennifer in the driver`s seat?
ALLMAN: We asked that question from our pathologist, but we haven`t got the result, but there is many other questions we are asking, you know, was everybody alive when they went off the cliff? That`s the question we don`t know yet. So, these are all pieces that are coming together. Today a citizen found a cell phone in the area, alongside the road that we -- that had been wet. We sent it in for forensics to see if we can determine that was one of the Hart`s cell phone.
And also a citizen reported several miles south of this location, like in the area of 30 or 40 miles south seem something in the ocean that looked like it had clothes on it. We had dive teams in the water immediately. And we are rushing to find out what we can, because, Ashleigh, we have a storm coming in to the Pacific Coast right now, in the next five days, we expect to get between five to seven inches of rain and we are going to have some high waves. So we are doing everything we can, we have over 80 searchers out there today to follow-up any lead we have and to get as much information as we can before the storm hits.
BANFIELD: So, Sheriff, the storm is coming, that is definitely a huge difficulty as though you don`t already have a huge difficulty with that roiling surf and those sea patterns as well. But I am learning at the search area has gone south of the crash area and you tell me if I`m wrong here, but from Nao Harbor the --
ALLMAN: MacKerricher State Park, yes.
BANFIELD: OK so, tell me about why that is the zone of interest now.
ALLMAN: Because we are looking at the ocean flows and we are looking at where the waves were going and the time that is come in. This time has happened, it`s been a week and a day since they were found, it could had been a week and two days since the car went over, because we still don`t have an exact time that when the car went over the cliff. So, we are looking on that, we are still hoping that there is going to be a citizen out there that remembers seeing them at a gas station or someplace.
Thank goodness for the grocery store video. It certainly allowed us to get some more information on that. We are hoping that someone saw something. This is a very unique family. It takes much more than one tank of gas to get from Portland down to my county. So, I know they stopped somewhere and I`m hoping someone says, yes, I remember seeing that family and we haven`t got any credit card information yet, but we are still searching.
BANFIELD: The credit card information will likely yield something if it does comes in at all. I mean, who knows that they were using them, but there she was at the check-out. And like I said before, yes, they are unusual, Sheriff, but my god, that scene is so typical for a morning where a mom is at a super market buying bananas. Just nothing stands out about that. Let me put up those numbers real quickly in case anybody watching right now is peeked by this image or is peek by this, the vehicle that they were driving. By the way, that vehicle is a -- a GMC Yukon. It`s big. You know, it`s a big old SUV. It`s not your typical -- it`s just, you know, it`s the same like a suburban, they are huge, there are seven passengers often, it was greyish in color. This one is a replica. The one that they were driving had black rims. That also stands out. Beveled, silver-ish grey SUV with black rims. That stands out, especially if you got potentially three to six kids in the back and two moms. Here are the numbers Sheriff, I am putting up on the screen, two different ways that you can call. If you want to talk to somebody about what you saw, 707-463-4086, but if you just want to be anonymous and leave a tip, 707-234-21000 and Sheriff to the tip, I understand that they have been really coming in. Am I right? 50-ish?
ALLMAN: We have a little less than 50. Some of them have been a wild goose chase, you know, and some of them are psychic and so forth that law enforcement always gets when this situations occur, but we are trying to prioritize and follow-up the most credible tips possible. And I`m very comfortable that the lieutenant I have in charge in this is doing the right way of prioritizing.
BANFIELD: So real quickly, just a bit to the -- to the trek that we have now been able to pinpoint on a map since I spoke with you, you know, just, you know, a matter of -- was it yesterday or the day before --
ALLMAN: It is.
BANFIELD: -- two days ago. So in the last two days since we spoke with you, we have at least been able to do these pinpoints on the map from Newport up in Oregon down the coast all the way to Fort Bragg with a stop in between, right. Where was the -- no, the stop was at Fort Bragg for about 24 hours from Saturday, March 24th, 8:00 p.m. to Sunday, March 25th at 9:00 p.m. So they spent a fair amount of time in Fort Bragg. Anybody in that area, you know, you might have noticed this unusual family, this modern family, this vehicle. But does that route tell you anything? These -- that is 400 miles or so isn`t it?
ALLMAN: Well, and what`s really strange here Ashleigh is, after Fort Bragg, they actually drove north 30 miles before the accident occurred.
BANFIELD: So, what does that tell you? That is a very strange sort of pattern.
ALLMAN: As I said two days ago, there are many questions on this that we are never going to have answered. We are searching and we`re trying to come up with clues, because there are families and there`s neighbors, there are loved ones who say, really and truly what happened. And law enforcement here obvious to get these answers through them, and we still have other calls that we are handling, you know, I`m so thankful that we have the volunteer firemen who got involved and the first responders we pulled the bodies out. I`m very appreciative. We still have other calls that we are working on and we have a cohesive team right and we are trying to just take care of everything the way it happens.
BANFIELD: So you are looking into that cellphone that was found, you are following up on that tip of the witness who said, he or she saw clothing floating in the water, correct?
[18:10:00] ALLMAN: Correct, that`s correct.
BANFIELD: Nothing concrete there though right?
ALLMAN: Correct.
BANFIELD: So, don`t go anywhere. Sheriff if you can, I want to bring Shane Kavanaugh into the story, because there`s this whole other aspect to this mystery and that was, what was happening before that route was plotted on the map. And there was a lot happening, Shane, there`s material from 2008, there`s material from 2010, 2011 all having to do with domestic violence. Can you just sort out for me, what we know?
SHANE KAVANAUGH, STAFF WRITER, THE OREGONIAN: Yes, absolutely, Ashleigh. Back in -- we have been able to uncover police reports in Minnesota where the family lived a number of years ago. Abuse allegation reports investigate by police going back to 2008, where one of the Hart`s children had said that their mother, Jennifer, had struck her with a belt, causing a pretty sizable bruise on her arm, at that time --
BANFIELD: Shane -- Shane, that is Jennifer. Jennifer has now been -- it`s just been released by the sheriff, if anyone is just joining us, It has now been determined Jennifer is the driver. Jennifer is the driver, who took that SUV off of the cliff. So you are saying the 2008 acquisition from little Hannah, then 6 years old was about Jennifer?
KAVANAUGH: Correct. And I will also point out there was a second abuse investigation in 2010 by Abigail --
BANFIELD: Wow.
KAVANAUGH: -- another daughter who is also 6 in 2010. This one was more perplexing, because Abigail had told authorities that she was struck by her mother, Jennifer. Again, same mother. And submerged under cold water as punishment for misbehaving. However, Jennifer`s wife, Sarah ultimately said that she was responsible for the abuse and she was ultimately convicted of a crime in 2011.
BANFIELD: Interesting. Abigail said that it was Jennifer who did it again and Jennifer is the driver who went off the cliff. And we are now -- the Sheriff said, it is not an accident, it is now an intentional, he believes this was a crime, but Sarah took the hit for it, Sarah took the wrath, she pleaded to it, correct? On the probation agreement?
KAVANAUGH: Correct. Sarah pleaded guilty in 2011 to misdemeanor domestic abuse.
BANFIELD: And there is something else here. Something else in the whole other jurisdiction. You just recounted the 2011 -- 2010-2011 incident, then in 2013, they appeared to have moved from Minnesota to Westland, Oregon and no stranger to the police in Westland, Oregon either, they said they got some kind of a referral from the Oregon Department of Human Services. Do you know any about that?
KAVANAUGH: Yes, what it appears is that a friend of the family in 2013 filed a report with child protective services in Oregon, because they were concerned about the way in which the children were being treated and was concerned that the children might had been denied food as a form of punishment which is something that came up later on as well as a frequent form of alleged punishment to these children`s face.
BANFIELD: Extremely distressing, but I mean, clearly Shane, we are seeing a pattern here. 2008 abuse from a child who was 6. 2010 and 2011, Abigail, another child who is 6, reporting abuse, again the same mom, Jennifer. Factoring in both of these stories, Jennifer, Sheriff now confirming at the wheel of the -- I guess is it fair to say the murder vehicle, Sheriff at this point?
ALLMAN: Certainly the vehicle was used in a crime and I am going to be -- having our district attorney review everything we have, when all the paper works comes in, before I am going to call it a murder, but I think, that you are on the right track, Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: I want to put up that tip line just before we go to break again, 707-463-4086 for people who want to talk to dispatch and explain something, those who want to leave an anonymous tip, don`t want to have anything to do with it, fine. It is just important to get the information that no tip is too small, 707-234-2100 and Sheriff, let`s hope that those tips go from 50 to a higher and maybe more solid number that yields actual information that you can actually act on and put more pieces of the puzzle together. And we will check in with you as well. Sheriff Tom Allman, thank you.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1804/04/ptab.01.html
