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A US family that gained attention after one of the children, an African-American boy, appeared in a photo from a 2014 protest hugging a white police officer, are believed dead after their vehicle plunged off a scenic Californian highway.
Key points:
- Hart family became known for photo of Devonte Hunt hugging white police officer at a rally
- Investigators have no reason to believe crash was intentional
- Neighbours said they were concerned about possible abuse in the Hart family
US authorities said on Wednesday local time they were appealing for information to help them to retrace where the parents and children were in the period before their car was found in rocky ocean on Monday.
"We have every indication to believe that all six children were in there," Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allmon said.
"We know that an entire family vanished and perished during this tragedy."
Some friends described married couple Jennifer and Sarah Hart as good parents who took their adopted kids to Bernie Sanders rallies.
But some neighbours said they called child welfare officials in their rural Washington state community over concerns about possible abuse or had noticed red flags.
The California Highway Patrol has not determined why the vehicle went off an ocean overlook on a rugged part of coastline.
A specialised team of accident investigators was trying to figure that out, Sheriff Allmon said.
He said "there were no skid marks, there were no brake marks" at the turnout on the Pacific Coast Highway where the vehicle went over.
But investigators have no reason to believe the crash was intentional.
The 31-metre drop killed the women, both 39. Their children Markis, 19, Jeremiah, 14, Abigail, 14, Hannah, 16, Devonte, 15, and Sierra, 12, have not been found.
No obvious signs of trouble or violence
The Harts lived in Woodland, Washington, a small city outside Portland, Oregon, and had a recent visit from Child Protective Services, Clark County Sheriff's Sergeant Brent Waddell told The Associated Press.
He said the sheriff's office later entered the house and found no obvious signs of trouble or violence.
It appeared the family planned a short trip because they left behind a pet, chickens and most of their belongings.
Next-door neighbours Bruce and Dana DeKalb said they called child services on Friday because they were concerned that Devonte, who hugged the officer at the protest, was going hungry.
They said he had been coming over to their house too often in the past week asking for food.
The DeKalbs also recounted that three months after the family moved into the home in May 2017, one of the girls rang their doorbell at 1:30am.
She "was at our door in a blanket saying we needed to protect her", Mr DeKalb said.
"She said that they were abusing her. It haunted my wife since that day."
In 2011, Sarah Hart pleaded guilty to a domestic assault charge in Minnesota.
Her plea led to the dismissal of a charge of malicious punishment of a child, online court records say.
Bill Groener, 67, was a next-door neighbour of the family when they lived in West Linn, Oregon, and said the children were home-schooled.
"They stayed indoors most of the time, even in really nice weather," Mr Groener said.
He said the family did not eat sugar, grew their own vegetables, had animals and went on camping trips.
"There was enough positive there to kind of counteract the feeling that something maybe wasn't quite right," Mr Groener said.
He said they were neighbours for about two years and that "privacy was a big thing for them".
The family gained attention after Devonte was photographed during a 2014 protest in Portland, Oregon, over a grand jury's decision not to indict a police officer in the shooting of a black man in Ferguson, Missouri.
The boy, holding a sign saying Free Hugs, stood crying when a Portland officer asked for a hug.
AP
Topics: disasters-and-accidents, accidents, united-states