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Fatal cliff crash in California may have been intentional, police say

This image shows the pullout where the SUV of Jennifer and Sarah Hart was recovered off the off Pacific Coast Highway 1, near Westport, Calif., last week. (Alameda County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Authorities were investigating at the home of Jennifer Jean Hart, Sarah Margaret Hart and the six Hart children onThursday, March 29, 2018.ost of the activity appeared to be taking place inside the home, which is situated off a winding, wooded road in rural Woodland. (Jim Ryan/Staff)/The Oregonian via AP)
This photo taken Wednesday, March 28, 2018, shows the house in Woodland, Wash., where the Hart Family lived. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)
This photo taken Wednesday, March 28, 2018, shows the house in Woodland, Wash., where the Hart Family lived. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)
This photo taken Wednesday, March 28, 2018, shows a Stars Wars poster in the garage window with a small horse stable at right at the house in Woodland, Wash., where the Hart Family lived. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)
This photo taken Wednesday, March 28, 2018, shows raised beds at the house in Woodland, Wash., where the Hart Family lived. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)
This June 2014 photo shows Devonte Hart with his family at the annual celebration of "The Goonies" movie in Astoria, Ore. (Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian via AP)
This image shows the pullout where the SUV of Jennifer and Sarah Hart was recovered off the off Pacific Coast Highway 1, near Westport, Calif., last week. (Alameda County Sheriff's Office via AP)
This photo shows ruts cut into the clifftop Thursday, March 29, 2018, where the SUV of Jennifer and Sarah Hart that went off the cliff was hauled up and over by a tow truck Monday off the Pacific Coast Highway near Westport, Calif. (Kale Williams/The Oregonian via AP)
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By Paul Elias and Phuong Le The Associated Press
April 1, 2018 - 8:58 pm
 

SAN FRANCISCO — California Highway Patrol officials say preliminary evidence shows the cliff crash that killed a Washington state family may have been intentional.

Capt. Greg Baarts with the CHP Northern Division says information pulled from the SUV’s software shows the vehicle was stopped at the highway pullout before it accelerated straight off the cliff.

Baarts says the electronic information combined with the lack of skid marks led officials to believe it was intentional.

A Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office spokesman says authorities believe at least one felony was committed but declined to specify.

Five members of the Hart family were found dead. Searchers are looking for three more children believed to have been in the vehicle when it went over a scenic coastal overlook and landed on rocks in the Pacific Ocean below.

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