Jury finds family of 8 died by murder-suicide in cliff crash

A special coroner's jury in California ruled the deaths of two women and their six adopted children was a murder-suicide after hearing testimony that one of the women had searched death by drowning online and the other deliberately stepped on the gas, sending their SUV plunging off a cliff.

Jurors deliberated for about an hour before returning the unanimous verdicts that Jennifer and Sarah Hart killed themselves on March 26, 2018, in Mendocino County. The jury decided the six children, 12 to 19, died at the hands of another and not by accident.

Authorities had indicated they believed the crash was deliberate but wanted a jury to make official findings.