The impact would disfigure Jennifer’s face to the point that authorities were unable to identify her, Julian stated, noting that Sarah Hart was also unrecognizable.
“Death was obvious for all of them,” Julian said during the live-streamed testimony about Jennifer, Sarah and three of their six adopted children, Markis, Jeremiah and Abigail, who were found in the car with them. “They were cold — rigor mortis.”
The remains of two of the other children, aged 12 to 19, were found later, and the remains of one child, 15-year-old Devonte Hart, have still not been recovered, though he has been declared legally dead, Mendocino Sheriff-Coroner Tom Allman told PEOPLE.
Mendocino Sheriff/Facebook
Dr. Greg Pizarro, a forensic pathologist who testified on Wednesday, said he believed the family had died almost immediately after impact, and had perished from spinal injuries. However, the body of Sierra Hart — which was recovered two weeks following the wreck — was decomposed to the point that he could not determine how she died.
This new insight into the crash and the subsequent recovery of the Hart family’s bodies was part of the evidence presented during the coroner’s inquest on Wednesday.
Over the course of two days — Wednesday and Thursday — authorities are presenting evidence from the Hart investigation to a jury, which will decide on the manner of death for each family member.
The inquest is being live-streamed on theMendocino County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.
“The purpose [of the inquest] is to get the evidence out as quick as possible,” Sheriff-Coroner Tom Allman told PEOPLE, noting that until the 1960s, inquests were standard policy. “There is a heaping amount of evidence and honestly it belongs to the public.”
He continues: “There’s just so many unknowns on this, but now we think we know a lot of the unknowns.”
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Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian/AP
source: people.com
