WILLITS, Calif. (AP) – Officials testifying at a coroner’s inquest Wednesday are sharing grisly details of the deaths of a family whose SUV plunged off a Northern California cliff.

Mendocino County is holding the inquest before a jury to determine how to classify the March 2018 deaths of Jen and Sarah Hart and their 6 adopted children.

Jurors will decide whether the deaths were accidental, a murder-suicide or undetermined.

Mendocino County Sheriff Deputy Robert Julian says the bodies of the women were inside the car and that as the car was being towed up the cliff, one of the bodies fell out along with a backpack.

Julian says he was able to identify Sarah Hart through a Minnesota driver’s license found near the car.

He says he was not able to immediately identify Jennifer Hart due to her fall.

Watch Live: Coroner’s inquest into Hart family

On March 26, 2018, Jennifer and Sarah Hart and 5 of their children — Markis, Hannah, Jeremiah, Abigail, Ciera —  were found dead after the car plunged into the Pacific Ocean in the area of Juan Creek and North Highway 1 in Mendocino County, California. 

The remains of their 6th child, 15-year-old Devonte, has not yet been found. He is presumed to be dead.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office recently concluded their investigation and scheduled a coroner’s inquest for April 3. The coroner’s inquest, which is expected to last 2-3 days, will present the facts of the case to a California jury to determine the manner of death for each person.

What is a coroner’s inquest

A coroner’s inquest is a public hearing, generally with a court reporter and 6 jurors. It is to determine the cause of death, not the why — just who died, how, when and where. A verdict is dependent on many factors, including the autopsy.

The case

The Hart family took off from their Woodland home and headed south in late March 2018. At first the crash seemed to be a horrific accident that took the lives of the 8 people inside.

Things quickly began not adding up to that scenario.

Jennifer and Sarah Hart, and their 6 adopted children, disappeared from their Woodland home in late March 2018 – shortly after a Washington Child Protective Services caseworker tried to contact the women at home. Neighbors had called CPS, concerned that the children were being abused and neglected.  

Within weeks, authorities said Jennifer Hart — who was driving — was legally drunk at the time of the crash. Toxicology tests also found that her wife Sarah Hart and two of their adopted children had “a significant amount” of an ingredient commonly found in the allergy drug Benadryl, which can make people sleepy.

As the investigation continued, details of previous family abuse allegations surfaced. New documents released in April 2018 showed Oregon Child Protective Services knew that the Hart family had been investigated for child abuse in Minnesota. 

Despite this knowledge, DHS’s investigation into Jennifer and Sarah Hart – whose family car was found crashed off a northern California cliff in late March – was closed with investigators concluding that they were “unable to determine” whether there was abuse in the home, despite some indications of abuse or neglect. 

By August, Clark County investigators said the entire case and investigation was “very frustrating.” Clark County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Brent Waddell said that investigators in his agency weren’t able to locate a suicide note, a message, or even any journal entries that spell out a clear intention.

In November, Clark County investigators released documents, including emails between Jennifer and Sarah, indicating marital trouble.

This coroner’s inquest in April will provide another piece to the ongoing puzzle of the Hart family crash.

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