California Highway Patrol (CHP) officials say that preliminary evidence shows the deadly Hart family cliff crash might have been "an intentional act," local NBC affiliate KGW8 reported. The family's SUV was found at the bottom of a 100 foot roadside cliff off a California highway on March 26.

The devastating cliff crash has left troubling questions regarding the welfare of the Hart children, including Devonte Hart, 15, who garnered national attention when a photo of him hugging a white police officer at a 2014 rally during Michael Brown protests in Portland, Oregon, went viral.

Married couple Jennifer and Sara Hart, and their six adopted children: Markis Hart, 19; Jeremiah Hart, 14; Abigail Hart, 14; Devonte Hart and Sierra Hart, both 12; and Hannah Hart, 16, were most recently living in Washington. But Sarah Hart had previously pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic assault involving one of her daughters while they were living in Minnesota in 2011, the Associated Press reported.

According to an e-mail statement submitted to The Oregonian, all six children were reportedly taken out of public schools in Minnesota to be homeschooled the day after Sarah Hart pleaded guilty.

"The leave date indicates all six children left prior to the end of the school year for a homeschool setting," Jill Johnson, a spokeswoman for the school district, wrote to The Oregonian in an e-mail.

Greg Baarts, acting assistant chief for the CHP, told KGW8 in a phone conference that evidence revealed the crash was not a result of a traffic collision.

"Preliminary investigation indicates to us that this incident may have been an intentional act, and not a result of a traffic collision," Baarts said.

He also noted that the SUV stopped and then accelerated over the cliff's edge, which is about 70 feet.

"Just based on what we have, preliminarily, I can say that roughly 70 feet from the edge, and it was pure acceleration from the last brake application until it hit the bottom of the cliff, the ocean," he added.

The CHP confirmed the family's vehicle was "pinned" at 90 miles per hour though that doesn't guarantee that's how fast the SUV was going, CBS reported.

The crash killed Jennifer and Sara Hart (one of them was driving though Baarts didn't confirm who to KGW8), and at least three of their children: Markis Hart, Jeremiah Hart and Abigail Hart. The three other children: Devonte Hart, Sierra Hart and Hannah Hart are considered to be missing as of Monday morning.

Police are trying to learn why an SUV they believe was carrying a family of eight plunged off a cliff in Northern California. Jennifer and Sarah Hart from Washington and three of their kids were found dead at the scene. The other three are still missing https://t.co/dQQXCt9Fx4
pic.twitter.com/pdDnzFF5IO

— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 29, 2018

The Hart family neighbors in Woodland, Washington, Bruce and Dana Dekalb, called Child Protective Services (CPS) in March after the children allegedly expressed distress. The Dekalbs told KGW8 that Devonte Hart had been coming over asking for food and said his moms withheld food from the children as punishment.

According to CNN, CPS attempted to visit the family three times to no avail. After the agency visited the family's home on Friday before the crash, the family appeared to have left the home shortly after.

SUV Cliff Crash

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