{"id":252050,"date":"2021-05-18T00:32:58","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T21:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/the-sick-woke-mom-behind-devonte-harts-tragic-death\/"},"modified":"2021-05-18T00:32:58","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T21:32:58","slug":"the-sick-woke-mom-behind-devonte-harts-tragic-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-sick-woke-mom-behind-devonte-harts-tragic-death\/","title":{"rendered":"#The sick &#8216;woke&#8217; mom behind Devonte Hart&#8217;s tragic death"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#The sick &#8216;woke&#8217; mom behind Devonte Hart&#8217;s tragic death<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>With its soaring cliffs and expansive horizons, the Pacific coastline of Mendocino, Calif., is exactly the type of place Jen Hart might have chosen for a photo op.<\/p>\n<p>But, on March 26, 2018, the image-conscious mom didn\u2019t line up her half-dozen kids for a trademark artistic shot \u2014 she drove the family SUV over the edge, killing the children, herself and her wife, Sarah.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving six people die like that made it the largest mass murder in our county in modern times,\u201d said retired Mendocino Sheriff Tom Allman of the shocking crime, adding that the adult deaths were classed as suicides.<\/p>\n<p>Now a new documentary, \u201cBroken Harts\u201d <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.discoveryplus.com\/\">(premiering Tuesday on Discovery+)<\/a>, has decoded Jen\u2019s carefully curated <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> posts and exposed the executioner as an abusive narcissist who hid behind a \u201cwoke\u201d facade.<\/p>\n<p>In November 2014, a picture of one of the children, then 12-year-old Devonte Hart, went viral as an iconic symbol of racial harmony. Devonte was the weeping black boy shown hugging a white cop in a seemingly spontaneous gesture at a protest against police brutality in Portland, Ore. Commenting on live TV shortly after the image was taken, NBC <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> anchor Brian Williams gushed: \u201cWhat the world needs now might just be what we see in this photo.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"918\" height=\"1024\" alt=\"Devote Hart hugs police officer Bret Barnum.\" class=\"wp-image-18244996 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/devonte-hart-09.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300 300w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/devonte-hart-09.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/devonte-hart-09.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1280 1280w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/devonte-hart-09.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=918 918w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/devonte-hart-09.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1836 1836w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 918px\"\/><figcaption>In this viral 2014 photo, Devonte Hart is seen hugging Portland police officer Bret Barnum.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But, as investigative journalist Zaron Burnett III, told The Post: \u201cThose mothers used Devonte and his siblings as performing monkeys for traffic potential.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were accessories to a lifestyle Jen and Sarah wanted to portray on social media and the likes were dopamine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The pair started their family in 2006, opening their Alexandria, Minn., home to adoptive children Markis, Hannah and Abigail. In 2009, Devonte and his siblings, Jeremiah and Sierra, joined the household. All children of color, the six kids came from Harris County, Texas, after being removed from their biological parents; Devonte\u2019s mother <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/pacific-northwest-news\/2018\/04\/devonte_harts_biological_mom_t.html\">had used crack cocaine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Broken Harts | Streaming Soon on discovery+\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PJasIG9w0nY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Jen took to the Internet to describe every aspect of her sons\u2019 and daughters\u2019 lives \u2014 past and present \u2014 in a crusade that Burnett called \u201cwhite saviorhood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf not us \u2014 WHO?\u201d asked one dramatic Facebook post.<\/p>\n<p>According to clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Joni Johnston, Jen\u2019s virtue-signaling didn\u2019t \u201cseem right.\u201d Featured on \u201cBroken Harts,\u201d the expert says: \u201cOn the surface, it looks like, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s all about my kid.\u2019 But, beneath the lines, there is just this constant <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">theme<\/a> that, \u2018If it wasn\u2019t for us, this kid would\u2019ve ended up who knows where.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" alt=\"The Hart family at a Bernie Sanders rally.\" class=\"wp-image-18245021 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/broken-harts-04.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300 300w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/broken-harts-04.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/broken-harts-04.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1280 1280w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/broken-harts-04.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/broken-harts-04.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2000 2000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Sarah Hart (second from left) and her wife, Jen Hart (sixth from left), with their six children at a Bernie Sanders rally.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Jackie Lebrcque<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Jen\u2019s friend, Niema Lightseed, was charmed by the fairy-tale story. She told the documentary: \u201cIn hindsight, it definitely looks like they were painting themselves as heroes and these children as very sad victims that needed to be rescued.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In truth, the children needed rescuing from their adoptive moms. Despite repeated complaints to Child Protective Services about suspected abuse, the pair retained custody. Concerned parties in the states of Minnesota, Oregon and Washington (the family was somewhat nomadic) reported domestic violence, a culture of reward and punishment and the withholding of food. But little was done.<\/p>\n<p>In 2010, the outwardly mild-mannered Sarah was convicted of misdemeanor domestic assault against Abigail, then 6. Sarah\u2019s punishment was a year of community service and probation. Merely a slap on the wrist, the unwelcome attention nevertheless spooked the moms and caused them to homeschool their kids. What better way to avoid the prying eyes of teachers? But Sarah\u2019s former co-worker, Diane Dyrstad, who also appears in the 90-minute film, is convinced her colleague took the blame for the assault to protect the real perpetrator: Jen. <\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Sarah] told me she had spanked Abigail too hard, and there were bruises and the police were involved,\u201d Dyrstad recalls on camera. \u201cI was surprised, disappointed. There was something, I guess, that I felt just seemed a little bit off and my gut instinct, right away, was that she was covering for Jen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Such alarming red flags never made it onto YouTube or Facebook. The couple\u2019s adoring followers could instead delight in the undersized kids offering their ubiquitous \u201cfree hugs\u201d at hippie music festivals or a political rally for Bernie Sanders.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"873\" height=\"1024\" alt=\"Devonte Hart at a music festival in Minnesota.\" class=\"wp-image-18245055 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/broken-harts-01.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300 300w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/broken-harts-01.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/broken-harts-01.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1280 1280w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/broken-harts-01.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=873 873w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/broken-harts-01.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1746 1746w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 873px\"\/><figcaption>Devonte Hart smiles for the camera at a music festival in Minnesota.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Danielle Gruber<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Harts\u2019 fame peaked with the release of the AP photograph of Devonte and the police officer; it attracted millions of views online.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer children knew they had to go along with this stuff,\u201d said Burnett,<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/mel-magazine\/the-sad-strange-life-and-death-of-devonte-hart-the-crying-black-boy-who-famously-hugged-a-cop-d60921775247\"> a writer with Mel magazine<\/a>. \u201cThe fact we can <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9Ch0sAxJ3ks\">see smiling photos of them is easy to fake.<\/a> Like any circus animal, they had to perform while the crowds were there, so they could [later] be allowed to eat, sleep and have all the basics any other child could expect.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>All the time, Sarah, who was described in a CPS report as being \u201ccold\u201d towards the kids, seemed complicit. However, Cheryl Hart (no relation), who worked with Sarah at a Kohl\u2019s store at the time of her death, told the documentary that her colleague once confided in her about Jen\u2019s demanding, obsessive behaviors. She said: \u201cI think Sarah was the buffer between the kids and Jen. Like a battered spouse would.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the net closed in on ringmaster Jen after she took her <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel<\/a>ing show to a new home in Woodland, Wash., in 2017. Within months, the increasingly desperate kids, led by Devonte, begged for food and disclosed the abuse to the people next door.<\/p>\n<p>The horrified neighbors alerted CPS. But attempts by social workers to investigate were thwarted by the parents. Apparently terrified of the ensuing scandal, they packed up the family for its final road trip in the early hours of March 26, 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my heart, I believe their mission was death,\u201d Sheriff Allman says in the documentary. \u201cThis was a one-way journey as soon as they left.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" alt=\"The Hart family at home in Alexandria, Minnesota.\" class=\"wp-image-18245097 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/broken-harts-05.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300 300w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/broken-harts-05.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/broken-harts-05.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1280 1280w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/broken-harts-05.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/broken-harts-05.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2000 2000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>The Hart family soon after becoming a unit of eight at their one-time home in Alexandria, Minnesota.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Carol Jacobson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The bodies of Jen and Sarah, both 38, along with those of Markis, 19, Abigail, 14, Jeremiah, 14, and Sierra, 12, were all found in or near their vehicle after the 100-foot plunge. The remains of Hannah, 16, washed ashore weeks later, but Devonte was never located.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s one of my biggest regrets as a sheriff that Devonte\u2019s body could not be recovered for his blood relatives,\u201d concludes Allman. \u201cThe best theory we have is that he was just taken directly out into the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Devonte\u2019s tears may have been interpreted by social media as a beacon of hope, but in the end they masked a far darker reality.\n            <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/05\/17\/the-evil-manipulative-mom-behind-the-devonte-hart-tragedy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#The sick &#8216;woke&#8217; mom behind Devonte Hart&#8217;s tragic death&#8221; With its soaring cliffs and expansive horizons, the Pacific coastline of Mendocino, Calif., is exactly the type of place Jen Hart might have chosen for a photo op. But, on March 26, 2018, the image-conscious mom didn\u2019t line up her half-dozen kids for a trademark artistic&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":252051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/devonte-hart-broken-discovery.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[106079,13096,70293,76511,65799,4974,81016,73417],"class_list":["post-252050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-5-17-21","tag-california","tag-child-abuse","tag-discovery","tag-documentaries","tag-facebook","tag-murder-suicide","tag-tragedy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}