(RNN) – Authorities in California recovered a body on Saturday they’re investigating could be that of a member of the family that crashed off a cliff late last month.
Sarah and Jennifer Hart and their six adopted children were all believed to have died when their car ran off a cliff in what officials now believe was likely an intentional act.
Only five bodies were recovered following the crash, though.
On Saturday the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office tweeted that they had recovered a body near the crash site that appeared to be an African-American female. Two of the Hart daughters remain missing.
An age and ID could not immediately be determined. The sheriff’s office said identification would likely be done through DNA testing, which could take weeks.
“It is not uncommon after a significant storm, such as the one passing through the north state currently, to bring items to the surface or wash onto the beach,” a post to the sheriff’s Facebook page read. “There were no other signs of the other missing Hart children.”
It’s one more in a number of developments in the case this week.
On Friday authorities found a cellphone near the crash site and were investigating the possibility it belonged to one of the family members. California Highway Patrol also released an image of surveillance footage showing one of the mothers, Jennifer Hart, buying groceries the day before the crash.
Earlier this week the Mendocino sheriff, Tom Allman, said in a television interview: “I’m to the point where I am no longer calling this an accident. I’m calling it a crime.”
A number of concerning elements came to light following the crash.
Neighbors of the Harts in Washington had called Child Protective Services, who opened an investigation, and the Harts left their home a day after officials tried to reach them there.
They crashed off the cliff days later.
The neighbors described a pair of disturbing episodes, including one in which a Hart boy, Devonte, had been asking them for food.
Sarah Hart also pleaded guilty to a domestic assault charge in Minnesota in 2011 stemming from an episode where one of the daughters went to school with bruises and said she had been hit.
Police also discovered no brake marks where the car went over the cliff, and data from its software indicated it had stopped at the overlook point and then accelerated 70 feet toward the cliff’s edge.
The bodies of three of the children – Markis, 19, Jeremiah, 14, and Abigal, 14 – were immediately found. Authorities have been searching for Devonte, 15 – who gained some fame after appearing in a famous protest photo in 2014 – Hannah, 16, and Sierra, 12.
Copyright 2018 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.