Body found at California SUV crash site identified as missing child

(Reuters) - The body of an African-American girl found in the ocean off California has been identified as one of three children missing since their mother is believed to have deliberately driven their vehicle off a cliff last month, police said on Tuesday.

The girl was identified as Ciera Hart, 12, one of the six children who are thought to have died in the March 26 crash, along with their two mothers, Mendocino County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Police had previously identified the girl as Sierra, and said she was 15 years old, but corrected her name and age after examining legal documents, police said.

She was the sister of Devonte Hart, 15, one of two other missing children, who gained international attention in 2014 when he was photographed hugging a white police officer at a rally to protest the shooting of a black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri.

Jennifer Hart, 38, was legally drunk when she drove the family's sport-utility vehicle off a scenic coastal cliff, according to a police autopsy.

Her wife, Sarah Hart, 38, and two of their adopted children tested positive for an ingredient commonly found in the allergy drug Benadryl, which can make people sleepy, police said.

Hart is thought to have driven the family's GMC Yukon off the cliff three days after child protective services in Washington state opened an investigation into allegations she and her partner potentially neglected or abused their six adopted children.

Hannah Hart, 16, one of the family's six adopted black children, told a neighbor her white mothers were "racist," and that she was whipped with belts, according to records released by the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. Devonte told the neighbor his parents starved him and his siblings as a punishment, the records said.