Years before Devonte Hart
told neighbors his parents withheld food from him as punishment, his younger sister, who was then 6 years old, told police and a social worker she would not be given meals when she misbehaved.
In a 2010 interview with authorities, Abigail Hart also said one of her mothers had struck her with a closed fist and later placed her in a cold bath before hitting her again in a fit of anger.
"She had a penny her in her pocket and this made her mom mad," reads an Alexandria, Minnesota police report obtained Thursday by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Abigail's parents told police their daughter had a problem with lying. And at least two of her five other siblings said during an investigation their parents grounded them or sometimes gave spankings but were never violent.
But Sarah Hart later pleaded guilty to abusing their daughter, even though Abigail — who was found with bruises on her stomach and back — told authorities it was her mother Jennifer who had physically hurt her and withheld meals.
The police report comes after
at least five members of the family were found dead Monday at the bottom of a California coastal cliff, and three of the children remain missing and feared dead.
Police in Alexandria, a small town about 130 miles northwest of Minneapolis, opened an investigation in November 2010 after Abigail told a teacher at Woodland Elementary School she had "owies" on her tummy and back.
The teacher said she found bruises that stretched from the little girl's sternum to her belly button and from her mid-back to the waist band on her jeans.
The discovery prompted the teacher to contact social services and police.
In an interview, according to the police report, Abigail told a detective and a social worker her mother Jennifer had grown angry with her the day before because a penny had fallen out of her pocket and onto the floor.
The girl said Jennifer then dragged her into the bathroom and submerged her head under cold water in the bathtub.
Afterward, Abigail said she was "spanked" repeatedly, imitating her mother's hand with a clenched fist.
She was later grounded, a punishment that would sometimes include missed meals, she said.
"When asked what happens when she gets grounded, she stated that she has to stay in her bed and has no lunch," the report reads. "[She] also stated that she had missed lunch this past Saturday."
