In the Hart household, any act of insubordination could be severely punished. The children knew this all too well.

“They are like trained robots,” one worried caller told the authorities, according to the newly released documents, which describe the family’s dynamics.

“We called them like little soldiers,” one former neighbor said of the children.

In the weeks since the crash, searchers have fanned out along the Pacific coastline looking for the bodies. They have found those of the parents — Jennifer and Sarah Hart, both 38 — and four of their six children: Markis, 19; Jeremiah, 14; Abigail, 14; and Ciera, 12. As of last week, Devonte Hart, 15, and Hannah Hart, 16, were still missing, but feared dead.

[Jennifer Hart's blood alcohol level was above the legal limit at the time of the crash.]

Captain Greg Van Patten, a spokesman for the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, said Friday that the office had no additional updates and was operating “under the theory and the belief that the whole family was together” at the time of the crash.

The documents released this week show that child welfare officials in Minnesota, Oregon and Washington State — three states where the Harts lived during the past seven years — knew of reported abuse, but, in one case, apparently stepped aside after completing their assessment; could not gather enough evidence to corroborate the claims of neglect in another; and, in a third case, learned of the allegations too late.