Bio

David Hebbert Hart was born in 1970. During his formative years in the 1970s, the family resided in Portland, Oregon. Hart's early childhood was severely destabilized by chronic physical and mental abuse inflicted by his mother, Dorothy Biggs, and his stepfather, Dwight Biggs. Records from Oregon’s Children’s Services Division later substantiated a history of domestic trauma within the household. The pattern of familial violence continued into Hart’s adolescence, in 1983, Dwight Biggs was formally convicted of fourth-degree assault after brandishing a knife and threatening Hart's life.

The family eventually relocated to Eddyville, a small community of roughly thirty residents located in Lincoln County, Oregon. There, Dorothy Biggs operated the Little Elk Store, a local business where she was widely regarded as a generous and community-minded storefront keeper, while concurrently working as a registered nurse at the New Lincoln Hospital in Toledo. Hart resided with his mother in an apartment situated directly above the commercial store, assisting her by managing inventory and carrying groceries for local patrons. 

While acquaintances generally perceived Hart as a quiet and occasionally moody teenager, school administrators noted that he displayed anti-social tendencies and struggled academically due to a lack of focus. Behind closed doors, the relationship between Hart and his mother was highly volatile, marked by frequent arguments. Financial manipulations further strained their dynamic; Dorothy Biggs reportedly enticed her son with a portion of an insurance payout to intentionally burn down a vacant residential property she owned, an act that resulted in an arson conviction for Hart.

Murder Story

On August 3, 1984, the long-standing domestic hostility culminated in a fatal encounter inside the family's second-floor apartment. During a severe argument, family members later testified that Dorothy Biggs stated to her seventeen-year-old son that the family would benefit if he were deceased. Following this interaction, Hart launched a physical assault against his mother. Lincoln County District Attorney Ulys Stapleton later detailed that Hart subjected the victim to torture, kicking her down the interior staircase of their residence. 

Hart then utilized his fists and a baseball bat to inflict severe blunt-force injuries before ultimately ending her life by manual strangulation.Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputies discovered the body of 49-year-old Dorothy Biggs inside the residence later that night. The following day, on August 4, 1984, law enforcement officials arrested Hart at the Little Elk Store. Homicide investigators executed a forensic analysis of the scene, recovering the baseball bat utilized in the assault and uncovering blood tracking on Hart’s clothing that matched his mother’s blood type. 

During the investigative phase, prosecutors also uncovered evidence demonstrating that Hart had previously attempted to solicit strangers, offering financial compensation to murder his mother.A grand jury indicted Hart on charges of murder, and his trial commenced in the Lincoln County Circuit Court in January 1985. Defense attorney Thomas O. Branford focused on the extensive history of childhood abuse and domestic manipulation to explain the psychological deterioration that led to the event. The prosecution countered by focusing on the calculated nature of the assault and Hart's prior solicitations. 

On January 21, 1985, following five hours of deliberation at the conclusion of the six-day trial, the jury returned a verdict of guilty. Lincoln County Circuit Court Judge A.R. McMullen formally sentenced the teenage offender to life imprisonment. Hart was remanded to the custody of the Oregon Department of Corrections to serve his life term.