Father Believes Missing Kids Are Alive; Police Call Case a Homicide

The father of two missing Montgomery County children says he believes the toddlers are alive and with someone, but police said Monday morning that the case is shifting to a homicide investigation.

Capt. Darren Francke, director of Major Crimes Division, said at a Monday morning news conference that new charges are expected to be filed against mother Catherine Hoggle.

Hoggle, 27, of the 12200 block of Elm Forest Court in Clarksburg, was arrested Friday night in the Germantown area on two counts of child neglect and obstruction and hindering, according to the Montgomery County Police Department.

Hoggle, a paranoid schizophrenic, and her two children, Jacob Hoggle, 2, and Sarah Hoggle, 3, were missing since at least Sept. 8. The children’s father and extended family don’t know where the youngsters are; Hoggle refuses to tell family or police where she left the children.

Family members say Hoggle is a paranoid schizophrenic who has been off her medication for at least two weeks. She told police after her arrest that she is still taking her medicine.

The children’s father, Troy Turner, said Monday he believes his children are still alive and with someone.

“She’s making choices that aren’t real,” Turner said at the press conference, reports Montgomery Community Media. “She’s not making good choices right now. I feel like she knows where the kids are. I believe she’s dropped them with somebody,” he said, adding that a reward is being offered in the case. “I just want whoever has them to bring them back to me.”

Turner said Hoggle reached out to a group called Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a nonprofit organization that describes itself as exposing human rights violations in the field of mental health, and pushing to enact reforms.

Police released these details Monday in the case:

· Hoggle was interviewed for 15 hours after she was arrested Friday night in Germantown

· She told police she planned to take the children, but has not disclosed their location

· Police -- including officers using search dogs and cadaver dogs -- have searched 13,000 acres in the Upcounty area and now ask the public to check their own backyards and property for the children.

· In addition to two counts of child neglect and obstruction and hindering, Hoggle now faces a charge of parental abduction

· Turner, the father of the two missing children, met with Hoggle in police custody and asked her at least 25 times where his children could be found

· Police Chief Thomas Manager said Hoggle’s phone and computer have been confiscated and are part of the homicide investigation.