Father of Missing Kids: 'I Miss Them More Every Day'

Even as Troy Turner decorates his house for Christmas with his oldest son, he continues to track down leads for his missing daughter and younger son.

“I miss them more every day,” Turner recently told Montgomery Community Media.

Sarah Hoggle, 4, and Jacob Hoggle 2, were last seen with their mother, Catherine Hoggle, who is being held in the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center and treated for mental illness. Catherine Hoggle says the children are safe, but has not given any information on the children’s whereabouts, and her lawyer says she is incompetent to stand trial.

The family of the missing siblings have organized searches every weekend since the children disappeared, using the Germantown Community Center as a home base, according to Montgomery Community Media.

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Turner says he plans to pursue a recent lead from a cab driver west of Hagerstown who said he believes he drove the missing kids in his car a couple of weeks ago. Tips come in from the family’s website and Facebook pages set up for the search.

Turner said he wants to show the driver more photos of his children and find out where he drove them.

“I have no idea if it is credible. I put enough stock in it to run it out until it turns into something,” he told MyMCMedia. He said he is pursuing leads he believes the Montgomery County Police doesn’t have the manpower to do.

The toddlers have been missing nearly four months. Family friends held a recent donation drive to assist in the search for Sarah and Jacob and a toy drive for Turner’s 6-year-old son.

Police have shifted the Hoggle case to a homicide investigation, according to a previous Patch story, but Turner and the Hoggle family believe the children are still alive and being harbored by someone at Catherine Hoggle’s request. He believes if Catherine Hoggle had killed the youngsters, the massive searches in the area would have uncovered their bodies.

“I can’t imagine anywhere where she could have put their bodies where they wouldn’t have been found by now,” Turner said.

Donations to the Hoggle fund can be made at the Find Sarah Find Jacob website or by visiting the GoFundMe page set up by Lindsey Hoggle, the children’s grandmother.

Timeline of Events

On Sept. 7, Catherine Hoggle borrowed her father’s gray 2012 Nissan Rogue SUV and said she was picking up pizza for Jacob. She returned three hours later without the boy or pizza and told her parents she had left Jacob at a playmate’s house.

On Sept. 8, Hoggle left home with Sarah and told Turner she was taking the child to a day-care center. That afternoon when Turner asked about the children’s whereabouts, Hoggle would not tell him where the children were. Both Hoggle and Turner set off for the police station, but stopped at a Chick-Fil-A near the Germantown Transit Center where Hoggle left the restaurant without Turner noticing and disappeared. On Sept. 12, Hoggle was found and arrested in Germantown.

On Nov. 6, it was revealed in court Hoggle allegedly told her mother she could take the police to where the children are. Hoggle’s lawyer said she did not want to go, and Judge Eugene Wolfe refused to sign an emergency order for her to leave Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center.

On Nov. 17, a psychiatric evaluation of Catherine Hoggle was submitted by Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center, finding her not competent to stand trial.

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>>Photo screenshot from Find Sarah Find Jacob GoFundMe page.