Father: Saga of Missing Kids 'Doesn't Get Better With Time'

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CLARKSBURG, MD — Troy Turner, a father of three, has one simple wish every day: To know what happened to his two youngest children.

Until then, he must keep on, keep searching, keep pushing the mentally ill mother of the children in hopes that she tells him what she did with the little boy and girl. He must keep looking, not only for himself, but also for his oldest son, who is confident his siblings will miraculously return home after 18 months.

“It makes me angry … I want my kids home,” Turner said in a recent interview.

His anger is directed at Catherine Hoggle, his common-law wife, who is accused by authorities of taking their daughter Sarah, now 5, and son Jacob, 3, from the family home in September 2014. Hoggle -- a paranoid schizophrenic who was likely not taking her medication at the time -- says she gave the children to someone for safekeeping.

Police suspect she killed the youngsters; their bodies have not been found during numerous searches in the Gaithersburg, Darnestown and Clarksburg areas.

Turner hopes to get an age-progression photo of his children done soon, since kids change so much when they are young. It’s another tool in the effort to enlist the public in the search for the siblings.

He is still determined to find his children, or learn their fate, and is “still broken in a lot of ways, always sad, angry and frustrated. They’re my children; this isn’t something that gets better with time,” Turner told Montgomery Community Media recently.

“This doesn’t get better until my kids are home. And if anything terrible has happened to them it’s not something I could even begin to fathom getting around at any point," Turner added. "Definitely couldn’t even begin to heal until we found the truth and brought them home … and got justice for Sarah and Jacob.”

Turner has created a GoFundMe page – Justice for Sarah and Jacob -- with a goal of raising $50,000. All donations will help the family search for the missing children, organizers said.

A ground search for the youngsters is planned for April 3 and 4 in Gaithersburg.

SEE ALSO:

Missing Hoggle Kids: Is Mom 'Trying to Work System'?

Missing Hoggle Kids: Mom Again Found Not Competent to Stand Trial

Missing Hoggle Kids: Hope Alive One Year After Disappearance

'Mystery Must End' Says Missing Hoggle Kids' Grandmother

Hoggle has twice assaulted other patients at the state-run psychiatric hospital where she is being held. Eight times Hoggle has snatched a security card from a staff worker at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center and bolted for the door.

Turner and Hoggle’s mother seem to believe the troubled woman is “gaming the system” in an effort to be released.

“Catherine understands precisely what is going on,” her mother, Lindsey Hoggle, said in an affidavit, The Washington Post reports.

Catherine Hoggle has been institutionalizedsince she was arrested in September 2014 after her children vanished. Judges have ruled several times that she is not mentally competent to stand trial on charges she is responsible for their disappearance.

Jacob was last seen with his mother on Sept. 7, 2014, in Darnestown or Clarksburg; Sarah was last seen with Hoggle on the morning of Sept. 8, 2014. Catherine’s family says she is paranoid and was making plans to leave the area, so she gave the young children to someone to look after.

Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy won a request for an April 25 hearing exploring Catherine Hoggle’s mental state. While doctors say she is not capable of facing criminal action, her mother and Turner say they believe Catherine understands her situation based on their conversations with her.

McCarthy said that at the upcoming April hearing, Hoggle could be questioned in court about her competency since she has been receiving treatment. He wants to challenge the doctors at the state hospital and hire an independent doctor to evaluate Hoggle’s competency.

Family Asks for Tips

Family members and supporters post almost daily on the FindSarahFindJacob Facebook page. They have thanked people for sharing information about the search for the youngsters, and asked that readers continue to spread the word. Photos posted of the children regularly appear as a reminder to the public with the hashtags #HOPE #Believe and #Notevergivingup.

Family members ask anyone in the Clarksburg area who may have seen Sarah and Jacob to message the Facebook page, call or text (301) 549-9044 or submit a tip on the website www.findsarahfindjacob.com. Tips can be made anonymously.

»Photos of Sarah and Jacob Hoggle, and their father, Troy Turner, courtesy of FindSarahFindJacob Facebook page