New Search Planned for Missing Hoggle Kids; Residents Asked to Check Property

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Numerous police agencies, along with both professional and volunteer search teams, will search parts of Montgomery County on Sunday, April 19, in an attempt to locate missing siblings Jacob and Sarah Hoggle.

Montgomery County Police say the search is not based on any new investigative leads, but is part of the continued effort to locate the Hoggle children, who have been missing for more than seven months.

Jacob Hoggle, 2, was last seen in the Darnestown area at about 4 p.m. on Sept. 7. Sarah Hoggle, 4, was last seen in the Clarksburg area about 9 p.m. on Sept. 7.

Catherine Hoggle, the mentally ill Montgomery County mother who won’t disclose the whereabouts of her two young children, remains in the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center. Hoggle says the children are safe, but has not given any information on their whereabouts.

Residents can expect to see law enforcement officers and volunteer search teams from various jurisdictions in parts of the county on Sunday. Members of this operation will be using canines, ATVs, and horses to aid in the ground search.

Residents in the Darnestown, Boyds, and Clarskburg areas are asked to again search their property for any sign of Jacob and Sarah. Due to the active criminal investigation tied to the disappearance of the sibling, volunteers from the community cannot be used in this search, police say.

Family’s Hopes vs. Police Homicide Case

There are two theories on the fate of the children. Troy Turner, Hoggle’s common-law husband, and Lindsey Hoggle, their grandmother, believe the mentally ill mother gave the youngsters to someone to care for them. Montgomery County Police say they believe the children are dead, although no bodies have been found.

In a March interview, Turner said Catherine knows that she was wrong to take the children, and he expects no help from her in finding Sarah and Jacob.

“This was a criminal act, not a mental break,” Turner told Montgomery Community Media. “I talk to her, I know her; and she knows what she was doing was wrong when she took them. She has mental health issues, but those issues aren’t the reason she did this.”

Doctors say Hoggle is not competent to stand trial on misdemeanor charges of child neglect, abduction and hindering a police investigation for her role in the children’s disappearance.

The FindSarahFindJacob Facebook page set up by Lindsey Hoggle urges the public to share any tips or sightings they have of the children. An anonymous tip line is available at www.findsarahfindjacob.com, which the family updates.

Tips Dwindle

Montgomery County Police say they are convinced the children are dead.

Capt. Darren Francke with Montgomery County Police told MyMCMedia last month that answers in the case lie with Catherine Hoggle.

“Our main interest is seeing what is happening with Catherine and her treatment. We believe Catherine is the key to what happened to the children,” Francke said.

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

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.

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 that 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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