Residents Asked to Look in Backyards for Missing Kids

A Montgomery County mother is under arrest but is refusing to tell police where her two young children are, while officers, including those with cadaver dogs, search for the missing youngsters.

Montgomery County Police set up a command post at Darnestown Elementary Sunday as officers continue their around-the-clock search for Jacob and Sarah Hoggle.

Lt. Sonia Pruitt said officers are searching several locations in Darnestown because they believe Darnestown is an area that the children’s mother, Catherine Hoggle, visited while she was missing.

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.

In a press conference on Thursday, Catherine Hoggle’s father, Randy Hoggle said his daughter had been off medication for at least two weeks.

According to Pruitt, police are asking the public to look in their own backyards and places they frequent for the children.

“If the public feels like they see Jacob or Sarah it is okay to call 9-1-1. This is a priority for us,” Pruitt told Montgomery Community Media.

The public is asked to stay out of any wooded areas, Pruitt said, where the police dogs may be searching.

On Saturday, Montgomery County Police teams searched more than 16 areas in the Clarksburg area. No evidence was recovered. Teams plan to search eight areas near Darnestown on Sunday

Hoggle remains in the Montgomery County jail awaiting a court hearing scheduled for Monday.

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