Are Missing Hoggle Children in New Jersey?

The Montgomery County father of two children missing for nearly four months says that the siblings may have been sighted Sunday afternoon on the New Jersey Turnpike.

On the FindSarahFindJacob Facebook page their father, Troy Turner posted late Sunday: “Possible sighting on NJ Turnpike North at Exit 8A-9 - Yesterday December 28th ~4 PM Eastern.”

Tips come in from the family’s website and Facebook pages set up for the search. Turner says he pursues leads he believes the Montgomery County Police doesn’t have the manpower to do.

There has been no comment from Montgomery County Police to Turner’s post on social media about the possible New Jersey sighting of the children.

His two younger children -- Sarah Hoggle, 4, and Jacob Hoggle 2 -- were last seen Sept. 8 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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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 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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>>Photo screenshot from Find Sarah Find Jacob GoFundMe page.