Gone Without a Trace: Hoggle Siblings Missing for 6 Months

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Another milestone passed this weekend in the ongoing search for two Maryland siblings – six months since they were reported missing by their father – and authorities seem no closer to finding any trace of the children.

Catherine Hoggle, the mentally ill Montgomery County mother who won’t disclose the whereabouts of her two young children -- Sarah, 4, and Jacob, 2 -- remains in the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center. Hoggle says the children are safe, but has not given any information on their whereabouts.

There are two theories on the fate of the children. Troy Turner, Hoggle’s common-law husband, and Lindsey Hoggle, their grandmother, believe the schizophrenic 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 recent 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 is hiding behind her issues. She has mental health issues, but those issues aren’t the reason she did this.”

Doctors did an updated evaluation of Hoggle last week, but her attorney says her status remains unchanged, and she is still 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.

A weekend post on the FindSarahFindJacob Facebook page set up by Lindsey Hoggle urges the public to share any tips or sightings they have of the children.

“This is a highly unusual situation and we only want them home,” she posted. “An anonymous tip line is available at www.findsarahfindjacob.com, leave them at a fire station, or other safe haven.”

Troy Turner posted previously on the FindSarahFindJacob Facebook page: “We don’t ever give up. … Please continue to share broadly. Hope is alive.”

Tips Dwindle

Video from a New Jersey rest stop in December that a woman claimed showed the missing siblings was reviewed by Montgomery County Police, but local investigators say they are convinced the children are dead.

Capt. Darren Francke with Montgomery County Police told MyMCMedia last week that few tips are coming in to authorities. He says 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.

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

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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