Massive Search for Missing Hoggle Kids Yields Nothing

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More than 100 searchers from Maryland and Virginia police agencies, along with dog teams and officers using sonar searched hundreds of acres Sunday in Montgomery County in what turned out to be a fruitless attempt to locate missing siblings Jacob and Sarah Hoggle.

Montgomery County Police say the search was 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.

Authorities focused their efforts on areas in Darnestown, Boyds, and Clarksburg.

County police were assisted by the U.S. Park Police, Department of Corrections, Loudon County Sheriff’s Office, Fairfax County Police’s Search and Rescue Unit, Natural Resources Police, Maryland National Capital Park Police, Charles County Volunteer Dive Team, Maryland State Police, and Gaithersburg Washington Grove Volunteer Fire Department.

Also joining in the search were trained civilian volunteer K9 teams from Chesapeake Search and Rescue Dog Association, Dogs East, Mason-Dixon Rescue Dogs, Bay Area K9 Search and Rescue, and Pennsylvania Search Dogs.

For several hours, 102 searchers, including 13 K9 teams, three boats, seven horses, five all-terrain vehicles, and ground teams covered 600 acres, seven miles of roadside searching and railroad tracks, and completed a side sonar scan around Little Seneca Lake. Several areas from the original search area were rechecked.

Although nothing significant was found, MCP will continue to search for Sarah and Jacob. “We greatly appreciate the assistance from outside agencies and the trained civilian volunteers,” the department said.

Residents in the Darnestown, Boyds, and Clarskburg areas are asked to again search their property for any sign of Jacob and Sarah.

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.

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