Missing Hoggle Kids: Is Mom 'Trying to Work System'?

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ROCKVILLE, MD — In the 18 months since her two young children went missing, Catherine Hoggle has twice assaulted other patients at the state-run psychiatric hospital where she is being held.

Eight times Hoggle has snatched a security card from a staff worker at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center and bolted for the door.

And twice, caretakers have found her bed sheets tied together in what is presumed to have been a makeshift rope or ladder to escape.

What she hasn’t done, say prosecutors who outlined Hoggle’s actions in court papers, is tell anyone where her daughter Sarah, now 5, and son Jacob, 3, can be found. Authorities accuse the siblings’ mother of taking them from the family home in September 2014, and suspect she killed the youngsters.

“I feel like a comment is to be expected with this, some sort of statement, but I honestly don't have words at this time,” responded Hoggle supporters on Facebook.

Catherine Hoggle of Clarksburg is a schizophrenic who reportedly refused to stay on her medication. While she says the children are safe, she has not shared any information on their whereabouts, other than to say they are safe.

“The defendant believes that if she can continue to be found incompetent, after a period of time, the court will release her back into the community,” prosecutors John McCarthy and Ryan Wechsler wrote in court papers.

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Both the children’s father, Troy Turner, the longtime partner of Catherine, and her mother, seem to believe the troubled woman is “gaming the system” in an effort to be released.

“Catherine understands precisely what is going on,” her mother, Lindsey Hoggle, said in an affidavit, The Washington Post reports.

Her mother said in a statement dated Dec. 8, 2015, that her daughter is extremely intelligent and extremely manipulative.

“Catherine understands precisely what is going on in her case and she is trying to work the system to her advantage,” Lindsey Hoggle wrote, reports Montgomery Community Media.

And Catherine has reportedly told Turner in phone conversations that she plans to remain incompetent so she never goes to trial, but instead is released to live with her mother. “She justifies it to me by saying that” their two missing children are “alive and OK,” Turner said.

Catherine Hoggle has been institutionalized since she was arrested in September 2014 after her children vanished. Judges have ruled several times that she is not mentally competent to stand trial on charges she is responsible for their disappearance.

Jacob was last seen with his mother on Sept. 7, 2014, in Darnestown or Clarksburg; Sarah was last seen with Hoggle on the morning of Sept. 8, 2014. Catherine’s family says she is paranoid and was making plans to leave the area, so she gave the young children to someone for safekeeping.

Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy won a request for an April 25 hearing exploring Catherrine Hoggle’s mental state. While doctors at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center say she is not capable of facing criminal action, her mother, Lindsey Hoggle, and her common-law husband, Troy Turner, the father of Sarah and Jacob, filed say they believe Catherine understands her situation based on their conversations with her.

McCarthy said that at the upcoming April hearing, Hoggle could be questioned in court about her competency since she has been receiving treatment. He wants to challenge the doctors at the state hospital and hire an independent doctor to evaluate Hoggle’s competency.

“The defendant believes that if she can continue to be found incompetent, after a period of time, the court will release her back into the community,” prosecutors John McCarthy and Ryan Wechsler wrote in court papers, reports The Washington Post.

Lindsey Hoggle told reporters last month that she has talked with her daughter at times over the last six months, but hasn’t learned where her grandchildren are. She’s told Catherine repeatedly that the mystery of the children’s fate needs to end, whatever it may be.

“She continues to claim that they are with someone, so until this mystery is solved, that’s my job, is to keep looking,” Lindsey Hoggle said.

Montgomery County Police believe the children are dead, while the extended Hoggle family disagrees.

Related Stories:

• Missing Hoggle Kids Are Not Dead: Family
• Massive Search for Missing Hoggle Kids Yields Nothing
• Gone Without a Trace: Hoggle Siblings Missing for 6 Months

Family Asks for Tips

Lindsey Hoggle and other family members post almost daily on the FindSarahFindJacob Facebook page. She has thanked people for sharing information about the search for the youngsters, and asked that readers continue to spread the word. She posts photos of the children daily, with the hashtags #HOPE #Believe and #Notevergivingup.

Family members ask anyone in the Clarksburg area who may have seen Sarah and Jacob to message the Facebook page, call or text (301) 549-9044 or submit a tip on the website www.findsarahfindjacob.com. Tips can be made anonymously.

Timeline of Events

On Sept. 7, 2014, 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, 2014, Hoggle was found and arrested in Germantown.

»Photos of Sarah and Jacob Hoggle with their mother, Catherine Hoggle, courtesy of the FindSarahFindJacob Facebook page