Missing Hoggle Kids: Mother 'Not Competent' to Stand Trial

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ROCKVILLE, MD — For the sixth time in 17 months, a Montgomery County mother of two missing children was deemed incompetent to stand trial on charges she is responsible for their disappearance.

A judge ruled Monday that Catherine Hoggle, who has been institutionalized since she was arrested in September 2014 following the disappearance of her children, cannot stand trial

Authorities accuse Hoggle of taking her daughter Sarah, now 5, and son Jacob, 3, from the family home. And family members are no closer to knowing the children’s fate more than a year after their mentally ill mother took them.

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.

Their father, Hoggle’s common-law husband, Troy Turner, says the children were last at his Clarksburg apartment with their mother. She refuses to tell Turner, her mother, or Montgomery County Police where the children are.

Prosecutors said in May 2015 they might pursue additional charges against Hoggle; that has not yet happened. Montgomery County Police believe the children are dead, while the extended Hoggle family disagrees.

Hoggle is scheduled to return to court on April 25, WUSA reports.

The mother is a schizophrenic who reportedly refused to stay on her medication; she remains in the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center. Hoggle says the children are safe, but has not shared any information on their whereabouts.

Her mother says Catherine wanted to escape from a possible involuntary commitment to such a facility, so she took the children as part of that plan to leave.

SEE ALSO:

• Missing Hoggle Kids: Mom Again Found Not Competent to Stand Trial
• Missing Hoggle Kids: Hope Alive One Year After Disappearance

Catherine Hoggle is charged with child neglect in the disappearance of her two children and was last in court Nov. 23. Medical professionals say she could improve to a point where she could stand trial.

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

Turner’s older son continues to be positive about his sibling’s return home, as are other family members, who remain steadfast in their belief that the children are alive, while police are not optimistic about the youngsters’ fate.

The children’s grandmother, Lindsey Hoggle, posts 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.

Catherine Hoggle’s attorney told WTOP she suffers from a mental illness so severe that she may not remember what happened to her children.

While he believes his children are alive, Turner said in November 2015 that he wants to know if they are dead. At this point, the youngsters have likely been passed around to multiple locations, their father says, and even their mother would be unable to tell authorities where the children are.

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, 2015, 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.

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