Missing Hoggle Kids: Mother To Remain In Mental Hospital

(Updated at 8:55 p.m.) ROCKVILLE, MD — Frustration over the two-and-a-half year absence of two Montgomery County youngsters from their home vented in a courtroom Monday, as a grandmother of the missing Sarah and Jacob Hoggle shouted a prayer after being denied a chance to speak. At a status hearing, a judge found the children's mother, Catherine Hoggle of Clarksburg, is still not mentally competent to stand trial for the disappearance of her children and will remain confined in a state psychiatric hospital for treatment.

Catherine was the last person to see the children in September 2014 and has refused to say what became of them, only that Sarah, now 6, and son Jacob, now 4, are safe with someone. Doctors at Clifton T. Perkins State Hospital say the schizophrenic mom is still not mentally competent to stand trial for the September 2014 disappearance of her two youngest children, Sarah and Jacob Hoggle.

Catherine Hoggle's attorney, David Felsen, has said previously that the doctors at Perkins believe Hoggle’s mental competency is restorable, and he reiterated that view after Monday's court hearing. The next status hearing for Hoggle is scheduled for Thursday, July 6.

Troy Turner, the missing children's father and Hoggle's longtime partner, has maintained that Catherine is acting a part so she can avoid trial on charges linked to the children's disappearance. On social media Turner has said that Catherine tried at least eight times last year to escape from her maximum security facility, either by tying bedsheets together or taking a security card from staffers.

The FindSarahFindJacob Facebook page maintained by Turner's supporters asked followers to share the story and try to get media sites to cover the disappearance. "We agree with you that it is beyond ridiculous that she's not bound to tell us anything and that the children have not had a voice," the page said to one commenter last week.

WJLA reports that Turner's mother asked the judge to speak at Monday's hearing. When she was denied, she "shouted out the Lord's Prayer" in court while holding a bible.

Catherine's mother, Lindsey Hoggle, said on Facebook after the hearing, "In response to many messages -I remain ever hopeful for #FindSarahFindJacob. We will get there! Love and appreciation for the kindness and support."

National Center For Missing and Exploited Children's Help

In December 2016, age-progression images of the youngsters were released in hopes that someone will spot Sarah and Jacob Hoggle. The new images of the siblings, prepared by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, were criticized by some people on social media for aging the children more than the two years they've been gone from home.

Lindsey Hoggle, the youngsters' maternal grandmother, told Patch in December she saw the images before they were released and people need to remember how fast children change and grow. "My feelings remain the same — there is someone else involved in their disappearance," Hoggle said. "My hope is that the photos help make it easier to identify them. Children change a great deal at this age so I remain hopeful."

Turner said the age-progression images could provide a needed break in the investigation.

“It was a harsh reality of my best case scenario, and their best case scenario is they’ve grown and changed for two years without their dad,” Turner told WTOP. “Whatever has been taken, it’s gone. I can’t go back and relive those times with them or see the changes.”

The age progression photos are a painful reminder that his babies are growing up without their father, Turner said on Facebook.

"Like we have stated in the past, they grow and change so fast at these stages. You could've seen them at any time and not known it was them, as they could've changed so much," Turner wrote. "Please remain vigilant and look for these faces or anywhere in between. We appreciate everyone's continued support and please share these pictures with as many as you can reach."

Last month, the FindSarahFind Jacob Facebook page asked followers to write reporter Chris Hansen with TV's "Crime Watch Daily" to ask for his help in finding out what happened to the siblings.

Turner, and Hoggle’s mother, Lindsey, have begged her for answers, to no avail. After a December 2016 court hearing the family said on Facebook: "INCOMPETENT AGAIN. Who's going to help our babies?!?"

Turner told reporters in December 2016 that Montgomery County prosecutors have told him they have enough evidence to indict the children’s mother on murder charges of murder. That could force Catherine Hoggle into disclosing what she did with the siblings. Police and prosecutors accuse the siblings’ mother of taking them from the family home and suspect she killed the youngsters.

Ramon Korionoff, spokesman for State’s Attorney John McCarthy, would not comment on whether prosecutors are ready to seek murder indictments, although McCarthy has said they were building a case, WTOP reports. Turner says the office has told him it is building a case to indict Catherine Hoggle on murder charges.

The Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office first filed misdemeanor charges against Catherine Hoggle in September 2014. The law says that an accused person must go to trial with three years, so the state must file news charges by fall 2017 or she could be released, reports WJLA.

Lindsey Hoggle maintains that her daughter would not harm her own children. Sunday on Facebook she wrote: "Absolutely #Believe that the #Public can help solve this mystery -either from Sep 2014 memories or recognition from age progressed photos. #HOPE that tomorrow at least gets public attention for #FINDSARAHFINDJACOB. #MissingChildren #MISSING Tips can be anonymous. FYI -Sarah LOVES pink."

Petition Drive Demands Mother Be Questioned

Turner has implored the public to sign an online petition launched to spur public awareness about the youngsters as a way to bring them home. To date, 2,200 signatures have been placed on the petition. Turner asks that the judge change earlier rulings and let police question the mentally ill mother about what she did with young Sarah and Jacob.

SEE ALSO:

• Missing Hoggle Kids: 2 Years With No Answers
• Dad of Missing Hoggle Kids: 'They Deserve to Come Home'

"Sarah and Jacob Hoggle were taken by their mother, Catherine Hoggle, almost two years ago never to be seen again. She remains in an inpatient psychiatric facility where she is protected by patient rights," Turner says on the petition site. "Police and other important officials are unable to question her as to the whereabouts of the children due to Judge Wolfe's order. We are asking this order be lifted so we can finally bring our children home."

Judges will not let police question Catherine about what she did with her children since she has been deemed incompetent.

“I am disappointed that the focus is not on Sarah and Jacob – on looking for them – regardless of any interview with my daughter,” Catherine’s mother, Lindsey Hoggle, told Patch in September 2016 on the two-year anniversary of her grandchildren's disappearance. “I believe they are with someone, as she has indicated.”

Jacob was last seen with his mother on Sept. 7, 2014, in Darnestown or Clarksburg; Sarah was last seen with Catherine 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. On Sept. 12, 2014, Catherine was found and arrested in Germantown.

Legal Rulings, Frustration Mounts

Catherine faces charges of neglect, obstruction and hindering in the case. Until she can face trial, the judge will not allow her to be interrogated about the fate of the children. Catherine's rights shouldn't outweigh those of her children, says Turner.

“I don’t understand how you leave the victims out of the system. My kids have no representation in the courtroom. … There’s really no way to insert them in a case that should be all about them,” he told Montgomery Community Media.

The focus on the two missing children has been lost in the struggle over their mother’s court-mandated commitment, which has stifled investigators, he said.

“The focus is simply bringing my kids home. Whether they’re alive or dead, they deserve to come home, and that’s where the focus needs to remain.”

Find updates on the FindSarahFindJacob Facebook page.

Hoggle is a schizophrenic who reportedly refused to stay on her medication. Turner has said in interviews and on social media that Catherine understands her situation based on conversations with her and that she should be questioned in court about the children’s fate.

Police interviewed Catherine for more than 10 hours when she was first found, her mother said. While
Lindsey spoke with her daughter several times a day for part of 2015, she has not seen her since Catherine fled home with the children.

“Isolation for any mental patient is unacceptable; there are ways to encourage family support and involvement without disclosing facts that she is not ready to share,” Lindsey said.

SEE ALSO:

• Missing Hoggle Kids: Prosecutor's Case Dealt a Setback
• Missing Hoggle Kids: Is Mom 'Trying to Work System'?
• Missing Hoggle Kids: Mom Again Found Not Competent to Stand Trial
• Missing Hoggle Kids: Hope Alive One Year After Disappearance
• 'Mystery Must End' Says Missing Hoggle Kids' Grandmother

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 girl to a daycare 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.

»Photos of Sarah and Jacob Hoggle and age-progression images, courtesy of the FindSarahFindJacob Facebook page