Missing Hoggle Kids: 2 Years With No Answers

ROCKVILLE, MD — Another birthday missed, another legal obstacle, another year with no sign of Sarah and Jacob Hoggle, two Clarksburg children taken from their home nearly two years ago by their mentally unstable mother. During her children’s mysterious absence — Catherine Hoggle has said only that the youngsters are safe with someone — their father and Hoggle’s mother have begged her for answers, only to be met with silence.

Despite nearly two years of treatment at a state mental hospital, Catherine, the mother responsible for the September 2014 disappearance of Sarah, now 5, and son Jacob, now 4, is still not competent to stand trial. A Montgomery County judge will not let police question the schizophrenic mom about what she did with the siblings.

“I am disappointed that the focus is not on Sarah and Jacob – on looking for them – regardless of any interview with my daughter,” Lindsey Hoggle told Patch. “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 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.

On Sept. 12, 2014, Hoggle was found and arrested in Germantown.

Police and prosecutors accuse the siblings’ mother of taking them from the family home in September 2014 and suspect she killed the youngsters.

SEE ALSO:

• Dad of Missing Hoggle Kids: 'They Deserve to Come Home'
• Missing Hoggle Kids: Another Delay as Mom Still Not Competent for Trial

Lindsey Hoggle says the children’s case should involve the police department’s missing persons unit; the Major Crimes Division took the lead in the investigation before Catherine was located.

In reviewing all of the tips this spring, a Facebook friend who knew Catherine sent photos of what may have been Catherine at a playground in the Hamptons subdivision close to where she was found. The grandmother says she believes they are Catherine and Jacob, but is less sure about Sarah.

“If this is true, then she did not harm Sarah and Jacob initially as thought,” Lindsey said.

Legal Rulings, Frustration Mounts

Judge Eugene Wolfe said in June 2016 that medical evaluations indicate that Catherine remained incompetent to stand trial on 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 her longtime partner Troy Turner of Clarksburg, the father of Sarah and Jacob.

“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.”

Wolfe set a new court status hearing for Sept. 27.

»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.

Turner recently created the Change.org petition Justice for Sarah and Jacob as a way to push things forward and hopefully change the decisions made in the judicial system, he says.

"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."

On the petition, Turner calls Catherine a "criminal who confessed" to the children's abduction.

"I also can't understand why a judge or any human being for that matter would do anything to obstruct their return (dead or alive they deserve to come home)," Turner wrote. "We are begging the court that this order be lifted so we can get closer to bring my children home."

And while the legal battle goes on, Turner and supporters said last week that they will plan another search soon for signs of the children. A search in early April of Goshen Recreational Park in Germantown yielded nothing. A GoFundMe site has been established to pay for the costs tied to searches.

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 Disappearances

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 Catherine Hoggle, courtesy of the FindSarahFindJacob Facebook page