'Mystery Must End' Says Missing Hoggle Kids' Grandmother

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ROCKVILLE, MD — While a Montgomery County mother of two children missing for 17 months continues to remain silent on their fate, her family says it welcomes an upcoming hearing on her mental state.

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.

But Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy won a request Monday for an April 25 hearing exploring Hoggle’s mental state. While doctors at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center say Hoggle 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 affidavits saying they believe Catherine understands her situation based on their conversations with her.

“There’s a lot of people in this community that care about Sarah and Jacob,” McCarthy said at a press conference after Monday’s court hearing. “There’s a lot of people that have volunteered to support this family and love this family in their efforts to get to the bottom of what happened to those two children.”

McCarthy said that in April, 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.

Authorities accuse Hoggle of taking her daughter Sarah, now 5, and son Jacob, 3, from the family home. The mother is a schizophrenic who reportedly refused to stay on her medication. Hoggle says the children are safe, but has not shared any information on their whereabouts.

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.

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Lindsey Hoggle told reporters 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.

As tears choked her voice, Hoggle said her heart breaks for Sarah and Jacob’s older brother. “This is the most unfair situation for the oldest sibling. It’s not fair.”

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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, 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