Missing Hoggle Kids: Mom Again Found Not Competent to Stand Trial (ICYMI)

Catherine Hoggle told a Montgomery County judge Friday she’s mentally competent to stand trial in the disappearance of her two children, but her doctors disagree and the case was again postponed.

Hoggle is due back in court on Nov. 23 on charges of child neglect in the September 2014 events that took the children from their homes; they have not been seen since. The judge’s decision left Catherine’s mother, Lindsey Hoggle, puzzled.

“She has made remarkable progress,” Lindsey Hoggle told reporters outside the court. “I think we are very close. I am a little shocked at the ruling…it’s the best interest of everyone that we find Sarah and Jacob.”

Sarah, 4, and Jacob, 3, are the younger children of Catherine Hoggle and Troy Turner, her common-law husband.

Turner said Friday that, “I learned a long time ago not to listen to anything Catherine says.”

Jacob was last seen with his mother on Sept. 7, 2014, in Darnestown or Clarksburg; Sarah was last seen with Catherine Hoggle on the morning of Sept. 8, 2014.

The schizophrenic mother, who reportedly refused to stay on her medication, remains in the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center. She says the children are safe, but has not given 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: Hope Alive One Year After Disappearance

On Friday, after the latest court hearing, Hoggle’s mother, Lindsey, answered common questions from the public, who don’t understand why authorities can’t force Catherine to disclose what she did with the youngsters.

“Catherine is agreeing to treatment and we are working on it,” her mother wrote on the FindSarahFindJacob Facebook page. “Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all in treating mental illness. We will continue to encourage Catherine, who has made great progress - to disclose the details. No one wants it more than family.”

Prosecutors said in May they might pursue additional charges against Hoggle. Montgomery County Police believe the children are dead, while the extended Hoggle family disagrees.

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, has repeatedly posted on theFindSarahFindJacob Facebook page, “We remain hopeful...”

In a Facebook post early in June, the Hoggle family said: “Their mother continues to state that they are with someone. There is no evidence or proof to believe otherwise - so we will continue to consider them MISSING. Please keep in mind they may look differently and be anywhere in or outside of Maryland. Thank you for continued diligence! We will find them.”

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

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.

“Even if she were able to, no defendant can be forced to give evidence against themselves,” David Felsen says.

While he believes his children are alive, Turner 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.

»Photos of Sarah and Jacob Hoggle, courtesy of the FindSarahFindJacob Facebook page