A Maryland mother has been reindicted on charges of murdering her two young children, 11 years after they vanished and she was declared mentally unfit to stand trial.
Catherine Hoggle, 38, was arrested last week and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, Sarah and Jacob Hoggle.
The siblings were 2 and 3 years old when they disappeared in September 2014 in Montgomery County. Their bodies were never found.
Highlights
- Catherine Hoggle was reindicted for murdering her two young children, who vanished 11 years ago with their bodies never found.
- Hoggle has a history of schizophrenia and was declared mentally unfit to stand trial multiple times, spending years in psychiatric care.
- She allegedly joked about strangling her children during a therapy session, an act prosecutors consider a potential confession.
Catherine Hoggle has been reindicted for murdering her two young children
Image credits: Montgomery County Department of Police
Hoggle has a long history of mental illness, including schizophrenia. She spent more than a decade in a state psychiatric facility and was repeatedly deemed incompetent to stand trial.
A Montgomery County judge had dropped the charges against her in 2022 since Maryland law allows five years to restore a defendant’s competency before charges must be dropped.
Hoggle was ordered to remain involuntarily committed for psychiatric treatment. But Montgomery County State Attorney John McCarthy had said then that he was prepared to charge her with murder again if she was deemed no longer a threat and released.
She was released from the hospital in July, but it is still unclear why she was released.
Following her release, a Montgomery County grand jury reindicted her. She was arrested on Friday and denied bail on Tuesday.
Image credits: Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office
State’s Attorney McCarthy said, “She seems substantially improved from where she was years ago. That gives me greater hope that we will be successful in meeting our legal challenge, in terms of incompetence.”
McCarthy revealed that Hoggle once told a fellow group therapy participant she had strangled her children, then claimed she was joking. She also allegedly made a strangling motion with her hands.
This was hours after the children were last seen alive, and the father of the children, Troy Turney, was also present at the group therapy session.
Prosecutors believe this may have been a confession. The court also heard that a criminal profiler from the FBI concluded the children were likely killed.
The profiler noted, “It was their belief that the children were murdered, likely by strangulation and their bodies were disposed of via an outside trash container.”
Hoggle was last seen with Jacob, 2, on September 7, 2014, when she drove off with the child. She returned home without him and told her family that he was at a sleepover.
She allegedly joked about strangling her children at a group therapy session
Image credits: Montgomery County Department of Police
Police say she also secretly took Sarah, 3, the same night. Neither child has been seen since. Hoggle also reportedly planned to abduct her older son, then 5, from his school’s bus stop, but was stopped by the children's father.
Turner reported his children and Hoggle missing. Days later, police found Hoggle walking in a nearby area. She refused to tell them where the children were.
McCarthy has argued against Hoggle’s request to be released on bond, noting she could attempt to harm the third child.
Hoggle was initially charged with misdemeanor counts of neglect and abduction and sent for psychiatric treatment. In 2017, she was indicted for murder, but a judge ruled she was not competent to stand trial.
At the bond hearing on Tuesday, Turner said he is focused on getting closure and finding his kids.
“I want to say this loud and clear, the main thing for me is my kids,” Turner said.
“If there’s justice that can be involved, then you want justice. But No. 1 is finding my children, giving them a proper place to rest.”
Image credits: Montgomery County Department of Police
Turner has previously acknowledged Hoggle’s mental illness but believes she was feigning incompetence.
“I think our best chance is to keep her medicated, to continue to allow her to move forward in that way, in the hope that gets us through court,” Turner continued.
“I've said this before, I think we have a much better chance from a jail cell than Perkins, of her saying something.”
Hoggle’s lawyer, David Felsen, has long said she suffers from severe mental illness. She has been treated with antipsychotic medication since her 2014 arrest.
“Everybody who has experienced mental illness, where somebody is today, can change tomorrow based on psychotherapy, based on medications, it can change,” McCarthy said.
“That’s what we are going to look at, where is she at today? As we said in open court, she was committed because she was a danger to herself or others two and a half years ago.
“She has apparently improved because she is no longer a danger to herself or others; she is free, living in the community.”