A Maryland mother was indicted on murder charges 11 years after the disappearance of her two children, who were never found.
The suspect was identified as 38-year-old Catherine Hoggle, who was indicted by a grand jury on July 21 on two counts of first-degree murder. Authorities said that the mother was the last known person to have seen three-year-old Sarah and two-year-old Jacob when they disappeared in September 2014.
Mother Indicted on Murder Charges
At the time that the two kids went missing, Hoggle explained to her boyfriend and the father of the children that she had placed them in a new child care center. However, the mother refused to reveal where they actually were when Troy Turner wanted to pick them up.
Since then, Turner spearheaded countless searches in looking for his children and even launched a Facebook page titled FindSarahFindJacob. The father of the missing kids said that it was his job to find Sarah and Jacob and bring them home, according to People.
Initially, Hoggle, who was known to have struggled with mental illness, was charged with murder. However, those charges were dropped after a court found the mother to be incompetent to stand trial.
In the years after the two children went missing, Hoggle spent her time in a psychiatric facility before being released last month. So far, she has not yet commented regarding the whereabouts of the missing kids.
Hoggle is now scheduled to appear in court on Monday afternoon for a bail review hearing. It was not clear why the mother of the missing children was released from the hospital and whether or not she was receiving psychiatric treatment in a different capacity since then, ABC News reported.
Missing Children
The mother's attorney, David Felsen, has repeatedly argued that Hoggle suffers from severe mental illness and has a history of schizophrenia. Turner acknowledged Hoggle's mental illness, noting that she had previously acted erratically and had been paranoid before the kids went missing.
He also said in 2014 that Hoggle started showing signs of psychosis and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. However, he later claimed that she was simply feigning incompetence to avoid legal consequences.
Following Hoggle's indictment, Felsen said he wants his client to be released and the charges against her dropped. He noted that these are the exact same charges that were dismissed in 2022, noting that there has not been any new evidence in the case to justify the decision, as per WJLA.
Originally published on parentherald.com
