Initially charged in their disappearance years ago, Hoggle was ruled incompetent to stand trial after a mental health evaluation determined she could not understand legal proceedings. She was committed to a psychiatric facility, where she remained for eight years, and was only released last month.
Now, prosecutors say new developments have prompted them to bring the case back to court — this time as a murder case. She was arrested late last week and has been held without bond at the Montgomery County Detention Center since Friday. She is due to appear in court today at 1:30 p.m., though her defense attorney insists she is still unfit to stand trial.
“Every doctor agreed she was incompetent — nothing has changed,”
her lawyer, David Felsen, told WDCA, adding that he plans to challenge both the detention and the indictment.
The Day the Children Vanished
On September 8, 2014, Hoggle’s then-partner and the children’s father, Troy Turner, woke to find Hoggle and their two youngest children gone. Later that day, Hoggle returned alone, telling Turner she had taken the children to a “new daycare” and offered to show him the facility.
The two set out in Turner’s car. Along the way, Hoggle asked to stop at a Chik-fil-A in Germantown to “get a drink.” Instead of returning, she slipped out a different exit and vanished. Turner immediately called police, triggering a massive search.
Two days later, she was found walking alone, clutching a missing persons flyer — a flyer that featured her own face — but the children were nowhere to be found.
When pressed by police about Sarah and Jacob’s whereabouts, she claimed she had left them with someone named “Erin,” but offered no further explanation. That lead went nowhere.
A Troubled Mental Health History
Court records show that in 2013 — a year before the children disappeared — Hoggle had been admitted twice to a psychiatric hospital after claiming that people were trying to cut off her limbs and perform an exorcism on her.
Psychiatrist Danielle Robinson described Hoggle at the time as “isolative and guarded,” noting that she spent most of her time quietly observing her surroundings from the dayroom. Robinson also reported that Hoggle had a “poor understanding” of legal concepts, the purpose of a trial, and the role of courtroom personnel.
Her own mother, Lindsey Hoggle, disagreed with the medical assessments. In a sworn affidavit, she claimed her daughter was fully aware of what was happening and even suggested Catherine was trying to escape with her children because she feared losing custody.
Turner, in a separate affidavit filed nearly a decade ago, claimed Hoggle had told him she intended to remain incompetent as a way of avoiding trial.
Years in Psychiatric Confinement — and Multiple Escape Attempts
While housed at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center, Hoggle repeatedly tried to escape, according to 2016 court records. She allegedly stole a staff member’s security badge on at least eight occasions and made it past the locked unit doors multiple times before being caught.
In one incident, she tied bedsheets together in an apparent attempt to scale the facility’s perimeter fence.
Family’s Relentless Search for Answers
Over the last 11 years, Troy Turner has led a tireless campaign to keep the case in the public eye. He has organized searches, distributed flyers, and worked closely with missing children’s organizations.
Age-progression images released by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children offer haunting glimpses of what Sarah and Jacob might look like today.
Although Turner has not publicly commented on the latest reindictment, those close to him say he remains determined to see justice served and to learn the truth about what happened to his children.
Now a Murder Case
The case has been moved from a missing persons investigation to an official murder prosecution. Montgomery County prosecutors say the nature of the evidence points to planning, motive, and intent, which elevates it beyond accidental harm.
“We are actively working to identify and apprehend all those involved,”
authorities said.
For now, Catherine Hoggle sits in jail awaiting her court date, while Sarah and Jacob’s fate remains an agonizing mystery — one their family has been trying to solve for more than a decade.