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Montgomery County police build homicide case against mother of missing children Montgomery County police build homicide case against mother of missing children
(about 5 hours later)
Police are building a homicide case against Catherine Hoggle, the 27-year-old Montgomery County woman who went missing for five days and hasn’t told police what happened to her two young children. Montgomery County investigators said Monday they fear that two toddlers missing for more than a week are dead, and that they are building a homicide case against the children’s mother.
“We keep a ray of hope, but from what she said and what we know about what information that should be provided about them, and that she hasn’t contacted them, this is the natural progression for us,” said Capt. Darren Francke, head of Montgomery police’s major crimes division, at a Monday morning news conference. Although they had not found the children’s bodies or a crime scene by evening, police said a lengthy weekend interview with the toddlers’ mentally ill mother, Catherine Hoggle, had given them little hope that the children were safe. Jacob Hoggle, 2, and Sarah Hoggle, 3, were last seen with their mother more than a week ago. Catherine Hoggle, who has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, then disappeared before being picked up by police late Friday.
Francke said Hoggle, who is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was found Friday holding two fliers of her missing children and that she told authorities that the disappearance of her toddlers had been planned. Her children — 2-year-old Jacob and 3-year-old Sarah — were last seen with her a week ago. Police urged residents in the Clarksburg and Darnestown areas to search their property for signs of the children, including inside sheds with broken locks or along wood lines.
During a lengthy on-and-off police interview, Francke said, Hoggle told investigators that “Jacob and Sarah were together.” At one point, she told authorities that the children were safe with someone, and then she said they were in a safe location. “If you find what we unfortunately believe you will find, we would ask that you back away immediately, do not touch anything, do not go near the site and call 911,” said Capt. Darren Francke, commander the county police department’s major-crimes unit.
Francke said authorities are seeking charges for parental abduction. He said Hoggle has not had contact with Jacob since Sunday, and police believe she last had contact with Sarah sometime between Sunday evening into early Monday. He said that detectives think Catherine Hoggle had a plan for what she wanted to do with the children, and that police expect the toddlers to be found together.
Authorities also requested that residents, specifically in the Darnestown and Clarksburg areas, search their property for signs of the toddlers. The children’s family members tried to think about Sarah and Jacob in the way they’d seen them before last week — smiling and happy.
“If you find what we unfortunately believe you will find, we would ask that you back away immediately, do not touch anything, do not go near the site and call 911,” said Francke, who added that residents should pay attention to any foul odors. “We still believe, under all the tears even, that they’re still alive,” the children’s paternal grandmother, Debbie Beckward, said.
Hoggle is due in court at 1 p.m. Monday for a bond review hearing. She choked up talking about how the children played together, how Sarah would pretend to be a mother with a small blanket. “Here, Mommy will cover you up,” Sarah would tell her brother.
She has been held at the Montgomery jail since Saturday, when police booked her on two counts of child neglect and one count of obstructing and hindering, according to court records. Hoggle was being held on an initial, total bond of $1,020,000, according to online court records. Sometimes Sarah would get out a pad of paper and a pen and pretend Jacob had come in for a medical checkup. “I’m going to diagnose you,” she’d said.
The search for her two children continues. Catherine Hoggle’s father, Randy Hoggle, has said that his daughter has been a caring mother in the past. “We still believe the kids are alive,” Randy Hoggle said. “Just knowing her, we believe that’s true.”
Hoggle is being represented by two Rockville attorneys, David Felsen and Jon Sargent. Felsen said he spoke with his client Saturday at the police station and Sunday at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility. Catherine Hoggle has long struggled with mental health issues. She was committed to a psychiatric hospital late last year, according to family members. In recent months, relatives had tried to ensure that she wasn’t alone with the children while not trying to make her feel as if they were watching her every move.
“Everybody agrees that there are significant mental health issues in play,” Felsen said Monday. “We understand the concerns of the police and the family.” “It was an attempt at a balancing act,” said Troy Turner, Catherine Hoggle’s longtime boyfriend and father of the children.
Detectives questioned Hoggle for much of Saturday, trying to get her to tell them what happened to the children or where she had taken them. The detectives also allowed Hoggle’s father, a mental health therapist she knows and her boyfriend — who is the father of the missing children — to speak with her, according to court records. But none could get her to provide meaningful information, police said in court records. Hoggle made her first court appearance Monday afternoon via a video feed from the Montgomery County Correctional Facility. She said little beyond giving her name.
According to charging documents, while being questioned early Saturday morning, Catherine Hoggle gave evasive and vague responses, and never told detectives accurate or specific information. At one point, she got in a police car and directed detectives to a playground in Germantown, but that didn’t yield any solid information. Her attorney, David Felsen, asked that a scheduled bond review be delayed so Hoggle could undergo a mental evaluation. District Judge Margaret Schweitzer granted the request.
Although Hoggle told detectives she had been taking her medication, police said, it is unclear whether that is true.
While at the county jail, where Hoggle has been since Saturday night, medical personnel do not let inmates take prescription drugs that they arrive with, said Arthur Wallenstein, director of the Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation. The reason: Authorities do not know what the substances are.
The jail has a 16-bed medical unit, with 24-hour nursing services and daily visits from psychiatrists and physicians. These medical personnel, in consultation with an inmate’s outside doctor, can recommend that prisoners take psychiatric medication, Wallenstein said, and provide the appropriate drugs.
That is certainly the hope of family members and police, because it might prompt Hoggle to say what happened to her children. “She has an altered view of reality. She’s off her meds,” Turner said.
But if a prisoner refuses to take medication, jail officials cannot force them to do so, Wallenstein said.
As the case progresses, Hoggle could be sent to the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital, a secure psychiatric hospital. If doctors there determine that an emergency exists, which puts the patient or others at risk, they can force-medicate a patient during the emergency, said Brian Hepburn, director of Maryland’s Behavioral Health Administration, which is part of the state’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
In an affidavit filed in court, detectives alleged that there had been “no confirmed contact” with Jacob since 4 p.m., Sept. 7, and “no confirmed contact” with Sarah since 9:30 p.m. that same day. At the time, according to police, family members didn’t know they were missing, because Hoggle had told them that Jacob was at a friend’s house and then said that she’d taken both kids to day care for a trial program.
The next day, Turner became suspicious when Catherine Hoggle couldn’t tell him what day care she’d gone to. After the two drove around looking for the facility, he headed for a police station. Hoggle asked if they could stop at a fast-food restaurant so she could get something to drink, police said. She slipped out the back door and disappeared for five days.
Just before midnight on Friday, a tip to 911 led police to Hoggle, walking down a street in Germantown in the same clothes she’d been wearing when she disappeared. She had two missing-persons fliers, which included photographs of Hoggle and the children. As she was taken into custody, police said, she tried to flee.
Hoggle was taken to police headquarters and questioned off-and-on all night and into Saturday afternoon. The goal was to get her to tell authorities where the children were. Different detectives tried — as did a psychiatrist who had treated Hoggle, Hoggle’s father, and Hoggle’s boyfriend, Turner.
Francke, the major-crimes commander, said Turner asked Hoggle where the children were at least 25 times.
According to charging documents, Catherine Hoggle gave evasive and vague responses.
Hoggle initially told detectives she had left the children with a friend.Hoggle initially told detectives she had left the children with a friend.
“The defendant confessed to taking the children and giving them to an old high school friend she called ‘Erin,’” detectives wrote. “’Erin’ resides in Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland. The defendant stated she did not know ‘Erin’s’ last name or address; however she was absolutely OK with her kids staying with ‘Erin’ for these last five days. The defendant stated she did not have any contact with ‘Erin’ or the kids during this period.” “The defendant confessed to taking the children and giving them to an old high school friend she called ‘Erin,’ ” detectives wrote. “ ‘Erin’ resides in Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland. The defendant stated she did not know ‘Erin’s’ last name or address; however she was absolutely OK with her kids staying with ‘Erin’ for these last five days. The defendant stated she did not have any contact with ‘Erin’ or the kids during this period.”
Hoggle told detectives she could call ‘Erin’ if she had her cell phone. Detectives brought her the phone, but Hoggle started deleting records from it so detectives took it back. Hoggle told detectives she could call ‘Erin’ if she had her cellphone. Detectives brought her the phone, but Hoggle started deleting records from it so detectives took it back.
“At a later part of the interview,” detectives wrote, “the defendant changed her story and stated she would like to take the detectives to the location of the children. The defendant directed the detectives to a playground in Germantown, Montgomery County, Maryland as she was transported there. The defendant then told the detectives that she left her children alone at this playground and she abandoned both children.” “At a later part of the interview,” detectives wrote, “the defendant changed her story and stated she would like to take the detectives to the location of the children. Police took her by car toward Germantown and she directed them to a playground, and she told them “she left her children alone at this playground and she abandoned both children.”
Detectives wrote that Hoggle “knows the location of the missing children; however she continues to obstruct and hinder this investigation and further places them in danger.” But the playground claim didn’t yield any information, police said.
Family members and police officials have said they believe that Hoggle had stopped taking medication at the time, or perhaps just prior, to when she went missing. It was not clear if police gave Hoggle her medication after she was apprehended. Officials declined to say, citing medical confidentially laws. But it may not have been as simple as giving her one pill. She could have taken more than one medication, and even if the proper mix was provided, it could days to take effect. Hoggle “knows the location of the missing children; however she continues to obstruct and hinder this investigation and further places them in danger,” detectives wrote in court papers.
In support of charges of child neglect, detectives submitted an affidavit stating that there had been “no confirmed contact” with Jacob since 4 p.m., Sept. 7, and “no confirmed contact” with Sarah since 9:30 p.m. that same day. At the time, according to police, family members didn’t know they were missing, because Hoggle had told them that Jacob was at a friend’s house and then said that she’d taken both kids to day care. “We keep a ray of hope,” Francke said, “but from what she said and what we know about what information that should be provided about them, and that she hasn’t contacted them, this is the natural progression for us.”
In an affidavit to support the charges of child neglect, detectives said that she had “engaged in conduct that created a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury to” the children, according to court records.
Based on a tip to 911 late Friday, a police officer picked up Hoggle along a street in Germantown. She was alone, had the missing persons fliers — with photographs of her, Jacob and Sarah — and tried to flee, according to police. She was wearing the same clothes that she had been wearing when she was reported missing five days earlier.
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