Judge Rules On Catherine Hoggle's Competence To Stand Trial For Murder: Report

Updated at 3:13 p.m.

GAITHERSBURG, MD — A judge has ruled that Catherine Hoggle is competent to stand trial on murder charges in the decade-old disappearance of her two children, Sarah Hoggle and Jacob Hoggle, according to reports.

Sarah, 3, and Jacob, 2, at the time they disappeared on Sept. 7, 2014, were last seen with their mother, Montgomery County police said. Hoggle, 39, has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

The judge issued the ruling on Wednesday afternoon, according to an NBC Washington report.

Dr. Nicole Johnson, a state-appointed forensic psychiatrist with the Clifton T. Perkins psychiatric hospital, told a judge on Tuesday that she believed Hoggle was still not competent to stand trial — that she is psychotic, delusional and dangerous, WTOP reported.

Meanwhile, another psychiatrist hired by the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office told the judge she believes Hoggle is competent.

During testimony this week, prosecutors argued that text messages sent by Hoggle show her mental health has improved and she finally should be tried for the deaths of her children, according to a Washington Post report.

“Catherine Hoggle is not the same person she was,” Deputy State’s Attorney Ryan Wechsler said Tuesday.

On the day the children disappeared, Hoggle told Troy Turner — the children's father — that she dropped Sarah and Jacob off at daycare; however, when it was time to pick them up, he said she couldn’t tell him where the children were.

After hours of searching, Turner said he and Hoggle stopped at a fast-food restaurant. While he waited in the car, Hoggle went inside, where she slipped out the back door. After realizing she had fled, he called police and reported her and the children missing.

Several days later, Hoggle was found wandering the streets of Germantown. Montgomery County police arrested her.

Hoggle was initially charged with child neglect, obstruction, and later, murder. However, she was found incompetent to stand trial due to mental health issues and was civilly committed to a psychiatric facility.

Hoggle has insisted her children are safe.

In November 2022, a judge questioned Hoggle to determine whether she could help in her own defense. On Nov. 30, 2022, a judge dismissed the murder charges, citing a Maryland law that states authorities had five years to restore a defendant to competency before felony charges must be dropped.

In August, Hoggle was again indicted on murder charges tied to the disappearance of her children.

At a bond hearing following the indictment, Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy told the court of a comment made during a 2014 group-therapy session Hoggle attended with Turner, the father of the missing children.

“At that point in time, she made a comment to a woman who was in those therapy sessions with her that she had strangled her children,” McCarthy said, according to WTOP's coverage.

McCarthy said a drawing Hoggle made in response to a prompt about eliminating stress factors from your life depicted children being thrown into a trash can.

Hoggle was deemed a flight risk after the hearing and was held without bond.