WASHINGTON — Montgomery County police are searching for a missing Clarksburg woman and her two young children.
Catherine Hoggle, 27, and her children — 2-year-old Jacob Hoggle and 3-year-old Sarah Hoggle — disappeared over the last two days.
Troy Turner, Catherine Hoggle’s common-law husband, reported her and two of their three children missing about 8 p.m. Monday.
Police say Hoggle is diagnosed as having paranoid schizophrenia but during a press conference Tuesday Assistant Police Chief Russ Hamill declined to elaborate.
“The family’s expressed to us that there are some mental health concerns regarding the mother–so I am deeply, deeply concerned here over their welfare,” Hamill said.
Police are particularly worried about the 18-hour gap between the time Jacob was last seen and when his father reported him missing, and less concerned about the conflicting accounts Hoggle had given relatives about her children’s whereabouts.
“We’ve got two missing children. We’ve got their picture, we’ve got their mother’s picture. Let’s get that out there and get ’em back,” Hamill said. “We need the eyes and ears of the community to help us find these two little children and bring them safely home.”
Jacob went missing Sunday when Hoggle told her mother she was taking the boy with her to get some pizza. She returned to her mother’s Gaithersburg home about three hours later, but did not have pizza or Jacob.
Hoggle said she left the 2-year-old at a known playmate’s house, according to police. However, police later determined that the boy never went to a friend’s home during that time.
On Monday at about 5:50 a.m., Hoggle told Turner that she was dropping off Sarah at a daycare center. She returned home more than two hours later and said that she had dropped off both Sarah and Jacob at day care.
Turner, who works overnight, did not know that the little boy had not returned home the previous night, according to police.
Later Monday, Turner told his wife he wanted to pick up the children. When she wouldn’t tell Turner about where the children were, he decided that they would go to the police station to ask for assistance.
Before going to the police station, the couple stopped at a restaurant near the Germantown Transit Center. But Hoggle left the restaurant without her husband, who then called police.
A bloodhound track indicated that Hoggle had exited the restaurant and walked to the transit center, police say.
Hoggle is described as white, 5-foot-6 and weighing 160 pounds. She has brown eyes and shoulder-length black hair. She was last seen wearing blue jeans and a black tank top.
Sarah is described as a biracial girl who is 3-foot-6 and weighs 40 pounds. She has brown eyes and medium-length brown hair.
Jacob is described as a biracial boy who is 3 feet tall and weighs 25 pounds. He has brown eyes and a curly, blond Afro.
Police say it is possible that one of Hoggle’s friends is watching the children and may not realize that the children are missing.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Catherine Hoggle or the children is asked to call 911.
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report from Gaithersburg. Follow @WTOP on Twitter and WTOP on Facebook.
