A two-day competency hearing began Monday morning, in Rockville, Maryland, to determine whether Catherine Hoggle can stand trial for murder charges in the 2014 disappearance of her two children.
Montgomery County prosecutors say Hoggle was the last person seen with 3-year-old Sarah and 2-year-old Jacob, before they vanished on Sept. 7, 2014.
At issue is whether Hoggle, in 2025, is able to assist in her own defense following her reindictment in July. Hoggle has been housed and treated at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup, where the doctors consistently said that she is not competent to stand trial.
Charges dismissed, refiled
On Nov. 30, 2022, Circuit Court Judge James Bonifant dismissed Hoggle’s initial murder charges, citing a Maryland law that requires felony charges to be dropped if a defendant cannot be restored to competency within five years.
Hoggle was initially charged in 2014 with misdemeanor child neglect. Misdemeanor charges of parental abduction and obstructing an investigation were later added. She was repeatedly found incompetent to stand trial by Montgomery County District Court judges.
In September 2017, with the two children still missing, Hoggle was indicted on two counts of murder. After nearly five years of being found incompetent to stand trial, in November 2022, a judge questioned Hoggle to determine whether she could help in her own defense. The questioning did not include specifics about what happened to her children.
A second opinion on whether Hoggle is competent
Doctors at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center have always opined in periodic evaluations that she is incompetent to stand trial. After her 2025 reindictment, Montgomery County prosecutors requested and were granted the opportunity to have a psychiatrist of their choosing evaluate Hoggle’s competency, in addition to the doctors from Perkins.
This is not the first time prosecutors sought a second opinion.
In August 2019, Dr. Christiane Tellefsen, the former acting superintendent at Perkins hospital, who was hired by Montgomery County prosecutors, reached the same conclusion as state-appointed psychiatrists — that Hoggle was unfit to stand trial.
At the hearing, both the state-appointed psychiatrist and the doctor chosen by Montgomery County prosecutors are expected to take the witness stand, presenting their evaluation findings and opinions on whether Hoggle understands the proceedings and can assist her defense attorney, David Felsen.
State’s Attorney John McCarthy and Deputy State’s Attorney Ryan Wechsler have said Hoggle’s mental health has improved greatly recently — discharge documents from Perkins hospital showed that she is no longer symptomatic or delusional, leading to her release to a halfway house, where she stayed briefly in July 2025.
After hearing from both psychiatrists, Bonifant will determine whether Hoggle is competent to stand trial.
Children still missing
Jacob and Sarah Hoggle remain missing, and the circumstances surrounding their disappearance are still unsolved, according to Montgomery County police. In August 2025, the police department said, “the investigation is ongoing.”
Police ask anyone with information to visit the Crime Solvers of Montgomery County website and click on the “www.p3tips.com” link at the top of the page or call 1-866-411-8477. There is a reward of up to $10,000 for information that leads to the arrest of a suspect. Tips may remain anonymous.
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