WASHINGTON — Sarah and Jacob Hoggle, age 2 and 3, have been missing since Sept. 8 and Montgomery County police don’t believe they’re alive. But through their father and the help of a nonprofit organization, the search continues.
The two children disappeared separately over an 18-hour period spanning Sept. 7 and 8 before their mother, Catherine Hoggle, also disappeared later on Monday, Sept. 8. Catherine, who found four days later. She’s refused to tell police where they are and has been charged in their disappearance.
The siblings’ father, Troy Turner doesn’t think his son and daughter are dead.
“Do I think that she went out, slaughtered them and put them in the ground? No. I think my kids are out there, they’re still alive and I’m gonna go get them.”
Catherine Hoggle was previously diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
Turner is trying to keep the attention on his kids and the search effort but says he initially didn’t know how.
“I needed help, I have no organization skills.”
He contacted the Klass Kids Foundation which came this week to assist in training volunteer searchers.
“Our role is to help with organization … when you first start a community search and you also have a law enforcement investigation. Many times the community search is taking place and law enforcement really doesn’t know what’s being searched, what’s being found, how it’s being found and how it’s being documented,” says Brad Dennis, director of search operations for the Klass Kids Foundation.
“And we’re here to try to bridge that gap so we can have a partnership out here.”
The group is sponsoring a weekend search which includes training volunteers.
“We have GPS tracking devices, that we put with each one of the ground teams so we can actually have an accurate map of what has been searched in the county,” says Dennis.
Volunteers will learn how to track and document leads, map and plan and brief and debrief teams. Dennis says the hope is that teams will have the skills to continue searching.
There is a $20,000 reward for the safe return of the Hoggle children. Volunteers are meeting Saturday and Sunday at the Germantown Community Center.
Last week, Turner asked Gov. Martin O’Malley to get Maryland State Police to issue an Amber Alert for his children. But police say the case doesn’t fit the criteria.
Related stories:
- Why no Amber Alert for Hoggle children?
- Father of missing children asks for Amber Aler
- Police seek help from businesses in search for Hoggle kids
- Volunteersd take to the skies to find Hoggle children
- Father of missing woman pleads with her to come home
- After two weeks, search still on for two Maryland kids
- Search party forms for missing MoCo kids
WTOP’s Lori Lundin contributed to this report. Follow @WTOP on Twitter and WTOP on Facebook.
