After years of holding out hope that his two children were alive, a Maryland father now says he is certain that their mother murdered them.
Troy Turner led numerous search parties and spoke publicly in the hopes of finding his 2-year-old son Jacob Hoggle and 3-year-old daughter Sarah Hoggle when they disappeared in September 2014.
Their mother, Catherine Hoggle, was arrested in their disappearance and has spent three years in a state psychiatric hospital. Hoggle told Montgomery County police she left Jacob and Sarah with a friend, but has never given details on their whereabouts.
On Thursday, prosecutors charged Hoggle with two counts of murder in the disappearance of her children, ensuring they could keep her in custody.
"Catherine hoggle Murdered my children and I hope Sarah and Jacob get the justice they deserve," Turner said after Hoggle appeared in court on Friday. "I have held out hope that something else may have happened as I think that any parent under these circumstances would but it has always been a faint hope and I know now with the passage of time that Catherine killed my babies."
While Turner wants justice, Hoggle's mother is still hopeful her grandchildren are alive.
"I will still keep looking for Sarah and Jacob," Hoggle's mother, Lindsey Hoggle, said.
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Hoggle was previously charged with misdemeanor child neglect, abduction and hindering law enforcement, but mental health professionals have repeatedly found her "not competent" to stand trial. She had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia before the children disappeared.
Hoggle would have been released after the three-year deadline had prosecutors not filed additional charges by Friday.
In August, an attorney for Hoggle told a judge he filed a motion to have misdemeanor charges against her dismissed, WTOP reported.
