It’s been eleven years since Troy Turner’s children, Sarah and Jacob Hoggle, went missing.
GERMANTOWN, Md. — In Germantown Sunday night, Troy Turner held a vigil to honor his two children, 2-year-old Jacob and 3-year-old Sarah Hoggle.
After prayers, Turner thanked those who stood by him as he sought justice.
“I can’t believe it’s eleven years and we’re still here, and at the same time, I can’t tell y’all how much I appreciate the fact that it’s been eleven years and y’all are still here,” he told the crowd of supporters.
On Monday, a judge will decide if the children’s mother, Catherine Hoggle, will face charges over their 2014 disappearance.
Although she was charged with murder in 2014, Hoggle was deemed incompetent to stand trial the following year, and was released from a psychiatric hospital July 23rd. A grand jury indicted Hoggle on new charges and she was arrested in early August.
“It feels like we’re stuck in the same position,” Turner said.
After the indictment, Hoggle’s attorney, David Felsen, argued that Montgomery County prosecutors have not shown that she is legally fit to stand trial.
Felsen says Hoggle’s incompetency status was reaffirmed in 2022 and hasn’t changed since.
“At least now in the case, that’s the point. We don’t prosecute people who cannot defend themselves,” Felsen said. “She is still in the exact same place that she was as a legal matter back in 2022. Court’s going to have to make a determination on Monday.”
Despite the outcome of Hoggle’s case, Turner’s goal remains the same as it did in 2014. He wants to bring Sarah and Jacob back home.
“People ask me, ‘it’s been this long, it’s been that long, when do you kind of’, and I just stop them and say, ‘what, move from my kids?’ I either find them or die trying. That’s it,” said Turner.