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The father of two missing Maryland children is “cautiously optimistic” their mother will be found competent to stand trial, according to local reports.
Maryland authorities in 2017 charged Catherine Hoggle, now 35, with murder in connection with the 2014 disappearances of her two children, three-year-old Sarah and two-year-old Jacob Hoggle, who are presumed dead.
“We are cautiously optimistic that Judge [Richard] Jordan is going to do the right thing,” Troy Turner, the children’s father, told WTOP. “If she’s not found competent, that would be the day the charges are dropped, and it goes to a civil confinement.”
After years of back-and-forth between prosecutors and the defense, if the judge does not find Hoggle competent to stand trial by Dec. 1, her murder charges will be dropped, and she will likely be placed in civil confinement, the outlet reported.
Hoggle has two hearings scheduled for Nov. 17 and Nov. 18 ahead of the Dec. 1 deadline in which the judge will review her competency examinations, according to WTOP.
MISSING SOUTH CAROLINA WOMAN’S EX CHARGED WITH MURDER OF CURRENT GIRLFRIEND, BABY
“Six weeks until the charges have to be dropped unless something changes. I can’t comprehend being here or even how we got here. If you’re a praying person, please say a prayer for our sweet babies and family,” Turner wrote in an Oct. 20 tweet to an account titled “Justice for Sarah Jacob.”
Turner told WTOP he believes Hoggle is exaggerating the state of her mental health and said it would be “reprehensible” if charges filed against Hoggle were dropped after eight years since his children’s deaths.
“It’s the absolute worst outcome,” he said. “She took my kids’ lives, then she’s never [been] held accountable, and then she’s allowed to continue to be a danger to my family.”
Turner reported his children and Hoggle missing in 2014. Hoggle was found, days after he filed the missing persons report, walking in a nearby town without her children. She refused to cooperate with police.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.