6 days ago
Mother 'murdered her two young children then went to group therapy and JOKED about it'
A mother charged with murdering her two youngest children went to a group therapy meeting hours after their deaths and joked about strangling them, prosecutors allege.
Catherine Hoggle was arrested and charged on Friday with the 2014 murders of three-year-old Sarah and two-year-old Jacob.
Three years prior, a judge had dismissed an earlier indictment charging her with the same crimes, deeming her unfit to stand trial due to her mental health.
On Tuesday, the court heard prosecutors reveal they have new evidence implying she confessed to the murders.
Montgomery County State Attorney John McCarthy told the court she attended a group-therapy session with the father of the children, Troy Turney, hours after their deaths.
'At that point in time, she made a comment to a woman that was in those therapy sessions with her that she had strangled her children,' McCarthy said.
He alleged Hoggle made a 'strangling' motion with her hands before ultimately insisting she was joking.
He argued against her request to be released on bond, noting there was a third, surviving child she could attempt to harm if freed.
Police allege Hoggle was last seen with little Jacob on September 7, 2014, after driving off with him.
She returned home and allegedly told family members she had dropped him to a friend's house for a sleepover.
That night, police allege Hoggle secretly took Sarah from the home. Neither Sarah or Jacob have ever been seen again.
The new warrant states investigators met with a criminal profiler with the FBI who noted: 'It was their belief that the children were murdered, likely by strangulation and their bodies were disposed of via an outside trash container.'
Hoggle had allegedly intended to abduct the children's older brother, then five, from his school bus stop but the plan was foiled by the boy's father.
She was initially arrested and charged with neglect and abduction, both misdemeanors. She was sent to the state-run psychiatric hospital for treatment.
Then in 2017, she was indicted on murder charges. A judge ruled she was incompetent to stand trial and imposed continuing court-ordered treatment.
Under state law, authorities had five years to declare her competent to stand trial; otherwise, criminal charges would be dismissed.
Hoggle has long suffered from severe mental illness. She has a history of schizophrenia and was treated with antipsychotic medications after her arrest.
In 2022, a Montgomery County judge dropped the charges against her, citing the five-year time limit.
Hoggle was ordered to remain involuntarily committed for psychiatric treatment because she was still considered a danger to herself or others.
McCarthy vowed then that if she were ever deemed no longer a threat and released, he would charge her again with murder.
