After a Maryland mother and her two toddlers mysteriously went missing for five days this week, the woman, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, was reportedly picked up by police on a street Friday. But her two children, Jacob Hoggle, 2, and Sarah Hoggle, 3, are still missing and police say they are extremely concerned for their welfare.
Catherine Hoggle was discovered by police in Germantown and it is believed, judging by her disheveled appearance, that she spent her days and nights on the street. They say she even looked like a different person -- one who had cut her hair while she was reported missing, according to cops. But the greatest -- and most heartbreaking mystery remains: where are her two young children?
Hoggle, who lived with common law husband Troy Turner and their three children, reportedly took her kids to her mother's house on Sunday while Turner was at work. Sometime that day, she and Jacob reportedly went to a pizzeria to grab a meal. Surveillance video footage from the restaurant shows the woman walking slowly -- almost as if in a daze -- out the door of the pizzeria without her young son. Police say she then got on a bus.
She allegedly returned to her home with Sarah and the couple's older son and claimed she had taken Jacob to a friend's house. The following morning, she claimed she had dropped both Jacob and Sarah off at daycare, but couldn't provide details about the program. She and Turner were on their way to the police station to talk to them about their missing children when she reportedly told him she wanted to stop at a restaurant and then escaped out the back door of the eatery.
When she was questioned, Hoggle told detectives that her "kids are safe," but, so far, there is no word on where they are located or whether they are okay.
Let's keep thinking positive thoughts for these two children and hope that they turn up quickly. As for this mom, she clearly needs help. Until we know what happened here -- and what was going through her head -- it's futile to make judgments about her. Let's hope that mental health experts are among those individuals who are interacting with Hoggle at this crucial time in the search for these children.
What do you think happened here?
Image via Montgomery County Police Department/Facebook