WASHINGTON – A local father is coming to terms with the idea that his two children who went missing three years ago are dead. Sarah and Jacob’s mother Catherine Hoggle was indicted on murder charges last September.

“I’ve said this for a long time now that logically I know, the logical thing is that she killed my children, but as their father I’ve always felt like it’s my job to continue on until it becomes very evident one way or another, and I think it’s pretty evident that she killed my babies,” said Sarah and Jacob’s father, Troy Turner.

Turner said the passage of time and new information that he can’t discuss has led him to believe Catherine killed Sarah and Jacob after she disappeared with them in 2014. Sarah was 3-years-old when she went missing, and Jacob was 2.

“To say it so definitively makes it more real, and that’s why purposely, I guess internally I’ve tried to avoid really using those words. It’s still not easy,” Turner said.

Searches for the children’s remains will start again soon. Turner said the timeline is dependent on the weather and when they hear back from searchers who have cadaver dogs and other advanced searching tools, including underwater drones.

Turner said he doesn’t know if it would make it any easier for him if searches do turn up his children’s bodies, but it would make it different.

“At this point, I guess in some ways, different would be better,” Turner said.

Turner said he and his attorney are also advocating for legislation that would give victims in Maryland rights. Since the children disappeared, he said too much of the focus has been on their mother Catherine and not the children, especially protecting their remaining child.

Catherine is being held at the Clifton T. Perkins psychiatric hospital until she is found competent to stand trial for murder. Her next competency hearing will be held in the fall.

She was found incompetent to stand trial so many times in Montgomery County District Court that the law required the state to drop misdemeanor charges against her related to Sarah and Jacob’s disappearance. Turner was concerned that if Catherine was released from the hospital she would be a threat to their remaining child.

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