Unrestorable

In September 2014, 3-year-old Sarah and 2-year-old Jacob were last seen in the care of their mother, Catherine Hoggle, in Maryland. Sarah and Jacob have never been found. After disappearing for several days, Catherine was arrested and ultimately charged with the children’s murder. Catherine was declared not competent to stand trial shortly after and has been committed to a psychiatric facility until her competency can be restored.

But plenty of people - including some of Catherine’s own family members - have suggested she’s faking incompetence, convinced it’s her path out of prison.

Sarah and Jacob’s dad, Troy, and his wife, Stephanie, continue to search for the kids, desperate for both answers and justice. And now, the clock is ticking. Maryland law requires dismissal of murder charges against a defendant found incompetent to stand trial after the expiration of five years. This means that Catherine could be on the verge of release. Troy, Stephanie and their lawyer, Matt—along with police and prosecutors—are racing to stop that from happening.

In addition to a compelling and tragic personal narrative, this case raises broader issues about mental health and the justice system and the unintended consequences of well-intentioned laws. Journalists Sarah Treleaven and Beth Karas examine a father’s quest for justice and one key question that overshadows this case: Can you really fake being incompetent and get away with murder?

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Recent Reviews

Trace2827

Ehhhhh

Kind of boring. Very one sided. The amount of commercials is obscene. I won't finish this series 🥱
AmyCoop2

Thought provoking story

I personally really feel for the dad- for whatever dysfunction in the parents relationship, he obviously loved his kids very much and took great care of them. The wife’s parents tried to help too. Yes, there are many other points to be made regarding metal illness, pp depression, etc., but the fact remains that this was a family trying to manage this women’s illness & they deserve answers as to what happened to these children. The dad is a victim, his kids are gone. Be kind.
lucyraeee

One sided

I struggled a lot listening to this podcast as it seems there was no real journalistic push to fully understand the events. This entire podcast is based off one side of a story where the narrator of that story is pretty unreliable. Troy is obviously very angry and was really more focused on seeing punishment for Catherine and his statements and interviews during this podcast made me feel like he definitely left out details. On top of an unreliable narrator, this podcast was very surface level, and made a few statements that were pretty questionable and made me wonder if the team actually understood the mental health events that we’re taking place in Catherine’s life. Overall, it’s questionable at best and a skip from me.
Done with this.

Skewed

I found this to be incredibly one sided in terms of the coverage. We hear nothing of the mother’s side of this story. I understand that they weren’t able to reach her for an interview, but with the content and tone of this podcast towards mental illness it’s not difficult to understand why she refused. The story states that she was so mentally unstable and ill that she couldn’t be left alone with the children, but also that she was faking it and wanted to murder them for apparently no reason? The podcast didn’t even try to offer any actual insight on her mental illness beyond demonizing her as a person. Mental illness isn’t something a person can turn on and off at will. She either was mentally ill or she wasn’t; but this podcast tries to establish both as true. It just doesn’t work that way.
mjh5157

Something new to think about

Really enjoyed!!! Something new to get me thinking.
ABeave24

Something isn’t right

Troy is incredibly controlling. He treated his wife like a breeding machine to birth “his kids” and then cut off her family support by turning them against her and making them take more and more of her freedom when she was struggling with aspects of new motherhood to 3 kids under 5. They needed to get her help if she was really that “incompetent” but I feel like he lied about a lot of what he said. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are alive and she has them living with a friend or someone she deems safer than Troy.
allegiantsappstinks

Wow

This was so good!! You did a fabulous job
So disappointed (v)

Self-contradicting and lacks knowledge of mental health

This podcast had some potential to bring up nuanced conversations about post partum mental health, mental health in motherhood and in general. It really…didn’t do that. Instead it accused doctors of lying for their patients sake and told the tale of a woman who was somehow completely unstable AND lying about being unstable at the same time. I work in mental health and can promise- lying for the sake of your clients legal process is not a thing that happens as much as the podcaster would have you believe- I’ve never seen it. And the podcast gives no identifiable motive to what it’s accusing the mother of doing. We hear that she was so unstable and mentally ill that her partner did not want her alone with their children. We then hear that she deserves to be punished and is faking a mental illness- with the only evidence being things she allegedly said to the man who wants her punished. This was just not a good work of journalism and it was disappointing to hear that there was no nuanced discussion about all of the mental health and societal issues that intersected in this tragedy.
Fellini's Shoes

Could have been two episodes

Episodes 1 &2 of this podcast presented basically the same information in two styles: one seemed DIY and the other a polished newsmagazine story. At one point in episode 2 I wondered if the producer and reporter were aware of what is presented in episode 1. It was a strange choice to allow the father to declare that his two children were murdered by their mother as if it were fact. She’s no doubt responsible for their disappearances and presumed deaths, it’s unclear to me whether she murdered them or gave them away to bad people or forgot where she left them in some psychotic episode. They could have pushed back harder when the family claimed they had concerns about her decision making to the extent she couldn’t be left with the children, but never thought she would hurt them on purpose. Obviously at one point the family believed she might do something harmful while in a bad state. Why did they stop believing that and jump to the conclusion that she plotted the murder of her children as soon as they figured out something was wrong? Just a very one-note exploration of this story. Do better.
Gladia Del Marr

Remember Andrea Yates?

She drowned her five children to send them to heaven. This was after she was taken off her psychiatric medication. I wonder if this mother did something similar, and the “Safe place” she sent her kids was the afterlife. I also wonder if she has been consistently medication compliant.
jbl612

Podcast misses the mark on mental illness

The mother is made to be a conniving, manipulative monster. If she killed her kids she was clearly suffering mentally and will live with that horror for the rest of her life. The dad and others need vengeance is just awful. I truly feel for him but justice isn’t mom being behind bars. She’s not free physically or mentally, that should be enough. The hosts never seem to explore this either.
BlazeJester

Ads are abrupt and hard to skip

The ad inserts cut into the storyline abruptly and they are really long. There’s not enough differentiation between the podcast audio and ads to skip over reliably. I won’t make it through a full season to evaluate whether the content is any good. Lots of podcasts do ad inserts that are beneficial to listeners (music transitions, standard length of ad insert, male vs female voices) so this is not really a workable issue at this point, I will just not listen to this one.
BZC123

Unclear resolution

This podcast was riveting, but the hosts left us hanging. There was not any indication that episode 8 would be the last episode of the season. Are they still researching for more episodes? Is there a season 2?
slsbfk

Wow. Great job

Just started Listening today. WOW!!!! Great job
Cucinaanne

Tragic

So hard to believe the unfolding of these circumstances! Broken system indeed. These people deserve more. Their son deserves protection. Catherine should be held accountable for the murders. Tragic.
Tangle70

Heartbreaking

I binged this heartbreaking and compelling story, and wish sanity and justice for the father.
Mch171717

Move it along

Each episode is 30 minutes. A third of it is commercials, a third of it is different people defining competency and then explaining it again in case you were too stupid to understand it the first 17 times. I got impatient, Googled an article and found out what happened in 5 minutes. This could have been done in one episode but I guess then you’d miss out on the commercials.
23_mike_232

Too many ads

If you fast forward through the ads each episode is only like ten minutes lol
K-Diddly

My god, the ads

I timed the ad breaks in one ~35 minute episode. There were just over 8 minutes of ads during the episode, then 3 1/2 minutes after the episode was a preview of the next one, followed by more ads. I realize they have to pay the bills, but come on. Nearly a third of the episode is ads.
Zebra1315

Way too many ads

The story is really interesting, but the episodes are constantly interrupted by long ad breaks. There are significantly more ads than in other true crime shows.
marie8256

Why so many ads?

Interesting podcast but they jam pack short episodes with ads. Makes for an unpleasant listening experience
HG (tv)

Too many ads!

I gave this podcast a try. It is written very well but I have a hard time following the story because of all the ads interrupting the storyline! I understand that ads is how they get paid but they are losing their audience pool because of it. Put them all in the beginning or one time in the middle. I avoid podcasts with these kinds of interruptions. It’s not fair to the people that are trying to get their story out there.
atx.indy

So many ads for such short episodes

So many ads it’s not even worth listening to. I get needing ads to get paid but make the episode longer if you’re going to have two different 3 minute ads breaks.
mrgkay

Ads

Too many ads.
iPhone user wanting updates

wanted to listen but the ADS!!!

The ads were so bad, the story was interesting and I wanted to follow it. I listened to all 8 episodes. Interesting. But…. Each episode was 1/3 content and 2/3 ada. Bad!!! So Bad!!
breeabcdefg

Soooo many ads!!!

I think the story would be half decent if it weren’t constantly interrupted by ads. They also cut off/fade away the narrative from the interviewees that were present and know what happened. I’d be interested to hear the entirety of what they have to say.
km1234km223

Ads

Too many ads!!
daniellethebean

Great show, SO MANY ADS

I’d give a better rating if the show had less ads…The ads are so long for such short episodes. Enticing story besides that.
measha5833

Well done but a bit too late

I really enjoyed this documentary. I had no idea concerning the laws in the state where this happened. They make no sense to me. It’s too bad this documentary or podcast hadn’t been done two years earlier. I totally understand where the father is coming from. Yes, you know your partner is mentally ill, and then things come out later to show their manipulating the system. My child was missing for an hour and I almost lost my mind so for those of you who can’t understand his frustration his anger keep your mouth shut I think he has every right to be frustrated with the parents, because they’ve taken the road of let’s find the Daughter help in order to cope, and it seems they’ve put the grandchildren in the back of their minds. If it was my grandchildren, it would all be about finding them or finding their remains not about my child my child had a chance to have a lifeand chose to end someone else’s. We never punish the people that have done wrong. It just opens the door for someone else to do it and gives them the narrative on how to get out of it.
Jmackin8

So many ads

The podcast was decent, journalism was ok, but the ads ruined it. Almost not worth listening to because there’s so many dang ads. Feels like half the podcast is ads. Every few minutes I’m navigating through 2-3 minutes of repetitive ads. I get it, you need sponsors but why do so many other podcasts have 30 second ads and you guys have multiple minutes.
MegMarTra

Purposefully misrepresents how the system works

I just want to say, I work in a forensic psych hospital where we do competency evaluation/restoration—doctors absolutely do NOT try to keep people incompetent so they don’t have to face their charges. What a gross accusation the host threw out without any evidence to back it up. In fact, the evidence they cite proves the exact opposite as most people are restored to competency within a year. Before Catherine was arrested, the whole family talked about how she was mentally ill and couldn’t be left alone with the children, was in and out of psych hospitals, and even attending a day program. Now all of a sudden they think she is malingering?? Also, having the charges dropped does not mean that she cannot be retried if she regains competency and it definitely does not mean the hospital is going to release her.
ormkzzz

Very riveting, I binge-listened through the story

Every episode contributed to the story with a new twist. My review is about the podcast, not to make light of the family’s tragedy, it’s very sad this happened. To me, all of the family members seemed like good people whose intent was child safety all along.
SusanC89

Great if you like ads

Ads ads ads ads can’t get past ep 1. Seems like it could be a good story but distracted by ads. And not just too many, but it’s the SAME ads every ad break?! So you hear the same 4 ads every 5 min.
Nickname333381

Don’t bother

You get about 12 minutes of content per 28 minute episode because the ads were ridiculous.
barbieq!

Too Many ads — great story

I was so interested in this situation and podcast — but there seemed to be more ads than actual content. Spent too much time fast forwarding
jenjenrnrn

Informative

Couldn’t get past the kids dad. He feels like a bully. So does her mom. I understand and feel his justified anger. I would never forgive or forget. But his talking out both sides of his mouth (she’s crazy but she’s not) was just not helpful for his case. As a nurse, allllll the things he says about her manipulation are HALLMARKS of mental illness. They will do anything to get away with stuff. Think of the brain as an organ like the heart. Would you expect a cardiac patient who is sick to run a marathon? That doesn’t mean you could convict her just because she’s manipulative. She’s locked away. She isn’t roaming society. Why is it so important to put her in jail instead of a psychiatric facility?
A_Trap

SO. MANY. ADS.

Amazing work but……so. Many. Ads. My god! Like half the episode is filled with ads.
Money back pls

Just so woke

The wokeness of some of the contributors is hard to listen to.
meagenb26

More Ads than story

I’m very interested in this story and it’s put together well. However, you spend more time listening to Ads than you do the actual story. I’ve never heard a podcast with this many ads in such a small episode time frame. Makes it extremely difficult to listen to.
CSquaredRobertson

Great Story but Lots of Ads

I lived in the area when this occurred, but I didn’t know about it! Gripping story, but the 2 minutes worth of ads at the beginning, twice in the middle, and at the end soured the experience. Be prepared to skip ahead quite a bit. This is the most ads of any podcast I’ve ever listened to….
Emssgame

Commercials Galore

This could have been a 4 episode podcast if not for the commercials. No podcast should be 50% story 50% ads. It’s a shame because Troy’s story deserved more.
AA_0734

Very dumbed down

I understand who Troy is, that he’s been searching for answers for 9 years, and that he is disappointed in the system. How many times does that need to be repeated every single episode?Weak analysis and poor story-telling.
kikianne666

Well told but

4 full minutes of advertisements every 4 minutes leaves me constantly scrambling for the fast forward button. Kind of ridiculous.
HaiImAPerson

Enjoyable but SO MANY ADS

I love this journalist’s work, this in particular a very interesting and well done podcast. However - the amount of ads is ridiculous!!!
Jfhbcfjvdv

Heads up!

I counted…. A 32 minute episode had 19 minutes of commercials…..
Vae the smasher

Heartbreaking and Educational

This podcast has it all! It will take you on an emotional roller coaster from shock, anger, sadness. The story shows how our justice system focuses on the rights of criminals over victims. I hope Troy gets answers the state has failed him.
Christina Jewels

Interesting but….

There are so many ads it makes it impossible to listen to.
chevybaby606

& now a message from our sponsors

There are so many ads
Two Da Loo Magoo

A good podcast, but…

Enough with the pharmaceutical ads! I’m only 1/2 way through the 3rd episode and I’ve heard at least a dozen commercials for the Prevnar vaccine. Lose the Pharma sponsors and change it up a little. The same ad, ad nauseam (pun intended) is annoying.
BDFFSC

Love the show!!!

Actually love Beth!!!! Such an amazing lady. Loved her since early Court TV days.