It is the kind of case that still feels impossible to comprehend — and yet, more than two decades later, it is back in the spotlight.
Megan Hogg, now 53, has once again been found suitable for parole by a state review board at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. Hogg was sentenced to 25 years to life in 1999 after pleading no contest to three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her daughters: 7-year-old Antoinette, 3-year-old Angelique, and 2-year-old Alexandra.
The crime itself remains one of the most haunting in San Mateo County history.
On March 23, 1998, Hogg duct-taped the mouths and feet of her three young girls and smothered them. After killing them, she attempted to take her own life by drinking hot chocolate laced with 40 different medications. Hogg and the children were later discovered by Hogg’s mother.
Court records over the years have outlined competing narratives about why it happened. According to SF Gate’s reporting on the case, Hogg had struggled with depression following a head injury that caused seizures. Some documents suggested she claimed she killed her daughters to “spare them the problems that she had faced in her own life.”
Prosecutors painted a different picture. According to KRON, they alleged Hogg acted out of anger and jealousy, believing her children loved their grandmother — who had been helping care for them — more than they loved her. At the time, Daly City police officer Patrick Hensley, who responded to the scene, later said Hogg showed “no remorse,” adding that she did not want her daughters taken away by her mother and decided “it was best to kill them.”
It is a crime that defies easy explanation. Three little girls. Duct tape. A kitchen table. And a mother who admitted to doing it.
In 2018, a state prison review board also found Hogg suitable for parole. That decision was reversed by then-Governor Jerry Brown, who blocked her release. The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office strongly opposed parole at the time, arguing that Hogg had reportedly dealt drugs while incarcerated and should remain behind bars.
Now, on Feb. 20, the parole board has once again ruled that Hogg is suitable for release.
The decision has reignited old wounds and divided family members.
According to local reporting, some of the girls’ relatives — particularly from their fathers’ sides — appeared at the hearing. Two opposed Hogg’s release, while one deferred to the board’s judgment. Meanwhile, Hogg’s immediate family members spoke in support of her coming home.
In a statement obtained by KRON, the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office said it “continues to strongly oppose Megan Hogg’s release on parole.”
The final decision now rests with California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has the authority to affirm, reverse, or modify the parole board’s ruling.
For many, the very idea that someone who admitted to binding and smothering her three young daughters could walk free feels almost surreal — a legal twist that seems ripped from a courtroom drama, not real life.
