On Christmas Eve of 1945, a fire destroyed the Sodder family home in Fayetteville, West Virginia, leading to the disappearance of five of their nine children present that night: Maurice, 14; Martha, 12; Louis, 9; Jennie, 8; and Betty, 5. The fire, which started around 1 a.m. on Christmas Day, quickly engulfed the two-story house. George and Jennie Sodder, along with four of their children, managed to escape the blaze.
However, the five other children, who were sleeping in the upstairs bedrooms, were never seen again.
In the months leading up to the fire, the Sodder family had experienced a series of unusual events. A stranger, who had come looking for hauling work, pointed out to George Sodder that two fuse boxes in the house were "going to cause a fire someday," despite the wiring having been recently inspected and deemed safe. Another man, angered by George's outspoken criticism of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, had threatened that his "goddamn house is going up in smoke" and his "children are going to be destroyed". Just before the fire, around 12:30 a.m., Jennie Sodder received a strange phone call from a woman she didn't know, asking for a person who didn't live there.
The night of the fire was plagued by a series of strange occurrences that hampered rescue efforts. The family's phone line was discovered to have been cut, preventing them from calling for help. A ladder that George always kept propped against the house was missing and later found down an embankment. Furthermore, both of George's trucks, which he intended to use to create a makeshift ladder, failed to start. The Fayetteville Fire Department, located only two and a half miles away, didn't arrive until 8 a.m., long after the house had been reduced to ashes. The fire chief cited his inability to drive the fire truck as a reason for the delay.
The official investigation concluded that the fire was caused by faulty wiring, and death certificates for the five missing children were issued, citing "fire or suffocation" as the cause of death. However, no remains of the children were ever found in the ashes of the home. This lack of evidence led George and Jennie Sodder to believe their children had not perished in the fire but had been kidnapped, with the fire being a deliberate act of arson to cover the crime. The family's suspicions were further fueled by reports of sightings of the children in the area after the fire. They erected a billboard along State Route 16 with pictures of the five children, offering a reward for any information that could lead to their recovery.
In 1949, George Sodder conducted an excavation of the fire site with the help of a pathologist. The search uncovered a few bone fragments, identified as human vertebrae. However, a report from the Smithsonian Institution concluded that the bones belonged to an individual aged 16 or 17, which was older than the eldest missing Sodder child, Maurice. Some accounts mention that the bones showed no signs of being exposed to fire, leading to speculation that they may have been planted at the scene.
A significant development in the case came in 1968 when the Sodders received a photograph in the mail of a young man in his mid-twenties who bore a resemblance to their son Louis. On the back of the photo was a cryptic message: "'Louis Sodder' 'I love brother Frankie.' 'ilil Boys' 'A90132' or possibly 'A90135.'". Convinced it was their son, the Sodders hired a private investigator to look into the matter, but he disappeared after taking their money. George and Jennie Sodder continued to search for their children for the rest of their lives, but the case remains unsolved. The fate of the five Sodder children continues to be a subject of speculation, with theories ranging from a tragic accident to a sinister kidnapping plot possibly involving the Sicilian Mafia in retaliation for George's anti-Mussolini sentiments.Last Seen: Dec 24, 1945
