Disappearance Of The Sodder Children

GONE ON CHRISTMAS EVE: 

THE SODDER CHILDREN DISAPPEARANCE OF 1945

What really happened to the five Sodder youngsters? 

Location

A push to Fayetteville, West Virginia is nothing short of inspiring. Jagged roads pass dark forests of sycamore and ash that cling to the ridged strides of the Appalachian Mountains. Around one corner, near the community of Hawk’s Nest, is a kitschy reminder of roadside Americana, the Mystery Hole. Arriving Fayetteville itself, you cross the stunning New River Gorge Bridge, a 3,030-foot steel bend that spans the cold waters of the New River.

Billboard

But for decades, visitors arriving into Fayetteville were treated to a far more depressing site: a billboard displaying the photos of five children and a plaintive appeal from their parents wanting news about their luck.

The accepted justification of the disappearance of the Sodder children—Maurice, Martha, Louis, Jennie, and Betty, aged 5 to 14—is that they died in a flame that consumed the Sodder family residence on Christmas Eve 1945. The alternative opinion entertained by the Sodder parents, the Sodder children who survived the fire, and an active network of learner detectives, is that the children were abducted from the burning home as revenge against the family.

Happy Family

George and Jennie Sodder were both Italian migrants, although only George, who entered when he was 13, spent an observable amount of time in his home region. The couple was a bright representation of the American dream; George went from working railways in Pennsylvania to controlling a small trucking company in West Virginia. He and his spouse had 10 children and resided in a two-story home almost north of Fayetteville, where many Italian strangers and their offspring had settled.

George, the papa, was many things—a strong worker, a genuine family man—but he never shied away from transferring his opinions. He often spoke his objection of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, who was recognized by some pre-World War II Italian Americans as an example of strength who had made Italy excellent again. Disagreements with other Italian Americans were popular, and the family admitted that during the conflict years, George was the subject of warnings.

On Christmas Eve 1945:

The family was enjoying with nine of their 10 children. War was passed, which indicated that the senior son Joe would shortly return from the military. Daughter Marion had bought gifts for the youngest Sodder siblings with a salary from a new job. At night, five of the Sodder youngsters retired to the upstaattictti.

In the middle of the darkness, around 1 a.m., Jennie Sodder awoke to a boom on the roof followed by a rolling sound. She glid back to sleep but awoke 30 minutes later to the sense of smoke. It wasn’t long before she realized a flame burning from a fuse box in George’s office. The Christmas lights still twinkled in the living room downstairs, and the youngsters were still sleeping in the attic.

The Mystery

George, Jennie, Marion, two-year-old Sylvia, and two of the elder Sodder boys ran out of the house; one of these boys, John Sodder, originally claimed that he went upstairs to wake his siblings. He later altered his testimony, telling he had only called up to them.

The fire could not have appeared at a more terrible time. It was Christmas and the middle of the darkness; the city of Fayetteville was shut down. Many regional men were still in the army, and the fire headquarters was hardly staffed.

In addition, a sequel to unusual difficulties made rescue impossible. A huge ladder, usually stored against an external wall, had disappeared. The water in the water container was frozen and the phone line was down. George Sodder attempted to start his trucks, so he could place below the attic window, climb up on the top, and rescue the children. But the engines wouldn’t turn on, despite working excellent earlier that week. Desperately, George rushed the walls and broke open an attic window, scraping his arm in the method. Even still, he could not enter the upstairs bedroom.

Heartbroken, the Sodder family saw as their house and, they understood, their five children burned through the darkness.

The fire unit didn’t arrive until eight o’clock the next morning. One explanation for the lateness? Fayetteville’s fire chief F.J. Morris, who could not drive his own unit’s fire truck. A cursory two-hour investigation ensued, even though fire inquiries often lasted days or even weeks. No bones were discovered, and the Sodders were informed their children must have burned away entirely. Later, George Sodder, incapable to undergo the sight of his damaged home, used a bulldozer to bury what vanished under five feet of dirt.

Investigation

In the following weeks, the Sodders came to believe their children had, in fact, been abducted —perhaps by Mafia units, who resented George’s anti-Mussolini rants. The lost house ladder was found tossed into a nearby valley. Detectives believed the fire was the reaction of faulty wiring, even though George previously had an electrician rewire the home and the Christmas lights remained on as the fire burned. A nearby hotel holder declared to have hosted odd lodgers wandering with a set of youngsters. After talking with a local crematorium worker, Jennie Sodder concluded there was no way the children’s bones could have been eliminated. 

The Sodders hired a special investigator, who soon uncovered a shocking clue. Fayetteville’s fire chief F.J. Morris had clearly found a heart among the ashes of the home. He privately stored the heart in a packet and then buried it. The tip was originally admitted to a minister, who confirmed the report to George Sodder.

When confronted with the charge, Morris confessed to the story. He brought Sodder to the area where he buried the remains. Indeed, a box was buried in the floor with some meat inside, but a regional funeral director announced it was a new beef liver that had never been exposed to extreme warmth. 

Many point to this shocking twist as proof that Morris was clearly trying to satisfy the Sodders that their kids had died in the fire, throwing them off of the children’s real fortune. In an understanding, the concept may be true—Morris may have been attempting to assure the Sodders that their youngsters died that night. But it wasn’t because he was hiding an abduction. Rather, he was hiding his own incompetence.

By the chief’s own access, he could not run his department’s fire truck. The short two-hour examination on Christmas morning was hardly reasonable. And George Sodder may well have put in the Sodder children’s remains too deeply when he bulldozed soil over the smoldering wastes of the house. 

Still Unsolve?

The Sodders themselves never rejected the hypothesis that their children had been abducted. Billboards and advertisements begged after their futures. In 1967, a picture was sent to the Sodders, alleging to describe a now matured little Louis, although this may have been a cruel joke flirted on a family whose awful story had by then become nationwide news. Although many follow-ups on different tips have generated little to no substantive improvements, the abduction theory remains to this day.

Published In:Real Unsolved Mysteries