WV - Sodder Family - 5 children, Christmas eve 1945 - #1

Shadow205 · Jan 8, 2006

mysteriew said:
So likely that the student populations all knew each other. If you post it, you may want to list the fact that he may have gone by the name Louis Sodder as he may also have been given a different name. We don't want anyone dismissing the post because the guy they remember, had a different name.
At the time the pic was sent to the family, how old would Louis have been?[/QUOTE]

Taken from the book WV Unsolved Murders
written by George & Melody Bragg:

In 1968, over 20 years adter the tragedy, the Sodders received yet another mysterious reminder. An envelope arrived addressed to Mrs. Sodder with no return address. Inside she found only a photograph of a young man, 24-28 years old, wearing white pants and a shirt, and sitting in front of a window. On the back of the photograph were these words:
"Louis Sodder"
"I love brother Frankie."
"ilil Boys"
"A90132 or 35"
Mrs. Sodder was convinced that the photograph was of her son Louis Sodder, who was supposed to have died in the fire at the age of nine. The Sodders took the photograph to Charleston in an effort to convince Attorney General Donald Robertson to reopen the case. But the Attorney General was not convinced of the identity of the young man. Determined to follow this lead just as they had so many others, the Sodders again employed a private detective. They paid him in advance and sent him to the town which was listed on the postmark of the letter. They never heard from him again.
Mrs. Sodder was afraid that if the letter or the name of the town was published it could bring harm to her son. She had no choice but to admit defeat. The photograph was enlarged and placed in a frame in front of her fireplace. She took comfort in the belief that although her children were out of her reach, they were still alive.

docwho3 · Jan 8, 2006

fox1950 said:
Does anyone have any why of enhancing the man's photo and posting it. I looked at it under a magnifying glass after I sent it to myself in an email and was able to work with the picture a little. Would take it to Walmart and get it blown up but my printer isn't working.

I posted a couple versions of the mans pic at
http://photos.yahoo.com/docwho3

Look in the album named wvmiss. I was working in screen resolution 800X600 so you might want to view them in that setting on your comp as my old software does not compensate. Try downloading and viewing them in their actual size.
I don't know that I helped the image much.

fox1950 · Jan 8, 2006

Thanks Doc. I can see the one picture clearer now. Don't see the dot below his right eye like I posted before. His eyebows do not look as thick or come together on his fore head between his eyes as the picture of Louis. Could be growth, could also be a fake. I now trend toward it not being Louis, as much as I want to believe it is. Still think there should be age progression done of Louis without the other photo being sent to see how closely it matches. Still think Jonathan and S205 should try to find out who this person is.

Yaya · Jan 9, 2006

Shadow205 said:
Yaya, I edited my post. The number that I have is A90132 or 35.

Thanks Shadow205 for clarifying this, I'm sure the other posts were just typing errors too. But I thought I should ask... just in case.

I have been keeping up with this thread. I had mentioned to Shadowangel that it might be an APO address for the military. My son's military address is APO AE 09354. I was just wondering if the military ever just used A plus a number.

Richard might be able to speak to this issue.

JBandy · Jan 9, 2006

I am curious who was the private detective that my great-grandparents hired to go to the town where the picture was sent from. His "disappearance" is something that my family told me never to go looking for answers.

Now that my grandfather has passed, I do not know how I could find out who this detective is.

Any ideas?

Shadow205 · Jan 9, 2006

I know that on one occasion George used the William Burns Detective Agency. That information is from the report filed by Dr. Marshall T. Newman from the Smithsonian Institute. Someone from that agency occompanied George when he took the vertebrae bones there that were found during the 1949 excavation.

JBandy said:
I am curious who was the private detective that my great-grandparents hired to go to the town where the picture was sent from. His "disappearance" is something that my family told me never to go looking for answers.

Now that my grandfather has passed, I do not know how I could find out who this detective is.

Any ideas?

Shadow205 · Jan 9, 2006

I took that to mean that the Detective skipped out with the money. You mean he actually disappeared? This gets stranger and stranger. I really feel there is so much more to this than any of us realize.

JBandy said:
I am curious who was the private detective that my great-grandparents hired to go to the town where the picture was sent from. His "disappearance" is something that my family told me never to go looking for answers.

Now that my grandfather has passed, I do not know how I could find out who this detective is.

Any ideas?

JBandy · Jan 9, 2006

As of what I understand, yes he just disappeared and was not heard from again. My grandfather also told me of a woman who called and said she had a lead on the story and then she never called again. I am skeptic that this is totally true. My grandfather like I mentioned earlier was scared that someone would hurt us and he did not want me looking for answers.

Granddaughter · Jan 9, 2006

Wow! You guys have been busy. Here's some information from Mom (Sylvia) & Dad.

(1) Mom doesn't have the original photo. She only has a copy, so the quality is not terrific. The original was much clearer. She recalls seeing casement windows in the background of the photo.

(2) She recalls the handwriting on the back of the photo differently than what was in the Bragg book. Since she doesn't have the original, she can't confirm this.) She recalls the first two lines the same as reported, but the last two as:

lilil boys (they always thought this was meant to be slang for "little boys")
Age 32 or 35

(3) Louis would have been 31 years old in 1968. The photo does resemble younger pictures of Joe slightly. However, it is not a strong resemblance.

(4) Mom and Dad were involved with much of my grandparents' investigations. Dad went with my Papa (grandfather) when he met with the private investigator. Mom and Dad went to Central City, KY, on a Sunday to look around and ask whether anyone knew the man in the photo. They were not able to find anyone who knew the young man. My grandparents were afraid that harm might come to Mom and Dad, so they did not want my parents to go to the newspapers or anything. They wanted that work to be done by the private investigator. Dad called and spoke with the private investigator some time after the initial contact, and he gave Dad the "these things take time" speech. My parents' impression is that he took the money and never followed through.

(5) Mom and Dad are not aware of any age progression analysis being performed. I don't think my grandparents even knew this was possible. Jonathan, do you have any more information on that?

(6) Mom found her copies of two detective magazines which reported on the story: Master Detective (March 1967) and Inside Detective (February 1968). I will get the magazines from Mom and Dad and scan the stories. I won't be able to post them until tomorrow.

mysteriew · Jan 9, 2006

I just googled lilil boys. It seems that lilil is a name???? maybe Italian?

One really weird site, entitled TheTown of Natural Opportunities" Boys, and Qirls written in a mix of Italian and English. I recognize 'A strange case" but otherwise, well I don't read italian.
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache.../AtlCoRecord/ACR01281911.pdf+lilil+boys&hl=en

A designer by the name of Lilil Gaufrette who designs children's clothes.

Are there any Italian surnames that might have been shortened to the last name 'boys'?

Stacy Horn · Jan 9, 2006

Granddaughter, didn't you copy the detective magazine article I brought with me? It's back in NY, so I don't know offhand which one it was.

Jonathan, I started a list of the private detectives that were hired by your grandparents. The ones I have so far, and the approximate date they were hired:

O. C. and C. C. Tinsley, private detectives (1947)
George Swain, Charleston private detective, American Detective Agency (1948)
William Burns Detective Agency (1949)
Troy Simmons, private detective (1950)
Joe Carter, a private detective in Tampa (1951)
Dave Fisher aka O.D. Fisher, private detective (1951)
Doyle Wiant, a private investigator? (1959)

shadowangel · Jan 10, 2006

Just so I don't have to sort through 20 pages of posts, are the childrens' birthdates posted anywhere?

Was the writing on the back of the Louis photo ever copied? It would seem the writing is open to interpretation at this point.

Shadow205 · Jan 10, 2006

I don't think that I have ever seen all of the acutal birth dates, just ages at the time of the fire. Maybe Granddaughter or JBandy can help out? Also LButler might have them, I know that she/he did some research at the court house and located the death records that are on file there.
Recently someone asked about a woman who supposedly saw the 5 kids the day after the fire. I found this is a post by LButler. It was taken from a newspaper article and is from post #70.
A Smithers woman claimed that the kids had been brought to her home after the fire and then someone with Florida license plates came and took them away.
I don't know if this is the same woman that the authorities claim to have talked to and decided that she was not credible or not.

shadowangel said:
Just so I don't have to sort through 20 pages of posts, are the childrens' birthdates posted anywhere?

Was the writing on the back of the Louis photo ever copied? It would seem the writing is open to interpretation at this point.

shadowangel · Jan 10, 2006

The reason for the question about the writing on the back of the picture...I have seen the one line posted as "ilil boys", and also as "lilil boys". Could it have been a simple "lllll boys", or "five boys"? (Joe, John, George Jr, Maurice and Louis).

T'sNana · Jan 10, 2006

It very well could....thanks for pointing that out!

shadowangel said:
The reason for the question about the writing on the back of the picture...I have seen the one line posted as "ilil boys", and also as "lilil boys". Could it have been a simple "lllll boys", or "five boys"? (Joe, John, George Jr, Maurice and Louis).

Shadow205 · Jan 10, 2006

I don't know if this has been posted before, if it has I'm sorry for posting it again. George Sodder did change his name when he came into America from Italy. It was "Soddu". I have been using the variation in my searching too. The only thing confusing about this info is that it states that he married Maria Cipriani in stead of Jennie Cipriani. Maybe her name was Maria Jennie or Jennie Maria? Other than that, it looks like that was posted by a relative in Italy.

I found this on a genealogy message board:

Re: Family History
Author: adelaide Date: 23 Aug 2003 12:45 PM GMT
Surnames: Dessena Adelaide Ignazia Lalla
Classification: Query

Our grand father Salvatore Soddu had a brother, is name was Giorgio, he goes in USA west virginia in beginning 1900, he was 16 years old.He changed his surname in Sodder, we have a photo of George family (1960),he had five soons,and his wife's name was Maria Cipriani. We live in Italy, Sardegna in a little village Tula in Sassari's provincia. We are Ignazia,Adelaide e Lalla Dessena our mother is Anna Maria Soddu.Sorry for our english. Is the person that you are looking for? bye bye

mysteriew · Jan 10, 2006

LOL, Grandaughter. Looks like Shadow205 may have found some of your relatives.

shadowangel · Jan 10, 2006

"Jennie" may have been a name she took upon immigrating here.

Mussolini's Vice Minister of War prior to WWII was Umbaldo Soddu. He was appointed by Mussolini to lead the offensive against Greece in '40-'41. I've read here that one of the theories of what may have happened to the children involved supporters of Mussolini.

Just thinking out loud, once again.

Shadow205 · Jan 10, 2006

Yep, I think that I did! Now my question is, has anyone kept in touch with any of the family in Italy? Grandaughter or Jonathan, perhaps you can answer that.

Granddaughter · Jan 10, 2006

You guys amaze me! I'm feeling all proud because I have some information you wanted yesterday, and now you're five miles ahead. I'll post more later, but for now, here's where I left matters yesterday.

Here's a better version of the photo Mama received in 1968. Mom had it enhanced at Walmart, and I figured out a bette rway to scan it:

[/IMG]

Also, here are the two detective magazine articles. When I converted the file from pdf to JPG, it saved each page separately, and I'm out of time to trouble shoot. So ... you'll receive the pages in a series of four posts (Sorry, Stacy - you did give us the one article when you were in. Mom and I were shell-shocked enough at the time of your visit that we forgot all about it until you sent the message yesterday. Just think of all the hours in the attic Mom could have saved if either of us had half a brain left!)

WV - Sodder Family - 5 children, Christmas eve 1945 - #1

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