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

Welcome to Websleuths!
Click to learn how to make a missing person's thread

DNA Solves
DNA Solves
DNA Solves

New Posts

Status
Not open for further replies.
The 5 missing children were:

Maurice Louis Jenny Martha Betty

They do not list these kids as either living or deceased in any of the family obits. However, "Michael" seems to be the mystery person in this obit. I have a copy of Jenny's obit (mother Jenny, not the daughter) and it lists only her living children as of her death in 1989.
 
LButler said:
The 5 missing children were:

Maurice Louis Jenny Martha Betty

They do not list these kids as either living or deceased in any of the family obits. However, "Michael" seems to be the mystery person in this obit. I have a copy of Jenny's obit (mother Jenny, not the daughter) and it lists only her living children as of her death in 1989.
Click to expand...
...And the surviving were Joe, John, Goerge Jr, Marion, and Sylvia. According to the obit, Marion was "preceeded in death" by John and Michael. It seems most likely that Michael died early on, as George was already fifty when the tragedy occured. I haven't seen any mention that either George Sr or his wife were married previously.

Back to a point I brought previously. The first news article posted in this thread states that the couple had decided to retire from their small coal-trucking business that Christmas Eve. That would be the day before the fire. Possibly something was happening to pressure them out of the business? It seems odd that a 50 year-old with 10 kids, eight of them under 18, would decide to retire. Even if he were turning the business over the oldest boys.
 
shadowangel said:
snip

Back to a point I brought previously. The first news article posted in this thread states that the couple had decided to retire from their small coal-trucking business that Christmas Eve. That would be the day before the fire. Possibly something was happening to pressure them out of the business? It seems odd that a 50 year-old with 10 kids, eight of them under 18, would decide to retire. Even if he were turning the business over the oldest boys.
Click to expand...
That's a very good point. Is there any indication that Mr. Sodder had some sort of health problem that prevented him from continuing to work?
 
Marilynilpa said:
That's a very good point. Is there any indication that Mr. Sodder had some sort of health problem that prevented him from continuing to work?
Click to expand...
The articles don't say, just that the couple had decided to retire. One article from NewspaperArchive.com mentions a report that someone observed the children in the company of four Italian men...How they knew they were Italian, I don't know.
 
I think the article meant that they had decided to retire early as in going to bed early that night. I didn't get the impression anywhere that they were retiring from the trucking company.
 
LButler said:
I think the article meant that they had decided to retire early as in going to bed early that night. I didn't get the impression anywhere that they were retiring from the trucking company.
Click to expand...
That's very possible, its all in the wording of the article. Just a small detail, anyways. :)

And now that I've re-read it, I'm quite sure you are right. (I am man, hear me duh).
I wonder why the mother took the three-year old with her instead of letting her play with the others? Would she normally have slept upstairs with the other children?
 
The whole point of the story is how the kids wanted to stay up later to play with their Christmas toys, but George and Jenny had decided to retire early to bed. That is my interpretation of "retiring early" in the article and the book simply says "the parents decided to retire for the evening to their downstairs bedroom."
 
That'll teach me to actually go back and read the thing instead of trying to go by memory. Like I have any of that left. :waitasec:
 
The book says that Jenny insisted that Sylvia lay down in her bed in the parent's bedroom. I think she slept there everynight for the safety of not having a 2 or 3 year old climbing up and down the stairs. Also, I think Jenny wanted her to go to bed with them because it's 10 pm (late for a baby that age) and the fact that she wouldn't have to worry that the older children were not watching out for her. The article also suggests that the children may have been playing or, at least, going outside because she reminds them to feed the cows and close the chicken coop. Not very good weather for a 3 year old to be out in with a bunch of kids for a chaperon.
 
shadowangel said:
The articles don't say, just that the couple had decided to retire. One article from NewspaperArchive.com mentions a report that someone observed the children in the company of four Italian men...How they knew they were Italian, I don't know.
Click to expand...


hmmm, maybe they didn't talk like hillbilly's!:laugh:
 
Oh, to correct myself, the book says that a woman from Charleston called to report that she had seen the kids in Charleston the day after the fire with an Italian family. My guess is, if this is a true "sighting", the abductors would be speaking Italian so that others couldn't hear their conversation. It's possible that the kids didn't even speak Italian unless George and Jenny taught them. Thus, being called "Italians." Plus, first generation Italians in 1945 would probably been pretty easy to ID.
 
That is correct. The children were seen with an Italian speaking women or family. However, I did read somewhere, I think in a 1967 detective magazine that someone spotted the children with an Italian speaking lady either near Charleston or White Sulpher Springs that night. Remember 1967 was a long time ago so it wasn't exactly last week I read this, but I did read it. Makes you wonder if they were taken out of the country. Does anyone have a copy of the magazine or know where one can be located. I think was a title on the front something like "WV's greatest mystery.

Also if you look on the Fayette County Board a John has posted about comparing the Sodder boy "Louis" with the picture of the man received in 1967 after the detective magazine came out. This man was supposed to be Louis and the posting states with age progression technically someone could conclude to some point if this was Louis or Maurice. I must say it looks a lot like Maurice.
 
fox ... i've found someone via the internet who is doing a search for that detective magazine for me. i'd love to see the article. I've read all the articles and the WV Unsolved Murders story about it probably a hundred times. I can't get away from this story. Do you actually have this magazine? Or, at least a magazine title and date of publication?

I don't have a good copy of the 67 or 68 photo, but from looking at a 75 article featuring the billboard, it does look more like Maurice than Louis. It could be that Maurice's original photo is of a fairly "mature" person and Louis looks so young?

Which Fayette County board did you see the posts from Jonathan? Would like to see that as well.
 
LButler,

Here is the link for the Fayette board that I started a thread on a couple of weeks ago. I have gotten some interesting replies including one from Jonathan Bandy who is a Great-Grandson of George & Jennie Sodder.

http://community.cnhi.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/m/21910077/r/81310238/f/8671088#81310238

LButler said:
fox ... i've found someone via the internet who is doing a search for that detective magazine for me. i'd love to see the article. I've read all the articles and the WV Unsolved Murders story about it probably a hundred times. I can't get away from this story. Do you actually have this magazine? Or, at least a magazine title and date of publication?

I don't have a good copy of the 67 or 68 photo, but from looking at a 75 article featuring the billboard, it does look more like Maurice than Louis. It could be that Maurice's original photo is of a fairly "mature" person and Louis looks so young?

Which Fayette County board did you see the posts from Jonathan? Would like to see that as well.
Click to expand...
 
thanks for the link! I think I have found some family members here in my hometown as well. Oddly enough, a cousin of the missing kids is now married to a cousin of mine. I'm gonna give him a call to see if the family talked about the case, what their theory was... small world.
 
No problem, I will share whatever I find out. As for the other forum, that IS a good one and I have posted there as well. It sounded as though the 1968 photo had been posted somewhere and that's what threw me. PS I'm "hess" on that one.

As for my small world comment earlier, I mentioned this to a lady I've known for years and she also had met one of the siblings in her travels but he seemed very willing to talk about it. Unfortunately, we couldn't pin down exactly which sib she had met.

I'm beginning to believe that the Sodders pretty much knew who took the children, but could get no justice against them. I think the billboard was used as a means to "shame" local law enforcement for not having the grit to stand up against them. Once again, this takes me back to my Mafia theory. I have heard plenty of stories that indicates organized crime was alive and well in the Smithers, Montgomery....area of Fayette County well into the 1960's and 70's. In fact, George and Jenny bought the property in Fayetteville in 1935 (put in her name only) and moved there from Smithers. Martha and Maurice were listed as being born in Smithers on their death certificates and the younger 3 in Fayetteville.
 
LButler said:
fox ... i've found someone via the internet who is doing a search for that detective magazine for me. i'd love to see the article. I've read all the articles and the WV Unsolved Murders story about it probably a hundred times. I can't get away from this story. Do you actually have this magazine? Or, at least a magazine title and date of publication?

I don't have a good copy of the 67 or 68 photo, but from looking at a 75 article featuring the billboard, it does look more like Maurice than Louis. It could be that Maurice's original photo is of a fairly "mature" person and Louis looks so young?

Which Fayette County board did you see the posts from Jonathan? Would like to see that as well.
Click to expand...
I agree with you. It could look more that Maurice because he is older. I thought about that too. No, I do not know where you can find the detective magazine. I know I had a copy when it first came out, however, through many moves it has been lost. I know of one other copy someone had-an aunt of a friend. She sent her copy to "Unsolved Mysteries". When they contacted the eldest brother, John (I think) he did not want to do the story. Probably thought it was another prank or something, since now I read that the baby sister is interested in where the children went. Remember, this was in the early to mid 1990-s and caller ID were just getting started. So perhaps John thought it was a prank. I've been looking on E-bay, willing to pay what it's costs to purchase it, but I have been unable to find it. Remember, until recently you could buy detective magazines-they came out monthly. Some of the younger folks don't know that. I was hooked on detective magazines, still look for old ones at flea markets, etc. but can't seem to locate any old one except on ebay.

As for the man looking like the Sodders, he certainly does. Have tried to decode the message on the back-"Louis Sodder", "I love brother Frankie"
ilil boys, "A90132 or 35". Don't know what it means. Of course, a lot of people could look like the Sodders and it could have been an ugly prank. Only a expert would know for sure. I think I heard or read recently it was mail from Kentucky.

Fayette County Geneology Board has some postings-as well as Jonathan used to have a site. Don't know if Jonathan's site is still there. I put in Sodder family forum and found it a long time ago. Good luck!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

DNASolves

Who is Fairfield County Jane Doe (1993)?

Members online

... and 136 more.
Total: 1,817 (members: 137, guests: 1,680)

Online statistics

Members online
137
Guests online
1,680
Total visitors
1,817
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
605,683
Messages
18,190,861
Members
233,500
Latest member
Nicolelynn92
Back
Top