This is the last page on which I have info at this time. It is typed, but the name "Sgt. Reger" is handwritten at the top. I'm not sure who wrote it. It says that the following info was received at Dept. Headquarters Feb. 18, 1952 from Mr. John Woodruff, Special Agent, FBI.
"On Sept. 20, 1949, George Sodder was in Washington, D.C., and at that time reported this matter to the FBI. He related all the facts and background in the case, which are already known, but in conclusion he stated that he had received no threats, no ransom notes, and had no evidence of kidnapping, and at that time nothing was said about the possibility of the children being in Florida.
"On Sept. 10, 1951, Mr. Archie L. Wyley, a private detective of Tampa Patrol Detective Association, Tampa, Florida, reported this case to the Miami Office of FBI, and gave the background of the case, which is already known.
"At that time he stated that he had been hired by letter by the West Virginia Merchant Police, of Charleston, West Virginia, to investigate this case. He related that five children of Mr. and Mrs. George Sodder, who were reported burned to death in a fire at Fayetteville, West Virginia, on Christmas Eve, 1945, and that information had been developed which indicated that these children had been kidnapped and were now living with the family of Frank Cipriani. He believed the children had been kidnapped and taken to Florida.
"On continued questioning, Wyley finally admitted that he was confident two of the children who reside in the home of Cipriani, and that Martha Lee Cipriani was actually a daughter of Frank Cipriani instead of being Martha Lee Sodder as originally reported.
"The FBI investigation included a check of birth records and school records dating back to 1940 and 1941. These checks reflected that the four children in Florida living with Mr. and Mrs. Frank Cipriani are all natural born citizens of the Ciprianis. The school records reflect that these children were in school, some of them back to 1941, and the records were traced all the way through to 1951 and there is no break in their attendance in Florida schools.
"Frank Hall Cipriani, an 8th grade student at Manatee County Junior High School, Bradenton, Florida, Martha Lee Cipriani, a student of the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, and Mrs. Frank Cipriani, Cortez, Florida, were all individually interviewed and they told exactly the same story. The facts were that the Ciprianis were residing at Cortez, Florida, and that the children were playing with neighbor children on Christmas Day, 1945, and when they came in they learned that their father and mother were very unhappy because they had received a telegram from West Virginia advising that the home of the Sodder family had burned the night before and five of the children burned to death. None of the Ciprianis went to West Virginia for the funeral and they had no direct contact with the family until about a year later."
