WV WV - Sodder Family - 5 children, Christmas eve 1945 - #4

[danilee]

Checking in on the Sodder case. Such a puzzling tragedy.I don't think the children died in the fire, as there were no bones found. It makes me so sad that this family was torn apart.

 

[Satch]

Here's a link about the case from Wiki. As I understand it, being Wikipedia based, anyone can edit the page. However, the summary seems to be correct. What I have forgotten, if true in the summary, was that it says the Christmas Lights were still on AFTER the fire started. Do other sources confirm this?

http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Sodder_Family

Satch

 

[Hilda Swenson]

Here's a link about the case from Wiki. As I understand it, being Wikipedia based, anyone can edit the page. However, the summary seems to be correct. What I have forgotten, if true in the summary, was that it says the Christmas Lights were still on AFTER the fire started. Do other sources confirm this?

http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Sodder_Family

Satch

And from the MySpace page:

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.

Also from the Wiki article:

"90132" was a postal code for Palermo, Sicily at the time. The Sodders themselves were of Italian descent; the original name was Soddu.

 

[Hilda Swenson]

It would be helpful to get the photo of little Louis age progressed to age 25-30 and compare it with the photo mailed to them.

 

[dogperson]

The article says the detective "vanished". Does that mean he just took off with their money or did he literally disappear?

 

[Satch]

I am fairly certain that the fire was the work of an arsonist, with very possible connections to the Italian Mafia at the time. I recall the telephone wires were cut, which to me indicates sabotage. From what I remember, the ladder that was always in the family garage was missing. But I am not sure about the ladder.

If the story about the insurance agent is true, and this person claimed to have threatened the Sodder family several months before the fire occurred and the children went missing, I would say this was not an accident. I believe it is very likely that the missing children were kidnapped. I don't think they died in the fire.

Satch

 

[deca]

This is one of those "haunting" cases.

One of the things I have wondered about is why none of the children tried to contact their parents later, after they were on their own? Were they told that their parents and siblings died in the fire?

 

[Satch]

This is one of those "haunting" cases.

One of the things I have wondered about is why none of the children tried to contact their parents later, after they were on their own? Were they told that their parents and siblings died in the fire?

I wonder that as well,

Maybe they were told that the rest of the family died in the fire or that if they tried to contact anybody the "surviving" kids and relatives would be killed.

That photograph of what could be Loius is haunting! Do you think it is? What I think is that because so much time has passed, if the children were taken and survived the horror of being kidnapped after all these years, would they try to make a connection to the family? If they didn't and were kidnapped, I believe it was because they were told the rest of the family had died. This is so sad for me even to write this.

I have a question about the Sodder home itself. Was the whole home destroyed by the fire? If not, what if any areas had "minimal damage." Where did the remaining family members live after the tragedy, if the home was destroyed? Also, what did the Sodders do concerning their family history or background that would make them targets of organized crime? (If that is how the fire started and if indeed the children were taken.) It seems that from the way LE responded and treated the family tragedy, that the Sodders for whatever reason, were not welcome in the community.

Satch

 

[necco]

My problem with this being a true Mafia thing is that the is an unwritten rule in the Mafia, and it was more important then, that you don't go after wives and children. You have a problem with a man, you kill the man.

Now, the coal companies had no such unwritten rule. They were horrific and vicious.

 

[mom2six]

Also, what did the Sodders do concerning their family history or background that would make them targets of organized crime? (If that is how the fire started and if indeed the children were taken.) It seems that from the way LE responded and treated the family tragedy, that the Sodders for whatever reason, were not welcome in the community.

Satch

It has been a LONG time since I read through all the threads on this case, but if memory serves, Mr. Sodder had recently been in a dispute about his need to buy insurance. My take on this is that, perhaps, we are not discussing typical insurance, but a form of protection money. He refused to buy, his home is torched. Maybe the kids were still up and disposed of as witnesses elsewhere. I don't know if the responsible party was Mafia or teamsters (wasn't Mr. Sodder in coal transport?) or someone else. I have a hard believing that the children died in the fire with no trace. While it was hastily covered, it was not before there was some examination of the property.

 

[dogperson]

I don't recall if anyone ever said why Mr. Sodder bulldozed the site so quickly. Maybe I'm not remembering this correctly but wasn't someone supposed to come take another look at it? Because I was wondering why he covered it over before they could investigate further.

 

[deca]

I think there were multiple investigations of the site over the years, all approved or instigated by the Sodders. By all accounts, Mr. Sodder spent a lot of time and money over the years searching out leads- so I don't think he was hiding anything by plowing over the site. JMO

 

[dogperson]

I don't think he was hiding anything, at least not unless somebody threatened him and made him do it. I was just wondering why he decided to cover the site. Maybe it was too painful for him to look at?

 

[deca]

It could have been one of those things that after a certain amount of time the city/county makes you take down the rubble because of the danger factor??

 

[dogperson]

I was going by what this article said, although I guess there could be a mistake regarding how soon Mr Sodder did the bulldozing.

"The fire marshal told the Sodder family to leave the site as it was. He said authorities would come back and finish inspecting things later.

But the father, George Sodder, ignored the fire marshal. Less than a week later, he bulldozed four or five feet of dirt onto what was left of his home. The family planted flowers, a shrine to their lost children."

The entire article can be read at this link
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5067563

Maybe at that time he believed his children had burned up in the fire and thought he was burying their ashes. He might not have wanted them disturbed further. The article goes on to say that it was two years later when he saw the photo he believed was Betty.

 

[DrDavies]

Hi All new here, I just wanted to ask some questions. I have limited knowledge of this so bare with me.

1: What links could there be between the fire and Christmas eve? Did the Sodder's drink/smoke? House fires are very common at this time of year for these reasons.

2: Was there additional strain on the electric system, due to christmas lights etc?

3: Was there a Christmas tree lit with candles?

4: My understanding is that the family were catholic, surely they would have attended midnight mass?

5: Are there any plans for the house available online?

6: Has anyone made a timeline of events?

7: How common were wrong numbers at this time?

8: If the family were in any known danger surely the doors would have been locked?

9: Why were the doors not locked? The family had two threats that the house would be burnt down. This sounds like a very dangerous place to live. If there were two threats of this nature, surely there must have been other threats? I'm going to beat you up etc? I've never experienced any threats like the ones claimed and I've lived in London most of my life with the doors firmly locked.

10. Where was the missing ladder?

11. The engines not starting seems strange. Who would have planned in such detail that they would have immobilised them? Was it ever discovered why they wouldn't start? Where engines very difficult to start in those days? i.e finding the biting point could have been very difficult if under any stress.

12. Was there any insurance on the house or the children?

13. What was the house made of?

14. Where did the fire start?

15. How does the seat of the fire correlate to the location of the people who survived and those who died/disappeared.

It would be great to hear the answers to any of the questions.

 

[Hilda Swenson]

:welcome6:

 

[DrDavies]

Hi Hilda

 

[Falcon500]

11. The engines not starting seems strange. Who would have planned in such detail that they would have immobilised them? Was it ever discovered why they wouldn't start? Where engines very difficult to start in those days? i.e finding the biting point could have been very difficult if under any stress.

.

Its not a question of the fire engine not starting. The fire chief, the only available man, did not know how to start the fire engine. Remember that this was during WWII. Any able bodied man was away in the military and the only men left were teenagers and older men. The fire department was nearly non-existent.

The first fire person showed up eight hours later.

This was not the suburban community of today. It was rural West Virginia.

 

[pol100gk]

In December 1945, the Second World War had been over for more than six months. I would assume that most soldiers had come home except for those in the American occupied zone of vanquished Germany.

Wasn't it the Sodder family's own truck that would not start rather than the fire engines? That and the missing ladder that was later discovered at a nearby telephone pole are certainly indicators that someone was on the Sodder's property that night.