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

[Mullins]

That's excellent input. I will look forward to hearing what the historian at West Point has to say. Is there any information on his trucking business? Does anyone know the names of the coal companies that he hauled for?

 

[shadowangel]

Haven't heard from the museum, so I'll stop by over the weekend. All my military buddies are skeptical, though. Interestingly, there is a Sodder Coal Co listed on the WV mining website, working mines back into the 1800's. There is also a Sodder Trucking Co still active in the general area of the disappearances. Maybe the wife's family was in the business and the husband took her name when he married? (The article only lists him as an immigrant).

 

[shadowangel]

As suspected, no one has heard of any such device. As I understand it, the phones systems at that time in that area were all directed through a switchboard operator who would announce the call when the receiving party picked up-you could not directly ring into someone's home. Makes me wonder how the family got the call from the unidentifed woman.

 

[Mullins]

I wonder that, too; and if she was only laughing it may have been that the person answering the phone at the Sodder's overheard another conversation...I know with party lines you could sometimes overhear other conversations faintly. Could the napalm grenade have been brought back from another country following the war? I guess that would be nearly impossible to ever verify. I was looking at the mining website you mentioned and saw where the Sodders (not sure if related) own several mines in Raleigh, Fayette, and Kanawha counties. If the men seen traveling through Fayetteville and Charleston with the kids were planning to kill the children and hide the bodies, it's possible I guess that they may have hidden them in an old mine that was not being used. I just don't understand what the motive would have been for that though. It would make more sense for them to have taken them to Italy (if relatives) or sold them etc. for personal gain. So sad to think such....

 

[shadowangel]

Its all so bizarre....the police seeming to have little concern for five missing kids. This one night of all nights the kids are up by themselves, unsupervised. No further mention of the eldest daughter, who was the reason the kids were still up. A device supposedly found which could not exist (napalm was developed in late '42 by the US, and not used by anyone else during the war that I am aware of-and, as I said, rubber would be the LAST thing to make such a device from). Who knows what was going on in that house? Maybe someone thought they were saving the children? Maybe the mother had an inkling of what was about to occur, thus she keeps ONE of the children with her? Children being sold into adoption was, disturbingly, not unheard of in this area, especially in KY and TN just before WWII...However, a connection to the mines seems most likely. The song "16 Tons" isn't far off..."St Peter don't you call me, 'cause I can't go, I sold my soul to the company store"...The mining companies OWNED entire towns, and everything in them-including law enfocement. If the family was working a mine (or for a company) in competion to the local company...

 

[mysteriew]

George Sodder was a 50 yo Italian immigrant, who ran a small coal trucking business.
When did he immigrate to the USA?
OK, it is the end of the war. Could there have been ill will due to the fact that he was Italian? Could a returning vet who served in Italy area have been suffering from "shell shock or PTSD" and decided to retaliate? But could not bring himself to hurt the kids. Or a family member of a vet who was fighting in Italy.
He owned a coal trucking business. Did he have employees? Could he have made a customer mad? Or made the coal company mad?
If someone took the kids, they would have had to leave the area immediately.
Kids would have seen the fire and would have been easy to convince that everyone was burned up in the fire.
One other possibility. What was the toys the sister brought them? Could it have been imitation war toys? The balls of fire reminds me of Moltov cocktails. Could the boys have decided to make their own "grenades"? And then seeing the fire, gathered the girls together and run because they knew they would be in trouble?
It was not unheard of for a 16 yo to get a job and be responsible for his family, so the 14 yo could have lied about his age and the circumstances of how his family ended up alone. If so they probably went to the nearest city.

 

[mysteriew]

Thinking about this overnight, I see several flaws in my theory.
It would have taken a little bit of time for kids to absorb the fire and and come up with a plan on what to do. They would most likely have shouted for the other family members. There is no discussion from the Mother that she even heard the kids, and Moms listen for things like that even if unconciously (sp). Also a group of 5 kids that age traveling together would have been remembered, and probably commented on later.
But this line of thinking brings up another question. Mom and the little girl and the father and 2 older bros. were asleep. Younger kids were up. The noise was enough to wake Mom up, but she doesn't mention hearing the kids. Shouldn't she have heard them? Things are bouncing on the roof, then there is smoke. Kids are curious and easily excitable.
Were they already out of the house when the whatever got thrown on the roof?

 

[Amateursleuth]

Hi! I'm new to posting messages, so please forgive me if I do something wrong. I went to college at WV Tech in Montgomery during the late seventies and travelled through there many times visiting friends. I, too, saw the sign and became intrigued with the case. I'm somewhat familiar with the case, so here is more information for everyone to think about. (I get my info from West Virginia Unsolved Murders.) The oldest daughter, Marion, stayed up later than the other children and fell asleep on the couch. When the mother smelled the smoke, she awakened Marion and had her go to the parents' bedroom and get the youngest child while she attempted to awaken the other children.... There were many suspicious occurrences both during and after that night. One person who acted suspiciously was the fire chief. He even claimed to a by-stander that he had found a human heart and buried it in the ashes. The family heard about this incident and dug up the organ. They took it to an expert, who identified it as a beef liver. Not only wasn't it a human heart, it had never been burned! The liver later disappeared from the expert's house.... The family also recalled a disagreement that they had had a couple months earlier with a man, who threatened their home and their children. The man was upset because the Sodders refused to buy life insurance from him, and he was also upset because Mr. Sodder had been very vocal in his dislike for Mussolini. Mr. Sodder later found out that the man was a member of the coroners jury which ruled the fire as accidental... Many questions were never answered about this case: Where was the ladder that Mr. Sodder insisted was always leaned against the side of the house? Why didn't the two trucks start that night when they worked perfectly the day before? Why was there no sign of the children in the windows during the fire? Why was there no sign of the bodies? (The house only burned 30 - 45 minutes - not long enough to burn the bodies completely.) I guess these questions will never be answered. Does anybody know if any the of the remaining children are still living, and do they still live in Fayette County?

 

[Stacy Horn]

I just read this thread. I have never been so instantly drawn to a case. i have nothing to add, but I want to find out more. Amazing story.

 

[shadowangel]

The billboard caught the attention and imagination of everyone who saw it. The whole story is just too bizarre to be fiction.

BTW, anyone got a good idea for reaching AmatuerSleuth (who posted a couple of messages up)? He/she has no e-mail address listed (and I never saw this post come up). AS seems to have some really good info I never heard before (and I am a WV Tech alum too!!!)

 

[Stacy Horn]

I started looking around last night. The oldest daughter died LAST WEEK. She died on September, 13th. From the obituary I learned that there are two surviving brothers in the area (who I plan to contact). The father died the summer after the 1968 article that was posted in this thread. The mother died as well, but I don't have a date yet.

I contacted someone who particpated in the RootsWeb discussion, who had more information, and he is getting back to me. He's a Dean Emeritus and a former Professor at the University of Dayton who got hooked, so I'm hoping he has some good stuff!

 

[Stacy Horn]

I meant to say, AmateurSleuth got his information from a book. "West Virginia Unsolved Murders" is a book by George and Melody Bragg.

 

[Mr. E]

I can see that this will be one of those cases that will haunt me . . .


Is Sodder a fairly common name in that area? I found this obit -- didn't know if any of those Sodders were from the same family.

http://www.wvgazettemail.com/section/Obituaries/2005-09-13

The obit was for Mary Ann Crowder, whose parents were George and Jennie Sodder, and who had brothers called John F. and Michael Sodder.

 

[shadowangel]

The billboard pictured in articles from the '50s and '60s are not the same as I remember. I remember the billboard having the faces painted along the left side of the billboard. Is it possible someone updated the billboard in the early '70s? (Or, of course, my rememberer is malfunctioning again). I know the sheriff was adamant that the children were completely consumed in the fire.
Stacy-Shadow205 lives in the area, and was talking of travelling through the town for updated information. You might try PMing her to see if she ever did.

quoting Mr. E (that was a great, if short-lived comic, BTW!)--Is Sodder a fairly common name in that area? I found this obit -- didn't know if any of those Sodders were from the same family.
It wasn't all that uncommon...There are a few coal mines still bearing that name, as well as a trucking co. in the area. I believe the family stayed in the business. As I've pointed out, though, George was an immigrant from Italy, I assume he had changed his name upon arriving in the US.

 

[Stacy Horn]

Mr. E, that's the obituary I found! That's them.

I am now offically hooked. I have to write about this. I'm going to see if I can interest someone in this story. This is the kind of thing that drew me to writing The Restless Sleep -- the enduring effects of answered death.

 

[Stacy Horn]

I just "PMed" Shadow205. Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[shadowangel]

I don't know that it would serve as an inspiration, but that area of WV is quite beautiful, especially in the fall. The billboard was close to the town of Hawks Nest, with an amazing view of the New River. The New River Gorge Bridge is also worth a visit. I'm sure there are locals who can give you first-or second-hand accounts of what occured. (No, I don't work for the WV Bureau of Tourism!!!) :angel:

 

[Stacy Horn]

I'm not making this up but I have always wanted to take a raft trip down the New River (and another called the Gauley, I think it is). I have a pile of brochures. It's one of those things that I hope to do before I die. I went to school briefly, in Ohio, and I had to pass through West Virginia, and I thought some of what I saw was some of the most beautiful places I had ever seen. And some were incredibly sad (mining remnants).

 

[shadowangel]

I was born and raised in WV, my family had been there a billion years or so....

There are few cases from there that boggle the mind. My parents had a close friend who lived in a very rural location in Roane Co. He was discovered dead on his front lawn in the mid-'70s. He had been shot, and a rifle belonging to him was found on the front porch. The bullet had entered his lower back, travelled upward through his body and exited out his chest. The best way to visualize it is to imagine the man on all fours, facing way from the house, and someone on the porch firing downward at an angle at the man. He also had various bruises and cuts on the upper portion of his body.
The death was ruled a suicide.

I'm glad I brought the Sodder case up again, by the way.

 

[Shadow205]

I'm not making this up but I have always wanted to take a raft trip down the New River (and another called the Gauley, I think it is). I have a pile of brochures. It's one of those things that I hope to do before I die. I went to school briefly, in Ohio, and I had to pass through West Virginia, and I thought some of what I saw was some of the most beautiful places I had ever seen. And some were incredibly sad (mining remnants).

Stacy,

Well this would be a perfect time to do that rafting. The location where the "Sodder Mystery" took place is less than 20 miles from the greatest rafting in the north east. I am looking for the information that I have on the case and will email you when I find it.