UPDATE: The Sodder Children
In 2019, we covered the Sodder children, five siblings who vanished after their family’s home burned down on Christmas morning in 1945. Officials said they died in the fire, but no bodies were ever found. And now, with new information from a family descendant, we’re taking another look at what happened when their parents started asking questions, and why the family spent decades believing the children may have survived.
The Sodder children. From top left to bottom right: Maurice, Martha, Louis, Jennie Irene, and Betty.
Courtesy: Miranda Weeks
Jennie Sodder with one of her older children
Courtesy: Miranda Weeks
An older photo of George Sodder
Courtesy: Miranda Weeks
Jennie Irene Sodder
Courtesy: Miranda Weeks
Maurice Sodder
Courtesy: Miranda Weeks
Martha Sodder
Courtesy: Miranda Weeks
Louis Sodder
Courtesy: Miranda Weeks
Betty Sodder
Courtesy: Miranda Weeks
Jennie and George Sodder looking at a reward board for their children.
Courtesy: Miranda Weeks
A missing persons flyer for the Sodder children
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
The site of the Sodder family home, which the family turned into a memorial garden after the fire.
Courtesy: Miranda Weeks
Miranda Weeks, a great-great-granddaughter of one of the older Sodder children.
Courtesy: Miranda Weeks
Timeline:
10:30 p.m.
The younger Sodder children stay up late to play with their Christmas gifts while Jennie and George Sodder prepare for bed.
12:30 a.m.
Jennie answers a phone call from a woman asking for someone she does not know. Afterward, Jennie notices the lights are still on, and the door is unlocked, so she locks up and returns to bed.
Shortly after 12:30 a.m.
Jennie hears a thud on the roof followed by a rolling sound.
1:00 a.m.
Jennie wakes to the smell of smoke and discovers the office on fire. George, Jennie, Marion, Sylvia, John, and Ted escape, but Maurice, Martha, Louis, Jennie, and Betty are missing.
Around 8:00 a.m.
The fire department arrives. By then, the Sodder home has been destroyed.
Around 10:00 a.m.
The fire chief tells the Sodders that searchers have found no bodies or bones in the wreckage. Eventually, the fire is ruled accidental, likely caused by a wiring problem in the office.
The fire marshal’s investigation begins.
Jennie’s brother uses a bulldozer to fill in the basement, and the Sodders turn the site into a memorial garden.
Death certificates are issued for the five missing children despite no remains having been recovered.
The Sodders arrange a new excavation of the former home site. Investigators find four human lumbar vertebrae from one person, but experts determine the bones had not been exposed to fire.
Fayetteville, West Virginia
The town where the Sodder family’s home was located, which was the site of the Christmas morning fire. The property was later turned into a memorial garden.
Charleston, West Virginia
A kidnapping theory points to a hotel in Charleston where children believed to resemble the Sodder children may have been seen shortly after the fire.
Cortez, Florida
Home to Jennie’s brother and the focus of a lead that the missing children may have been living with relatives. The FBI investigated the lead in 1952 but did not locate the Sodder children.
TIPS:
If you have information that you believe could be related to the disappearance of the Sodder children, please contact us at [email protected] or Miranda Weeks at [email protected].
We’d love to speak with you and see how we can support.
If you’re a law enforcement agency or family member of one of the people we mentioned in this episode, or if you’re looking for more coverage on a case, please reach out. You can email us at:
Episode Source Material
- Original reporting by Mallika Dhaliwal.
- Associated Press. “Her Search Has Lasted 34 Years.” Bluefield Daily Telegraph, 26 Dec. 1979.
- Associated Press. “Parents Believe Youths Survived Fayetteville Fire.” Raleigh Register, 14 Nov. 1948.
- “Big Billboard Brings Back 1945 Mystery.” Baltimore Sun, 15 Sept. 1953.
- “Bone Analysis Again Spurs Search for 5 Sodder Tots.” Charleston Gazette, 18 Oct. 1949.
- Donnelly, Shirley. “Sodder Corrects Detail on 1945 Tragedy.” Beckley Post-Herald, 28 Jan. 1963.
- Donnelly, Shirley. “Sodders Still Seek 5 Children They Lost.” Beckley Post-Herald, 12 Jan. 1963.
- Emmett, Michael. “Famous Billboard Riddled With Bullet Holes.” Raleigh Register, 19 Aug. 1976.
- Emmett, Michael. “Fayette Mother Still Hoping Missing Children Will Be Found.” Beckley Post-Herald, 11 July 1976.
- Emmett, Michael. “Fayette Woman Still Presses Probe for Missing Children.” Charleston Daily Mail, 20 Aug. 1976.
- “Father Begins Search of Burned Home Today for Children’s Bodies.” Raleigh Register, 18 Aug. 1949.
- “Fayetteville Remembers.” Hinton Daily News, 27 Dec. 1960.
- “Five Children Die in Early Christmas Fire.” State Sentinel, 26 Dec. 1945.
- “Five Die in Fire At Fayetteville.” Fayette Tribune, 26 Dec. 1945.
- “Flames Raze Seven-Room Home Christmas Morning.” Beckley Post, 26 Dec. 1945.
- “Fire Department Was Called, Says Miller, Visitor.” Fayette Tribune, 27 Dec. 1945.
- Haught, Helen. “Sodder Tragedy Saddens Holiday.” Charleston Gazette, 16 Dec. 1956.
- “Homesite Is Burial Place for Five Children; Portion of One Body Found.” Montgomery News, 28 Dec. 1945.
- “Homesite Is Burial Place for Five Sodder Children; Portion of One Body Found.” Fayette Tribune, 28 Dec. 1945.
- “Human Bones Found in Fire Debris.” Charleston Daily Mail, 19 Aug. 1949.
- “Inquest Set for Today in Deaths of Five Children.” Beckley Post-Herald, 27 Dec. 1945.
- Kady, John T. “Miner Still Believes Children Kidnaped, Not Victims of Home Fire 15 Years Ago.” Cumberland Times, 25 Dec. 1960.
- Kennedy, Joe. “Still Burning: Were the Sodder children kidnapped? Or did the fire kill them? The mystery smolders in Fayette County, W.Va.” Roanoke Times, 7 Oct. 1984.
- Morgan, John G. “Ex-Marshal Brophy, Famous Investigator, May Probe Fire and Fate of Five Children.” Charleston Gazette, 18 Mar. 1949.
- Morgan, John G. “Fayette Family Seeks 5 Children Some Believe Dead.” Charleston Gazette, 14 Nov. 1948.
- Morgan, John G. “Funds Asked to Investigate 3-Year-Old Fayette Mystery.” Charleston Gazette, 27 Apr. 1949.
- Morgan, John G. “Human Bones Revealed in Fayette Fire Ruins.” Charleston Gazette, 28 Aug. 1949.
- Morgan, John G. “Six Bones Unearthed in Fire Ruins ‘Look Human’ to Washington Expert.” Charleston Gazette, 19 Aug. 1949.
- Morgan, John G. “Sodder to Sift Ashes of Burned Home in Effort to Verify Deaths of Five.” Charleston Gazette, 18 Aug. 1949.
- “Nationwide Hunt for Clues Possible in Mystery of Five Children and Fire.” Charleston Gazette, 31 Jan. 1949.
- “Parents of Five Fayetteville Children Believed Burned to Death Not Convinced by Discovery of Bones in Ashes.” Beckley Post-Herald, 19 Aug. 1949.
- “Parents Use Billboard to Hunt 5 Kids.” Bluefield Daily Telegraph, 13 Sept. 1953.
- “Pathologist to Report Findings of Bones Found in Fayetteville Ruins.” Raleigh Register, 19 Aug. 1949.
- Rannells, Jack. “Where Did Children Go? Famed Disappearance Case May Have Davenport Link.” Santa Cruz Sentinel, 8 May 1959.
- “Remains of Five Children Sought in Ruins of Home Demolished by Fire Xmas Morning.” Beckley Raleigh Register, 26 Dec. 1945.
- “Sodder Case Is Dropped by Charleston Detective.” Beckley Post-Herald, 9 Sept. 1949.
- Wilson, Ermel J. “Search for Sodder Children Renewed; Billboard Erected at Scene of Fire.” Beckley Post-Herald, 10 Sept. 1953.
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