sodder (2024)

FAQs

Is the Sodder family solved? ›

The mystery of the vanished Sodder children has never been solved, but the cold case has haunted this small town for decades.

During the fire, George, Jennie, and four of the nine children escaped. The bodies of the other five children have never been found. The surviving Sodder family believed for the rest of their lives that the five missing children survived. Fayetteville, West Virginia, U.S.

Explanation: Several theories involve the children being kidnapped rather than dying in the fire. Motives could range from local disputes to the possibility of involvement from the Sicilian Mafia due to George Sodder's outspoken criticism of Mussolini.

Everyone can agree on the facts: One of the adult-aged children was living away from the home. When the home burned to the ground, George and Jennie Sodder escaped with four of their 10 children. The other five children never made it out of the home, and investigators declared them deceased in the blaze.

He died on 16 August 1969, in Fayetteville, Fayette, West Virginia, United States, at the age of 71, and was buried in High Lawn Memorial Park, Oak Hill, Fayette, West Virginia, United States.

Backstory and Context. On December 25, 1945, around 1:00am, George and Jennie Sodder woke up to find their Fayetteville, WV home in flames. Of their ten children, nine were home that night; a son was away in the army.

Shortly after midnight, the children's mother, Jenny Sodder, was awakened by the ringing phone. When she answered, the female caller on the other end asked to speak to someone Jenny did not know, then laughed and hung up.

You are going to be paid for the dirty remarks you have been making about Mussolini.” George was indeed very open about his disdain for the fascist dictator, which had inevitably left some hard feelings in a predominantly Italian-immigrant community. He did not take the threat seriously.

George and Jennie Sodder were famously known as the parents of the Sodder kids. George came from Italy in 1895 and later married Jennie. They eventually settled in Fayetteville, West Virginia, and welcomed 10 kids.

However, their sons, 14-year-old Maurice and nine-year-old Louis, and daughters,12-year-old Martha, eight-year-old Jennie, and five-year-old Betty, who slept in two upstairs bedrooms, were not there.

When was Maurice Sodder born? ›

Brief Life History of Maurice Antonio

When Maurice Antonio Sodder was born on 8 July 1931, in Smithers, Fayette, West Virginia, United States, his father, George Sodder Sr., was 33 and his mother, Jennie Cipriani, was 28. He lived in Fayette, West Virginia, United States in 1935.