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It started out as a joyous Christmas Eve at the Sodder home on December 24, 1945. George and Jennie Sodder were spending the festive holiday with nine of their ten children, ages 2 to 18, at their home in Fayetteville, West Virginia. Then a devastating house fire broke out and five of their children - Maurice, 14; Martha Lee, 12; Louis, 10; Jennie, 8; and Betty, 5 - mysteriously perished. Four of their children had escaped; the tenth child - one of their sons - was away in the service at the time. The bodies of the five missing children...

This post was published on 3rd August 2019 The Sodder Family Mystery Posted By: Douglas MacGowan Douglas MacGowan lives on the San Francisco peninsula with his wife, a dog, and far too many cats. He has published eight books in the genre of historic true crime. You can check out his book on the mysterious disappearance of the Sodder children case here. There was nothing extraordinary about Christmas Eve, 1945, for the Sodder household in Fayetteville, West Virginia. The tree was decorated and presents for the nine Sodder siblings were waiting for the following day. Still too excited to sleep,...