This story is still unresolved
George Sodder is an Italian who migrated to the small American town of Fayetteville. He moved to the United States at the age of 13, but did not like to talk about it and fiercely criticized the actions of Benito Mussolini, who ruled in Italy. In America, George met Jenny, also an Italian. The couple legitimized their relationship and began to fulfill the dream of a big family.
George owned his own small company transporting coal. He was quite famous in his city and never limited himself to statements. He said what he thought. The Sodders had 10 children. The whole family lived in a two-story solid wooden house with seven bedrooms.
On Christmas Eve, back in 1945, the family was looking forward to the holiday. The eldest daughter gave her younger siblings toys. They enjoyed the game and begged their father and mother to go to bed later to play longer.
Jenny agreed, but asked the children to feed the cattle, lock the chicken coop and close the front door. She went to bed herself, but soon woke up to the phone ringing. In the receiver, the woman heard a woman’s voice calling some name and the laughter of another woman in the background. Jenny, thinking that the lady who called just got the wrong number, hung up and went back to bed.
Some time later, Jenny woke up from a strange rumble and thought that something had fallen on the roof. But the sounds stopped. The woman calmed down and fell asleep again. Later, she was woken up by the smell of smoke. She and husband George were horrified to find that their bedroom was in smoke, and the office of the head of the family was already on fire. The Sodders immediately woke up the children and began to take them out of the house.
The Sodders were on the street, as well as their four children: 16-year-old George, 2-year-old baby Sylvia, 23-year-old John and 17-year-old Marion. Five people remained in the house in flames – 9-year-old Louis, teenagers Maurice and Martha, 14 and 12 years old, respectively, 5-year-old little Betty and 8-year-old Jenny. The eldest son was in the army then.
The father went to the barn to get to the second floor by a ladder, but it was not there (later both ladders would be found in a ditch near the family’s home). Then George decided to drive trucks to the construction site, but none of the cars started, although both cars drove perfectly the day before.
An attempt to call the fire department was unsuccessful: the telephone line was damaged. The neighbors also could not contact the firefighters, so one of them personally went to the unit. But the team arrived at the site only at 8 a.m., when there were smoke-filled ashes on the site of the Sodders’ housing.
Heartbroken parents tried to find the remains of the children, but found only strange objects, similar fragments of internal organs and small pieces of bones. It bore little resemblance to parts of human skeletons. The police officers who took up the investigation ordered not to approach the burned house, but George removed the ruins a few days later and leveled them to the ground. A memorial garden with flowers was organized on the site of the burned house.
The story seemed strange, especially to parents. Jenny found out that human bodies simply could not burn to the ground in a fire. There were many other oddities. So, in October, the insurance agent offered the Sodders to conclude a contract with him, and in response to a categorical refusal, angrily reported that the family’s house would burn down, and all the children would be destroyed.
The local coroner later admitted that the cause of the fire was wiring, and the same insurance agent who threatened the Sodders participated in the examination. And a couple of months ago, a stranger offering his services as a handyman pointed out broken fuses. But George contacted the energy company servicing the house and made sure that everything was in order.
Sodders and some other caring people had different versions: the abduction by the mafia of Sicily, which periodically interfered with George’s business, was the revenge of Mussolini’s followers, whose policy the head of the family categorically disliked. Someone saw a car near the house with people watching the children. And a friend of George said that it was not his house that some fireballs were thrown on the fateful night.
After the strange events, some people reported that they allegedly saw children. So, according to one of these reports, young Sodders with four adult escorts were seen at a local hotel. There were other clues, the parents tried to grab on to each, but in vain. They installed a poster near the house with a photo and a promise of a monetary reward for any information.
23 years later, a letter was delivered to the house. It had a photo and short lines. The name of one of the missing was mentioned – Louis Sodder. It also said: “I love Frankie’s brother and the little boys.” Incomprehensible numbers were indicated: A90132 or 35. There was no return address.
The investigation was handled for some time by the local police. A couple of years it was in the turnover of the FBI. A private detective also tried to uncover the secrets. But there were no clues. George died in 1969, and Jenny died two decades later.
She tried to find out something about her children until the last moment. But this story has remained unclear.
