Ep. 003 | The Sodder Children Mystery

Written By Kelsey Mutch

On Christmas Eve, 1945, George and Jenny Sodder watched their home burn entirely to the ground, presumably with five of their 10 children still inside. Officials ruled that Maurice, Martha, Louis, Jennie, and Betty, who were supposed to be asleep on the third floor, died in the fire, yet not a single bone fragment was found in the rubble.

The Sodders found this unbelievable, as the fire did not burn nearly as long or as hot as a cremation chamber, which still leaves bone fragments behind. So did the children really perish in the fire, or as the Sodder family believed, were they kidnapped from the home before it began? 

Well, this is A Trial by Podcast, so we’ll let you be the judge.

SOURCES:

  • Abbott, K. (2012, December 25). The children who went up in smoke. Smithsonian. Retrieved December 2, 2015, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-children-who-went-up-in-smoke-172429802/

  • Horn, S. (2005, December 23). Mystery of missing children haunts W.Va. town. National Public Radio. Retrieved December 2, 2015, from https://www.npr.org/2005/12/23/4866067/mystery-of-missing-children-haunts-wva-town

  • Charleston Gazette-Mail. (2021, April 28). Sylvia Paxton. Retrieved April 28, 2021, from https://www.wvgazettemail.com/obituaries/sylvia-paxton/article_b9b8d4d2-345c-5a48-9796-d2d5d037b105.html

  • The New York Times. (1945, December 26). 11 children die in 4 home fires; weather man’s Christmas greetings to two cities. Associated Press. Retrieved December 5, 2015, from https://www.nytimes.com/1945/12/26/archives/11-children-die-in-4-home-fires-weather-mans-christmas-greetings.html

  • Sylvia Sodder Paxton Obituary. (2022, December 12). Sylvia Sodder Paxton - View obituary & service information. Retrieved December 12, 2022, from https://www.obitsarchive.com/obituaries/sylvia-sodder-paxton

  • Newton, M. (2009). The encyclopedia of unsolved crimes (pp. 348–350). Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9781438119144.

  • Jackson, N. (1968, December 22). What really happened to children?. Charleston Gazette-Mail. Retrieved December 5, 2015, from https://rootsweb.com/~wvcharle/jackson-122268

  • Stanton, A. (2006, December 24). Where are the children?. Beckley Register-Herald. Beckley, WV. Archived from the original on October 14, 2013. Retrieved December 3, 2015, from https://www.register-herald.com/archives/where-are-the-children

  • Hopkins, A. D. F. (2013, December 23). Christmas Eve tragedy. Charleston Gazette-Mail. Retrieved December 4, 2015, from https://www.wvgazettemail.com/obituaries/christmas-eve-tragedy/article_abc123.html

Kelsey Mutch
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