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 were never found, and their grief-stricken parents spent the rest of their lives looking for them.
They initially believed their children had burned in the fire, but when no remains were recovered at the scene, they suspected something nefarious had happened.
They offered thousands of dollars in reward money, hired private investigators, and traveled across the nation - New York, Kentucky, Florida - following leads, but to no avail.
Since then the mystery has led to fears, speculation and conspiracy theories about possible motives for the missing children.
Sylvia was the youngest of the Sodder children to survive the fire. On the night of the blaze, her older sister, Marian 'Mary Ann,' 18, rescued her from the blazing inferno.
In April 2020, Sylvia died from Alzheimer's and was the last living Sodder child, according to her daughter, Jennie Henthorn.
Henthorn told Daily Mail her mother rarely spoke about the night her siblings disappeared, partly because she was only two when the horrifying fire took place. But she said the mysterious disappearance stuck with the family.
'My grandparents never had a resolution and were never satisfied that they knew what happened to their children,' Henthorn said.' This haunted them, and they never got away from it.'
The fire broke out at 1 am at their home after a special evening of holiday cheer.
As the flames spread, Henthorn's aunt Marian rescued her mother from her grandparents' bedroom on the main floor of the two-story home.
Her uncle Ted and uncle John, whose bedrooms were on the second floor, also managed to get out, but their five other siblings were nowhere to be seen.
Henthorn said that her mother's only memory of the night was being in the front seat of one of her father's trucks.
She recalled how distraught her grandparents were when they couldn't get to their children, and remembered her grandfather cut his arm very badly when he was trying to get into the burning house.
She said her mother recalled being scared because he father was hurt and he was bleeding.
It was a very cold night, and her mother sat between her parents in the truck as they waited for the fire department to arrive.
She said her aunt Marian ran to the nearest neighbor and tried to call the fire department, but the phone lines were down, and the operator wasn't available to connect the call until much later.
The fire department arrived the next morning on Christmas Day, and the fire marshal eventually followed.
Henthorn did not believe anything nefarious took place. She said, 'It was just one of those nights that nothing went right.'
'It was Christmas Eve. The weather was crappy. The war had just ended. One of my uncles still hadn't made it home from the war,' she said.
George and Jennie Sodder were both from Italy. They met in West Virginia where they wed ane would eventually have a large family
The aftermath of the fire that shows the devastation but no human remains were ever found
Sylvia Sodder was one of the surviving Sodder children. She was only two when five of her siblings vanished. Her dark hair, eyes, and brows bear a striking resemblance to theirs
Though there were no bodies, no bones or remains found, the authorities concluded that faulty wiring was the cause of the fire and the reason why the children had died, the Smithsonian Magazine reported.
However, the Sodders suspected something was amiss and began their own investigations. George hired a private investigator, and Jennie would do her own analysis.
'My grandmother would do these little experiments on her cook stove, where she would put chicken and beef bones, but no matter what she did, there were always bones still left,' Henthorn said.
'She couldn't understand why no one had found any remains of her children.'
'They had no reason to believe that they perished in the fire, so the only possibility, the only other option, is that somehow they were taken that night.'
Over the decades, many theories surfaced, though none have been confirmed, including that their children were kidnapped. George Sodder was very outspoken during Mussolini's rule, and some people did not like it.
The Sodders believed that someone may have set the fire intentionally to take their children.
Another theory was that the children were cremated by the fire since there were no bones.
There had also been sightings of the children that were never proven. One woman claimed she saw the children in another state. Another claimed she served them in a restaurant.
Bob Bragg, author of 'No Direct Evidence: The Story of the Missing Sodder Children,' spent seven years researching every lead in the case.
As a native of West Virginia, he said he was always intrigued by the case. 'Today marks 80 years since the Sodder children vanished,' he said.
'It is one of West Virginia's most famous and enduring mysteries.'
At the time of the fire, George was running a successful freight business, and two of his sons were working for him. He did very well, Bragg said, and he also bought a coal mine.
According to Bragg, George knew that the Mafia was trying to extort money from him when they wanted him to take out insurance policies on his children, or when they told him to increase his homeowners' insurance.
Bragg said George would not be intimidated and told them,'How I live my life is none of your business.'
The author said that it was then that George was told that 'his house would go up in smoke and his children would be destroyed.'
Bragg said: 'Three months later, that happened.'
However, the person who threatened George was never questioned about his comments. 'The house burns to the ground, and they never question this man. That is how much power he had. He was untouchable.'
He said: 'This family is still afraid because of what they thought was a vendetta against Mr Sodder. 'It all came down to the fact that they tried to extort money from them.'
The Family's Efforts
Henthorn's Role
Henthorn, who said that she rarely does interviews, serves as the family historian.
'My mom wanted to make sure that people had access to the story, and then that way, if there were any possibility for a lead, they would have as much information as possible,' she said. 'So we've always shared the information.'
However, she pointed out that what has been most hurtful about keeping the story alive is the misinformation and negativity out there, which mainly started after the internet
'Implying that my grandparents were bad parents, or the kids ran away, and that maybe they were abused, that is why they burned down the house,' she said, 'That bothers me.'
'I think it's just easy for people to fire off comments and not realize that their words have consequences.'
Her grandparents had a giant billboard on their property that featured photos of the missing children and their estimated ages, along with a $10,000 reward.
'These children were kidnapped on Christmas Eve 1945, and their home was set afire to cover the crime,' the poster read, in part.'
Another billboard read: 'Was their fate kidnapped- murdered or are they still alive?
Henthorn said that over the years, her grandparents received many letters and leads that turned out to be dead ends. Some people appeared to be disingenuous and were trying to get money from them.
One of the most compelling was a photo that,she said,turned up at her grandparents' house that was in an envelope and the return address was from Kentucky.
Henthorn said,'My grandmother believed it was her son.She believed that that was Lewis.'
'My mom and dad went to the town in Kentucky that was on the postmark and tried to find the man that was in the picture,and they were unable to find him,'she said.
Henthorn said she was told that her parents，或她的父亲和祖父，四处旅行试图追踪线索，但“他们从未从中得到任何答案”。
Theories Surrounding The Case
Many theories have emerged about the Sodder children over the decades; however,Henthorn said she does not want to speculate on anyone's theories about the case.
'I think this story is a story that just keeps on getting retold over the years because there wasn't really closure.'
'My mom hoped that they were still out and that they were safe and well cared for;my grandparents hoped same thing.'
The Family's Legacy
Henthorn said her grandfather died in 1969;her grandmother Jennie（她以她的名字命名）是寡妇，独自生活。
她的母亲和玛丽安姑姑总是陪伴在外祖母身边。
她记得每年，他们都会从圣奥尔本斯（St.Albans）出发，驱车两个小时前往费耶特维尔（Fayetteville），与外婆共度平安夜。
'我爸爸不想让外婆一个人呆着，'她说。
尽管对她母亲和姑姑来说，这也是一个困难的时刻，但总会有礼物送给孩子和孙子们。
'她[我外婆]想确保她的家人仍然过着圣诞节，这个节日不会被剥夺。'
她的外婆最终搬到他们在西弗吉尼亚州的农场，与他们同住，以便在她被诊断出阿尔茨海默病后，母亲可以照顾她。她于1989年去世。
A Life Remembered
Henthorn想让人们记住，尽管他们遭受了可怕的损失，但生活是“美好而有意义的”。
“我认为他们从来没有一刻完全放下，但我记得我外婆在笑。我记得我外婆很快乐。”
“我的祖父母绝对不希望我的妈妈和爸爸，或者我的姑姑和叔叔，或者他们的孙子和外孙过得比这场悲剧发生后少。”
“他们坚信要善用环境，而不是沉溺于失去。他们没有放弃寻找孩子。他们比大多数人都更努力地奋斗，他们不会休息，直到知道发生了什么。”
“这个故事现在仍然存在，我认为这是最有说服力的事情。”
A Second Tragedy
火灾发生多年后，詹妮·索德（Jennie Sodder）奇迹般地生下了另一个孩子。一个名叫迈克尔（Michael）的儿子）。他本来会是他们的第十一个孩子，直到悲剧再次降临。
迈克尔于1951年12月29日出生，次日于12月30日去世。
她说确切的死因不明。“尚不清楚是婴儿无法存活，还是医院在分娩时发生意外，”她说。
亨索恩补充道：“你必须理解我外婆过圣诞节有多么艰难。”