Resources for Missing Persons

According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day. Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends. Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.

Missing Person Photos

Louis Erico Sodder


Louis, date, approximate 1945; Mysterious photo, possibly of Louis
Date Missing 12/24/1945
Missing From
Fayetteville, West Virginia
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Male
Race
White
Date of Birth 12/30/1935 (86)
Age 9 years old
Height and Weight Unknown
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Black hair, brown eyes. Louis is of Italian descent. He's left-handed and has a small mole on the corner of his mouth.
Details of Disappearance Louis is one of ten children and resided in Fayetteville, West Virginia with his parents at the time of her disappearance. On Christmas Eve in 1945, Louis and four of his siblings, Maurice,Martha, Jennie and Betty, asked to be allowed to stay up and play with their Christmas toys after the rest of the family went to bed. They promised they would do their chores before they went to sleep, so their parents agreed to let them stay up.
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. Jenny believed this was a prank call. Before she went back to sleep, she noticed that her home's lights were on, the shades were up and the doors were unlocked.
Jenny was woken up again that night by a noise on the roof. At 1:30 a.m., she realized the house was on fire. She called for her husband and children to get out. Two of the Sodders' sons and their daughter, who was carrying the baby, made it outside, but Jenny and her husband, George, realized Maurice, Martha, Louise, Jennie and Betty were missing.
George tried to find a ladder which was kept near the house so he could climb up to the children's bedrooms, but the ladder had disappeared. It was later found down an embankment away from the house.
The Sodder house burned to the ground less than forty-five minutes after the fire started. The fire department initially blamed the blaze on faulty wiring. Some reports stated that officials could not find any trace of the missing children's remains in the ashes, but other reports maintain that some bone fragments and possible human organs were located. One was analyzed and turned out to be beef liver.
A coroner's jury ruled that the missing Sodder children had died in the fire. Afterwards, and against the advice of the fire marshall, George plowed over the remains of his home and planted flowers in memory of his lost children.
Within months of their children's presumed deaths, George and Jenny decided they had not been killed by the flames but had been kidnapped, and the fire deliberately set to cover the crime. The house's telephone line had been cut sometime before or after the fire.
Witnesses reported sightings of the children in the area shortly after they supposedly died. The Sodders attempted to get the reopened, but for many years the police refused to investigate because they believed no crime had been committed.
In 1949, George and some others excavated the site of his former home to search for the missing children's remains. Only four pieces of vertebrae and two small bones that were possibly from a child's hand were located. A pathologist who assisted with the search remarked that it was unusual that so little was found, as the fire was quick-burning and should not have so completely destroyed the children's remains.
The pathologist believed the bones that were located were from a 14- to 15-year-old, which would match Maurice's age, but due to the location that the bones were found in the floor plan of the house, George did not believe they were from his son.
Another analysis conducted years later determined that the bones were from a 16- to 22-year-old person. Curiously, the bones did not have any signs of fire damage. It was suggested that they were planted at the site from a nearby cemetery, but there is no evidence to support this theory.
In 1968, George and Jenny received a photograph in the mail of a young man in his mid-twenties. The photograph is posted with this summary. On the back of the photograph were these words: "Louis Sodder" "I love brother Frankie." "ilil Boys" "A90132" or possibly "A90135."
The Sodders believed it was a photo of Louis as an adult. They were unable to verify their theory, however. The man in the photo remains unidentified and it is unclear who sent the picture to the Sodders and why.
Jenny and George searched for their children for the rest of their lives, posting a billboard advertising a reward for their safe return. George died in 1969 and Jenny in 1989.
Many people theorize that the missing children were killed in the fire and their parents were simply unable to accept the loss, but others believe the children were indeed abducted and were possibly taken to Italy.
The youngest Sodder child, who was an infant at the time of the fire, is still trying to determine what really happened to her brothers and sisters.
Investigating Agency
Fayetteville Police Department
304-574-0255
Other
The Doe Network
NewspaperArchive
Missing Sodder Children
National Public Radio
MySpace Page for the Sodder Siblings
America's Most Missing Persons & Found Unidentified Human Remains

Missing Person Photos

A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe. By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends. A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.

Resources for Missing Persons

According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day. Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends. Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.

Missing Person Photos