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[christine2448]

Please post here any news/media about this case. No discussion.

[christine2448]

Very long article here...thought I'd post this first since they mention websleuths.com (in one spot it's wewsleuths)

SNIP

The popularity of the Internet has led a number of sleuths to try their hands at finding out what became of the Sodder children.

“My personal interest stems from seeing the Sodder billboard as a child. An image was etched in my mind that to this day remains with me, and just as strong, the desire to know what really happened to this family,” said Nancy Rust, a retired law enforcement officer who resides in Greenbrier County and participates in an Internet forum on the topic. “I believe the main thing that draws people to this particular case is the pure mystery of it, and also as with me, many saw the billboard and it just stayed with them.”

Rust is a member of Wewsleuths.com, where forums allow many hobbyist detectives to post their theories on a variety of unsolved events. Their theories on the Sodder case range from a fire caused by an angry World War II veteran seeking revenge on an Italian to the possibility that some of the children started the fire and fled. Some theorize about a vengeful kidnapping followed by a community-wide cover-up, not unheard of in the days of coal wars.

But none of them knows what happened to the children.

Neither does Sylvia (Sodder) Paxton, 64, who resides in St. Albans.

“We are touched deeply to know that people still care about the fate of our family after so many years,” she said. “Our parents hoped that some day their efforts would bring a resolution, even if it came after their lifetimes.”

Her daughter, Jennie Henthorn of Saint Albans, the granddaughter of Jeannie and George Sodder, still has hope answers can be found. She has also posted on websleuths.com.

“It was always a part of my life growing up,” she said. “It wasn’t until much later that I realized it was something more of a regional mystery and not just a family thing.”

Henthorn said the revival of the mystery among Internet sleuths has meant a great deal to her mother.

“She promised my grandparents she wouldn’t let the story die, that she would do everything she could,” Henthorn said.

Still, despite the sleuths’ collective resources, the family has seen no fruits from their efforts.

“It honestly is just a mystery still, for everyone,” Henthorn said. “Just to have some resolution for my mom would be a good thing.”

Rust, for one, has hope that could happen.

“Myself and fellow armchair sleuths have more than hope, we have determination and strong belief that if we continue to push on, and continue to get people ... getting this story back in the spotlight we will find the answers that the family has searched for 61 years to find,” she said.

INDEPTH ARTICLE HERE (http://www.register-herald.com/local/local_story_358182913.html)

[christine2448]

Mystery of Missing Children Haunts W.Va. Town[/URL]

Dec. 23, 2005

Other than music that plays from a loudspeaker mounted on a storefront in the center of town, the streets of Fayetteville, W.V., are quiet as Christmas Eve approaches. Inside, they talk of presents and parties, and inevitably, what really happened to the Sodder family on Christmas morning 60 years ago.

Everyone has an opinion about the fire. These are the facts: When George and Jennie Sodder went to sleep on Christmas Eve in 1945, nine of their 10 children were with them. One son was away in the military.
George Bragg, a local writer and author of West Virginia Unsolved Murders, tells the story of that night's events: "Jennie woke up. She heard a noise. Somebody had thrown something on the roof. She got up and checked that out, and went back to bed. She woke up about a half-hour later, and she smelled smoke. She got up and realized one of the rooms where their office was [located] was on fire. She screamed for her husband and woke him up, and they both hollered upstairs where two of the boys were."

[URL="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5067563"]More at Link (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5067563)

[christine2448]

Find a grave (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=vcsr&GSvcid=19989)