All language subtitles for Historys.Greatest.Mysteries.S03E08.720p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.chr00t

- As World War II finally ends,

an infamous cold case begins.

Five siblings vanish...

in an instant.

- They didn't find any traces
of these bodies.

No bones.
Not even a piece of a tooth.

Where could these kids
have gone?

- Now we uncover
the top theories

surrounding
every parent's worst fear.

♪ ♪

- Not only do we have an arson
and a kidnapping,

but a possible cover-up.

- Were they brainwashed?

Or did they just not want
to be found?

- Can new evidence
finally reveal answers?

What really happened

to the notorious
Sodder children?

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[music fades]

[dramatic orchestral music]

Just four months
after World War II ends,

American troops head home

to spend their first
post-war holiday with family.

One exception: Joseph Sodder,

who won't be back in time
to celebrate in his hometown

of Fayetteville,
West Virginia.

- So who was
the Sodder family?

The parents were George
and Jennie.

They had 10 kids.

Their oldest son
was in the army,

but nine of their children
were home, living with them.

[somber music]

- Kids are celebrating
Christmas Eve.

They're allowed to stay up
well past their bedtime.

Unbeknownst to them,
all of their lives

are going to change within
a matter of hours.

[foreboding music]

Fishburne: At 1:00 a.m.,
Jennie wakes up suddenly.

She smells smoke.

- She's startled awake,

runs down
to her husband's study

where she sees one wall
on fire.

[suspenseful music]

We have to remember
that back in the 1940s,

smoke detectors
had not yet been invented.

So by the time that Jennie
discovers the fire,

there is not much time
to get out of the house,

'cause the fire's
already roaring in the study.

- First thing they do

is get the four children
out of the house

that are on the first floor.

And George and Jennie's
bedroom is on the first floor,

so this is very easy for them
to do.

Get them out of the house
right away.

[flames crackling]

Fishburne: Within minutes,
George, Jennie,

and four of their children
run outside.

But as far as they know...

♪ ♪

The remaining five
are trapped upstairs.

- When they tried to gain
entry to the second floor,

the staircase
was fully engulfed,

and they were unable
to save the children

that were sleeping upstairs.

And within 45 minutes,
the house burned down.

[somber music]

Fishburne:
The heartbroken parents

assume
the remaining five siblings,

14-year old Maurice,
12-year-old Martha,

10-year-old Louis,
8-year-old Jennie,

and 6-year-old Betty are dead.

♪ ♪

But could there be more
to the story?

♪ ♪

- Here's why
it's such a mystery.

None of the remains
of the five children

were ever found
in the debris of the fire.

- No trace.

[dramatic music]

No bones.

No nothing.

Fishburne:
Despite this,

authorities quickly jump
to the simplest conclusion.

♪ ♪

- The official word
was that the children died

in the fire caused
by an electrical issue.

But we have an investigation
that was questionable,

at best.

- As part
of their investigation

after they arrived
on the scene,

they interviewed Jennie
and George as to what happened.

Fishburne: When Jennie
first sees the fire

in George's office,
she reports it's burning

near an electrical box
on the wall.

The fire department believes
the blaze accelerated

up through the wall.

♪ ♪

- The fire appeared
to have burned

very quickly.

One of the theories out there
is that the construction

of the house was what is called
"balloon construction."

That is to say
that it had vertical rafters

from the basement

running directly up
to the second floor,

creating a void space,

which, if the fire started
inside the walls,

it would've created
the perfect chimney effect

and very quickly burned
up through to the roof area.

Fishburne:
George tells authorities

that after evacuating
the four children downstairs,

he next tried repeatedly
to rescue

the siblings upstairs.

[suspenseful music]

- Five of the children
were upstairs

on the second floor.

And they
were unable to get out.

And the fire
is out of control.

There's too much smoke
and he's unable

to go to the second floor,

where the five children
are sleeping.

Fishburne:
George screams to the kids

from the bottom
of the stairs...

but hears nothing.

- He goes back out
to the barrel of water

he has outside
to put out the fire.

♪ ♪

But he finds the barrel's
frozen solid.

- He runs,
looking for the ladder

that was on the side
of the building.

The ladder that normally is
there is no longer there,

and he doesn't know
where it was or who took it.

- So then he thinks he's gonna
use his trucks

and he had two trucks.

He was gonna pull those trucks
up to the house,

get on the roof to try
to access the second floor.

But unfortunately, neither
truck would start that night.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: Jennie
has a similar experience.

- So while George is trying
to rescue the children

on the second floor,
Jennie tries

to call the fire department
using their home phone.

But the line is dead.

♪ ♪

So then Jennie sends
her daughter Marion

to a neighbor's house to try
to call the fire department.

But Marion is unable
to get through.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: Eventually,

a passing motorist offers
to drive into town

and alert the fire chief.

- During this time in 1945,

most of the fire departments
in that part of the country

were volunteer
fire departments.

So when a fire would come in,
it was up to the fire chief

to start calling everybody
to come to the firehouse,

pick up their equipment,

and then rush over
to the scene.

[bell ringing]
So as a result of that,

the response time
was quite lengthy.

[siren wailing]

Fishburne: Seven hours
after the blaze first ignites,

fire trucks finally arrive.

- When the fire department
finally shows up,

they spend, at most,
a couple of hours

and they make a determination

that the fire was caused
by an electrical issue

and that the five children
who were sleeping

on the second floor
all perished in the fire.

Within five days,

even though
there were no remains,

the coroner's inquest ruled

that these children died
in the fire

as a result of an accident.

Even going so far as to issuing
death certificates.

♪ ♪

- The fire marshal
tells Jennie

he believes that as a result
of the fire burning so hot,

it consumed the bones,
the organs, and everything else

associated with the human body.

Fishburne: But without
concrete physical evidence

of death, George and Jennie
hold out hope

that their children
somehow escaped.

- Jennie doesn't end
up believing

the fire chief's explanation
that the kids died in the fire

and that they're gone.

They didn't find any traces
of these bodies.

No bones.
Not even a piece of a tooth.

Jennie starts to feel like

there's something else
going on.

- She goes and speaks
to a local crematorium

and they tell her

that bones--at least
the fragments of bones--

usually survive all fires.

When you cremate a body
at a crematorium,

you're exposing it
to temperatures

of approximately 2,000 degrees
for several hours.

And even after that type
of temperature,

they have to be grounded up
to make 'em into dust

when they're given
to their loved ones

in the urns.

Fishburne:
And George has his own reason

to doubt the fire department's
conclusion.

- George keeps falling back
on two pieces of evidence

that, in his mind,
this fire's not accidental.

One is that during the fire,

he noticed that there were
still lights remaining

in certain parts of the house

while the building
was burning.

So in his mind is how can
this be an electrical fire

if you still have lights
on in the building?

- But also
just a few months prior,

he had actually brought
in an electrician

to check the wiring
of the house.

The electrician
gave it a passing grade

and George starts wondering

if there's something else
going on.

Now it is possible

that the electrician
might've missed something.

You know,
he is human after all.

Or it's possible
that between the time

of the electrician showing up
and Christmas Eve

something else went on
in that house.

Fishburne:
Authorities soon discover

what that something else
might be.

- So if you remember,
Jennie actually tried

to contact the fire chief
the night of the fire,

but her phone wasn't working.

So the police investigate
that a few days later,

and what they find could alter
the entire course

of the investigation,
because they find

the phone lines have been cut.

[foreboding music]

Fishburne: When five siblings
seemingly perish

in a devastating house fire,

investigators initially see
nothing suspicious.

They quickly rule
that an electrical fire

caused their deaths.

But then they make
a startling discovery.

Telephone lines outside
the house have been severed.

Is it possible
the fire was no accident?

- It is my opinion

that this fire
was intentionally set.

[sinister music]

♪ ♪

Classifying a fire as an arson
instead of an accidental fire

has a lot of implications,
because an arson connotates

that there is a crime
that's been committed,

and if they would've found
the remains of the children,

it'd be classified
as a homicide.

♪ ♪

- But it's interesting
because the police just kind of

brushed this off, and they
don't really look into that.

Fishburne:
But maybe they should've.

Because as it turns out,

George was far from well-liked
in Fayetteville.

- I think authorities are
missing the background story.

What was going on prior
to the fire?

George had a lot of enemies,
we've learned,

and he had conflict

with other Italian immigrants
in that area.

- George Sodder,
actually born Giorgio Soddu,

in Sardinia, Italy, in 1895,

emigrated to the United States
when he was only 13 years old.

Years later, George moves
to Smithers, West Virginia.

He finds work
as a truck driver

and eventually gets to start
his own company.

And he meets his future wife,
Jennie,

who's
a fellow Italian emigrant.

Fishburne:
The new couple moves

to Fayetteville,
West Virginia,

a small town
with a large population

of Italian Americans.

- Once George and Jennie
settle down,

they moved
to a little wood-framed house

about two miles outside
of town,

and they have their first son,
Joe, in 1923

and really kind
of start making their way

as a well-respected
middle-class family,

at least at first.

Fishburne: But George's
outspoken political beliefs

alienate some neighbors.

- It is very common for people
that come to America

from another country
to wanna live

in the same type of community
that they're used to,

because it's familiar to them.

[tense music]

So George has a lot in common

with these other people
in his community,

but politically,
he does not favor

the ruling of Benito Mussolini

and makes it known
to the public.

- At the time, Mussolini's
incredibly popular,

both with Italians at home
and abroad,

and especially in Fayetteville,
West Virginia,

which kind of leaves George
as the odd man out.

- George is telling everybody,

"I don't like
what Mussolini's doing."

And he makes it known
to one person in particular,

Cleante Gros Janutolo.

During that time,
Cleante Gros, C.G.,

is a local banker,
and a local businessman,

and has fingers
in just about everything

in the local community.

Fishburne: Janutolo has
many unusual connections

to George Sodder.

- C.G. Janutolo is the director

of the Fayette County Bank.

He also is the employer
of George Sodder.

And George Sodder
has a mortgage

that is written
by the Fayette County Bank,

which has
an insurance provision

that Mr. Janutolo will benefit
if there's a fire at the home.

♪ ♪

- Yeah, this is where I have
a real problem with this case,

because the person that is
the benefactor of this home,

should it be destroyed
by fire

or any other type
of natural disaster,

is this C.G. Janutolo.

Most banks don't do that.

Most banks have the bank
be the benefactor,

not an officer within the bank.

♪ ♪

- In today's times,

it would be not only
a conflict of interest,

but it would be illegal
for Mr. Janutolo

to hold a financial interest

in the property
of George Sodder.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: Just two months
before the fire

and without
Sodder's knowledge,

Janutolo increases
the insurance payout amount

to $1,750,
almost $27,000 today.

- Janutolo's greed
didn't stop there.

So about 60 days
before the fire,

he ends up sending one
of his good friends,

Russell Long,
an insurance broker,

to George's house.

And at George's house,
Russell Long attempts

to sell him life insurance
for his kids.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: When George refuses
the extra insurance,

Janutolo allegedly makes
a chilling threat.

- Janutolo gets very angry
and threatens him.

He says his house
is gonna go up in smoke

and his children
are gonna be destroyed.

And he also says
that George will pay

for the dirty things
that he had been saying

about Mussolini.

- Let's put the pieces
of the puzzle together.

Janutolo shows up at the house,

threatens George,
the very individual

who was set to collect money

if and when
the house was destroyed.

The house does,
in fact, burn down.

And this starts putting
everything together

that this was,
in fact, an arson,

and not an accidental fire

as claimed
by the local authorities.

Fishburne: But what about
the cut phone lines?

- If Janutolo would've also
cut the phone line

that was found cut
the day after the fire,

he would be the prime suspect.

But, in fact, he isn't.
[siren wailing]

There is another suspect
that comes to surface.

Several days after the fire,
an individual is arrested

in possession
of a block and tackle.

A block and tackle is used
to lift a heavy object.

This block and tackle,
as it turns out,

belongs to George.

The thief,
while he's being interviewed,

admits that yes, he did steal
the block and tackle.

But he insists
that he did not start the fire.

He was just present
when the fire was burning

and used that as a distraction
to steal the block and tackle.

♪ ♪

- Do we believe
the thief's story?

Sure,
he could have just been there

to steal the block and tackle,

but why would somebody
go all the way out

to George's property just
to steal that one small thing?

He could have been there
to start the fire

and used
the block-and-tackle theft

as a red herring to lead
the investigation astray.

And it's very plausible

that this thief
was actually sent

by somebody like Janutolo
himself.

- It appears
that the authorities

believed what the thief
told them.

And also
they don't bring in Janutolo

to question him further about
his possible involvement

in this fire.

But in my profession,

as an investigator
for 33 years,

I have found
that there is no coincidences.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
Whether the cause is arson

or electrical,
another question remains:

did the five children die
in the fire?

To answer that,

George starts
his own investigation,

and in 1949,
makes a shocking find.

- A few years after the fire,

George had an excavation done
of the site

and they did recover what they
believed might be human bones.

And they sent those bones
to the Smithsonian,

and an expert there said it
was, in fact, human vertebrae

potentially from a young man

between the ages
of 16 and 24 years old.

Fishburne:
If the bones were indeed

from one of the children,

the only possible match
could be Maurice...

14 years old
at the time of the fire.

- Despite the fact
that the report says

that these were vertebrae
from a male

between the ages of 16 and 24,

there's still
enough uncertainty

that a 14-year-old could have
been within that range.

However, what is interesting

is that the report also notes
that there didn't appear

to be any evidence
of charring on the bones.

That would be very unexpected
for someone who was cremated

in a fire.

So we have to ask
whose bones are these?

Were they already there
before the fire started?

Or were they part of the dirt

that was used
to bulldoze over the site?

Unfortunately,
we'll never know.

Fishburne: Even though
the Sodders were disappointed

with the excavation results,
it reinforces their hope

that their children still
could be alive.

[mysterious music]

- It's clear
that the fire happened

and burnt down the house.

And it's clear
that the investigation

that was done after the fire
was incomplete, at best.

And it's also clear
that the remains

of the children
were never found.

So in George's
and Jennie's mind,

their children are not dead.

- George and Jennie,

because they're not
getting answers,

seek the public's help
and they ask for anybody

knowing what happened
to their children

to contact them.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: When their home
burned down early

on Christmas morning, 1945,

did five Sodder children die
in the blaze?

[dramatic music]

That's what fire investigators
believe.

But the Sodder parents
are not convinced.

♪ ♪

- Over time, understanding
that no remains were found

and that the fire was
most likely caused by arson,

Jennie and George wanted
to get some answers.

♪ ♪

- If law enforcement are not
gonna step up to the plate,

who else is gonna do it?

Nobody else has more
on the line than you do.

- So as parents would do,

they get desperate to try
and find their children.

So seven years after the fire,

they erect a billboard
in their area.

George and Jennie
offer a reward

for any information about
their children.

The offer is at $5,000
in the beginning

and eventually increases
to $10,000.

♪ ♪

Which is a lot of money
back then.

Fishburne: Eventually,
that investment pays off.

- A woman comes forward
named Ida Crutchfield,

and she has information about
the children.

Fishburne:
Crutchfield runs a motel

in Charleston, West Virginia,

about 60 miles away
from George and Jennie's home.

- According to Ida,

about a week after the fire,
four children

who matched the description
of George and Jennie's children

were at her hotel
that she managed.

And they were accompanied
by two men and two women.

She describes the men
and the women

as being of Italian descent.

- Ida actually tried
to have a conversation

with the children,
but she was quickly shut out

by the Italian-speaking adults.

Fishburne: The group rents
multiple rooms for the night.

But the next morning,
they're gone.

- So Ida Crutchfield
really didn't know about

the missing Sodder children
at the time.

She just saw a situation

that she thought
was very unusual--

the children
with a large number of adults.

Only later did she realize

that she was a potential
witness to a kidnapping.

[sinister music]

♪ ♪

- This is good news
and bad news

for the Sodder family.

- On one hand,
there was actually

a possibility
the children are alive

and they've been taken
under unknown circumstances.

But on the other hand...

can we recover them?

Is there any way to possibly
get them back?

So knowing that they're alive
is not enough.

Unless you can actually
recover them

and bring 'em back
to your family.

It's a known fact
that George had enemies.

It's one thing to destroy
his property,

but it's quite another thing
to actually take his children.

♪ ♪

Fishburne: Perhaps
the most heartbreaking part

of Crutchfield's account
is its timing.

- It took her seven years
to come forward

after she saw the children
at her motel.

And even if it's true,

seven years later,
how could you follow it up,

understanding that long period
of time that has passed.

Fishburne:
But Ida isn't the only witness

to eventually come forward.

- Over the years,
the Sodder family

are contacted with a lot
of tips and different stories

about what happened
to their children.

- In that time period,

there were
no security cameras.

It was eyewitnesses.

It was people that thought
they saw something.

And you had to rely

on their very often blurry
memories.

Fishburne:
Sifting through various leads,

there are two accounts

that catch
the Sodders' attention.

- One of the tips that comes
forward is a woman who says,

"I saw all the children
in a car being driven

by somebody
leaving the house."

Another woman comes forward

who operates a diner between
Fayetteville and Charleston

and she says,
"The night after that fire,

"there was children
in that restaurant

with a stranger."

Fishburne:
Combining these accounts

with Ida Crutchfield's story
helps the Sodder family

form a potential time line.

- So in Fayetteville,
we have a lady that believes

that she saw the children
in a car

the night of the fire.

Then we have a lady that thinks
she sees the children

in a diner between Charleston
and Fayetteville.

And then we have
Ida Crutchfield that believes

that she saw the children
in Charleston.

- If these tips are true,
it paints a picture

of these children
that were kidnapped that night

and they're on the move,

traveling with somebody
against their will.

Fishburne: After they leave
the Charleston motel,

there are no further sightings
of the children.

And while it seems like
a dead end

for the kidnapping theory,
it won't be.

♪ ♪

- The search
for the missing Sodder children

becomes more difficult
with each passing year,

but their parents
never give up.

Then, in 1967,

two decades after the fire,
a mysterious letter arrives.

George and Jennie are convinced
it's proof one son, Louis,

is alive.

[dramatic music]

[music fades]

[foreboding music]

- George wanted
to find his children

and there's no doubt about it.

He would follow every tip,
no matter what the cost.

He would go anywhere,
to the ends of the earth

to find resolution.

Fishburne: George Sodder
spends incredible time

and resources
scouring the country.

- Decades go by,
and he's tired.

And he's about ready
to give up.

But then, in 1967,

George and Jennie receive
a strange letter

addressed to them
at their home

and it contains a photograph.

♪ ♪

- The photo was mailed
from Central City, Kentucky.

This photo was the first piece
of physical evidence ever

to be presented in this case.

And I must say,
it was substantial.

- It was of a man in his 30s

that could be one
of the children.

It was what appeared
to be a photo of Louis Sodder.

[mysterious music]

- I can't even imagine.

This has gotta be huge
for them.

They finally see a picture
of one of their children

after all these years.

- When the Sodders turned
this photo over,

they are dumbstruck.

Fishburne:
On the back of the photo

are three handwritten lines

starting with a name,
"Louis Sodder."

But unfortunately,

the rest of the writing
on the photo is a mystery.

- Next to his name is written
"I love brother Frankie."

And then underneath
is "Ilil boys."

And finally,
there are two numbers,

"A90132 or 35."

Fishburne:
The desperate parents

struggle
to decipher the message.

- No one knows who Frankie is.

No one
in the family's named Frankie.

None of the friends of the
family are named Frankie.

So who could Frankie be?

Could be the name
of the kidnapper.

Or it could be the name
of a person

that is harboring the children
or Louis.

- The little boy comment
is disturbing.

We don't know what that means.

Does that imply, you know,

something nefarious has
happened with a child molester

or is this someone,

you know, talking about
their little brothers?

We don't know.

- And it appears
that all the useful clues

that are left
are possibly those numbers

at the end of that photo.

Fishburne: A90132 or 35.

It's a sequence
that looks familiar.

♪ ♪

- When the photo comes in,

it's actually
only four years after

the U.S. postal zip code system
had actually been implemented

in the United States.

So it's fresh
in everybody's minds

and that's actually
the first thing

that George and Jennie think
when they see those numbers

printed on the back
of the photograph.

Could be zip codes.

90132 and 90135.

Are they
actually in the United States?

Well, they go to check it out,
and it turns out

that neither one
of those numbers

applies to any zip code
in America.

[ominous music]

Fishburne:
But the United States

isn't the only country to use
five-digit postal codes.

♪ ♪

- We have to look
a bit further.

George is of Italian descent
and is from Italy.

Those zip codes match Palermo,
Sicily.

And Palermo is the capital
of Sicily

and also is the home base

of the reputed
organized crime organization,

La Cosa Nostra.

I do think that there is
a distinct possibility

there could be
some Sicilian Mafia involved

in this case.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
Could this be the break

the Sodders are looking for?

- For one,
George is from Italy.

For two, the views of George
really weren't that endearing

to the Italian government.

And third,
because of the organization

of the fire
and the events thereafter.

♪ ♪

- I think that the zip codes
are a pretty telling sign

that even
if they're not where Louis was

or if Louis was alive,
it just adds to this idea

that these children
did not die in this fire.

That they might be out there.

Fishburne:
Initially, George and Jennie

are reluctant to share
this information.

- George and Jennie
don't say anything

about this possible
Sicilian connection

because they don't want
the kidnappers

to possibly do something
to Louis

and/or the other children
who may have survived.

- Eventually though,
curiosity gets the best of both

Jennie and George
and they can't lay low forever.

So they actually hire
a private investigator

to go down to Kentucky,

which is where the postal code
had been printed

on the front of the envelope.

Fishburne: That investigator
is never seen

or heard from again.

- It makes you question what
this private investigator did.

Did he take the money and run?

Did he maybe
find something out

he wasn't supposed to know?

And the people involved
either kidnapped him

or took him out.

Fishburne: The investigator
may have disappeared,

but the family hires
another private detective

to investigate
in Fayetteville.

His name is Oscar Tinsley.

- Tinsley keeps digging.

And the more he digs,
the more that he finds evidence

that whatever happened
to these kids,

it was not an accident.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
When private investigator

Oscar Tinsley begins looking

into the disappearance
of the Sodder children,

he has no idea
what he'll uncover.

- The official investigators,

they think
that the Sodder family children

died in a house fire,
whereas George and Jennie,

they believe that their kids
were kidnapped.

- The investigator hired
by George and Jennie,

Mr. Tinsley,
uncovered something

that was breathtaking.

That the authorities,
the police, fire department

may have been in
on the kidnapping.

[sinister music]

♪ ♪

We have four things
in this case

that are suspicious
and are significant.

Number one, we have a fire
that was not investigated.

Two, we have threats against
George and his family

that people were not questioned
or interrogated.

Three,
we have a letter with a picture

with possible ties
to the Sicilian Mafia

that was not followed up on.

And four,
we have a conclusion

that the children died
in the fire,

but yet,
we don't have any remains.

[dramatic music]

Any one of these things,
individually or collectively,

should have launched
a major investigation.

But none resulted.

- Tinsley, he thinks
he's uncovered evidence

that the authorities were in
on it.

Fishburne: And soon enough,
he uncovers potential proof.

♪ ♪

- Tinsley starts
with the coroner's report

that came out of the inquest.

A coroner's inquest takes place
after an incident has occurred.

The coroner selects
12 individuals

from the community to sit
in a jury.

They're presented
with the facts of the crime

or the incident,
and then they determine

if there is enough there
to classify this fire

as either accidental
or as an arson.

Without finding the remains

of the five children,
what could they have concluded?

- In the coroner's inquest,

evidence that they might have
been considering,

in my opinion, was nonexistent.

They didn't recover
any evidence.

They didn't even have time
to recover any evidence.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
On the official record

declaring the fire
an accident

is a familiar name.

- So do you remember
C.G. Janutolo,

the man who had threatened
George's life

and was the director
of the bank?

He was also one of the members
of the coroner's jury

who had ruled
the Sodder family house fire

an accident.

- And his name is on all five

of those children's
death certificates.

He signs under penalty
of perjury

that those children died
in a fire

and that they died
of asphyxiation.

[ominous music]

How does he know that?

They never found the remains.

- I think Mr. Janutolo is
trying to use his influence

in the community to cover up
what really happened.

Did he make good on his promise
to burn down the Sodder home?

And two,
did he use his contacts

within the Sicilian Mafia

to have the children
kidnapped?

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
According to Tinsley,

the cover-up might go
even higher.

- During his investigation,
Tinsley discovers

that the fire chief spoke
to the parish priest

and told him
that he did find some remains,

but buried them
at the fire scene.

[dramatic music]

- George confronts
the fire chief

and they go back to the house,

and they dig up a tin box.

Fishburne: But what they find
doesn't add up.

- In that tin box

is what appears to be some sort
of old rotting organ

of some sort,
and the fire chief says,

"These are human remains."

[suspenseful music]

So they take these remains
to the local funeral director

and he tells them,
"It's not human remains.

It's a beef liver."

- And the funeral director
tells them

that not only are
these remains not human,

they appear
that they've never been burnt.

That it's just rotted
because of it being buried

in the ground.

Fishburne: Why would
Fire Chief F.J. Morris lie

about finding human remains?

- There are two ways
you can look at this.

One is the sympathetic way,

that the fire chief
is just trying

to give the family closure.

♪ ♪

The other way to look at it
is that the fire chief

is involved in the conspiracy,
and he's trying to keep George

and Jennie from continuing
to look for their children.

So potentially,
Chief Morris may have been

in on the conspiracy
with Janutolo.

Fishburne: This isn't the only
time the fire chief is accused

of working
against the Sodders.

- It's important
to remember that,

back at the night of the fire,
it took over seven hours

for the fire department to show
up to the Sodder family house.

♪ ♪

- One of the reasons
Morris came up with why he

and his crew took seven hours
to arrive at the fire scene

was that he had
no one available

to drive the fire truck.

They were away
at World War II.

- Now,
World War II's actually

kind of a convenient excuse.

Christmas Eve, 1945,
this was over seven months

after the Allied victory
in Europe,

and about three months after
the Allied victory in Japan.

So while there could have been
some volunteer firefighters

serving overseas, it wouldn't
have been that many,

and there certainly
wouldn't have been a complete

lack of manpower.

Whatever was going on
at the time,

there were definitely people
in that town

that did not want the truth
to come out,

and they would have
done anything

to make sure that it didn't.

♪ ♪

- I think any parent can
understand George and Jennie

wanting to search for their
children all of these years.

But should we also
consider another theory,

as unpleasant as it may be:

what if the Sodder children
disappeared on purpose?

Fishburne: In the decades
after the five Sodder children

seemingly vanish,
countless new questions arise,

and the case captures
the public's attention.

♪ ♪

Sleuths focus on one mystery
in particular.

- I often ask myself,

if the children survived
the fire,

why didn't they ever present

themselves to their family?

Were they brainwashed?

Did they want
to protect their families?

Or did they just not want
to be found?

♪ ♪

- One of the theories is that

the children didn't die
in the fire,

that they actually started
the fire as a distraction

so they could escape
and disappear forever.

Fishburne: In 1967, the same
year the Sodders received

the mysterious alleged photo
of their son, Louis,

something else happens.

- A woman from Houston,
Texas sent a letter

to the Sodder family
stating that she was in a bar

with Louis Sodder
and Maurice Sodder,

and that Louis Sodder,
in a drunken stupor,

confessed that he was

one of the missing
Sodder children.

- So much for Louis Sodder
being in Italy, right?

Either the photograph is fake,

or the lady in Texas is lying.

But what if there is more
that might lead you

to think Louis is in Texas?

Remember those postal codes,

90132, 90135.

They're actually also found
in Mexico,

which is in very close
proximity to Texas.

Fishburne:
Is it possible that Louis

has been living in Mexico,

and that he's now crossed back
into the United States?

- George has no choice

but to follow up
with the Houston, Texas lead.

It's either going to lead to
the long list

of leads that led nowhere,

or it's gonna lead to finally
finding his children.

Fishburne: George and his
son-in-law, Grover Paxton,

take a road trip
from West Virginia to Houston.

- So George travels to Texas
and tries to find this woman,

and he cannot.

He is, however, able to contact

the two men described
by this woman in the letter.

♪ ♪

- I'm sure possibly on the eve
of meeting his children,

he's fraught with anxiety,

he's nervous.

He probably is on
an emotional roller coaster

of finally being able
to meet his children,

alive, in person.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
George meets with the two men

and asks if they're
his long-lost children.

♪ ♪

- George asks,

and they deny
that they are his sons.

No matter
how much he presses them,

they still hold that they,
indeed, are not his sons.

- As a parent myself,

I can imagine George actually
approaching somebody

that he believed could
have been his children,

and then they deny
they're his children.

And he really has no way
to know for sure.

You know,
all he had was their word.

And that just wasn't
good enough for him.

- I--I can't even imagine
how that must have felt

for George on that long drive
back to West Virginia.

You just met two potential sons

that you've been looking
for all these years,

and they deny
that they're your children.

But yet you think they are.
They look like them.

You had information
that they were telling people

that they were them.

Uh, I just--I can't imagine
how he must have felt,

the disappointment.

- After that meeting,

George believed
until the day he died

that the two young men
that he talked to

in Houston, Texas
were indeed his sons.

- On one hand,

I'm sure George was very happy
and relieved

to believe that his children
were still alive.

But it also must have
been very heartbreaking

to think that they were denying
that he was their father.

♪ ♪

Fishburne:
George Sodder died in 1969,

two years after his trip
to Texas.

When Jennie died in 1989,

the weathered billboard
pleading for information

was finally taken down.

The youngest Sodder child,
Sylvia,

died in April of 2021.

Sylvia's children have promised

to carry the torch
and keep looking

for their aunts and uncles.

But time is running out.

The missing children would be

between 81 and 90 years old
if there's any chance

they're still alive
and waiting to be found.

I'm Laurence Fishburne.

Thank you for watching

"History's Greatest Mysteries."

♪ ♪