Unfortunately, not every murder has a suspect that can be put behind bars. And for some missing people, there is always the question if they truly ran away, or if something terrible happened to make them disappear. Years before DNA evidence could help solve crimes, there were even more unsolved mysteries than there are today. These are 16 deaths surrounding mysterious circumstances throughout history.
1. The Sodder Children Disappeared From Their Burning Home
The night before Christmas of 1945, when the Sodder home in Fayetteville, West Virginia caught on fire. One of the daughters rushed to a neighbor, asking them to call the fire department. But since it was Christmas Eve, there were no operators available. One of the neighbors finally rushed to the fire chief in person, but no one showed up to put out the fire until 8 AM the next morning.
George and Jennie Sodder had 9 children, and 5 of them slept on the second floor of their house. The parents and the children who slept downstairs were able to escape, but the five children upstairs were caught in the flames. However, when the fire was put out there were no bodies. The coroner believed that maybe the fire was caused by faulty wiring in the house, and maybe the children’s bodies were cremated. However, George Sodder claims that he got the wiring checked recently. Also, there would still be bones remaining, even if his children’s bodies burned. He believed that his children were kidnapped, and offered a $5,000 reward for their return.
George Sodder was Italian-American, and he was vocal about his dislike of Benito Mussolini and Fascism. This made a lot of Italian Mussolini supporters in the community hate him, and he apparently was threatened by people in the town on multiple occasions. Twenty years after their disappearance, Jennie Sodder received a photograph in the mail of a young man in his 20s, who they believed looked like one of their sons. The back of the photo had a very cryptic message. They sent a detective to Kentucky to investigate, but the man was never heard from again.