Before the fire, their mother received a strange phone call from a woman who then laughed and hung up. Later, she heard noises on the roof. When the fire broke out, some children escaped, but five – Betty, Maurice, Martha, Louise, and Jennie – were missing.

The fire was initially blamed on faulty wiring, but the Sodders suspected foul play. The missing children’s remains weren’t found, or what was found was inconclusive (some bone fragments were later identified as beef liver). Despite a coroner ruling the children died in the fire, the parents believed their children were kidnapped, and the fire was a cover-up. A missing ladder and a cut phone line added to their suspicions.

Over the years, the Sodders searched relentlessly. They dug up the remains of their house in 1949 but found only a few small bones, which were inconclusive. In 1968, they received a mysterious photo of a young man with writing on the back that possibly identified him as their son, Louis. The photo’s origin and the man’s identity remain unknown.

The Sodders spent their lives seeking answers, offering a reward for their children’s return. Their story remains a mystery, with some believing the children died in the fire and their parents couldn’t accept it, and others believing the children were abducted, perhaps even taken to Italy. The youngest Sodder child still seeks the truth about what happened to her siblings.