for nearly four decades, anyone driving down route 16 near fayetteville, west virginia, could see a billboard bearing the grainy images of five children, all dark-haired and solemn-eyed, their names and ages—maurice, 14; martha 12; louis, 9; jennie, 8; betty, 5—stenciled beneath, along with speculation about what happened to them. Fayetteville was and is a small town, with the main street that doesn’t run longer than a hundred yards, and rumors always played a larger role in the case than evidence; no one even agreed on whether the children were dead or alive. What everyone knew for certain was this: On the night before christmas 1945, george and jennie sodder and nine of their 10 children went to sleep (one son was away in the army). Around 1 a.m., a fire broke out. George and jennie and four of their children escaped, but the other five were never seen again.
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