National Park After Dark

E343 - Murder or Kidnapping in a Gateway Town: New River Gorge National Park.

Published: December 22, 2025

Duration: 1:24:23

Fayetteville, West Virginia sits on the edge of the New River Gorge, a small Appalachian town now known as a gateway to one of America’s newest national parks. But on Christmas Eve in 1945, it became the setting for one of the most haunting unsolved mysteries in American history. After a house fire destroyed the home of George and Jennie Sodder, five of their children vanished without a trace, leaving behind conflicting investigations, reported sightings, unsettling clues, and a decades-long search for answers.

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