Sodder Family Interview with Miranda Weeks, Great Great Granddaughter of Jennie and George Sodder

December 25, 2025·1 hr 35 min·7 clips

The full threat made before the Sodder fire included a line about Mussolini that has never been widely reported: 'Your goddamn house is going up in smoke, and your children are going to be destroyed, and you are going to be paid for the dirty remarks you've been making about Mussolini.'

Miranda Weeks is family. Sarah Turney introduces her as George and Jenny Sauter's great-great granddaughter, and Miranda is now looking into the case herself. That changes the room. These are not just missing children from an old case. They are relatives, and the story still sits with the family. Miranda pushes back on the fire theory. She says the claims about coal, tires, gas, or other accelerants in the basement do not square with what George said was kept there. The heat still matters, but even if some claims were true, she does not believe the fire could have destroyed all five children's bodies. Jenny's view matters too. Miranda says Jenny told a newspaper the kidnappers must have been familiar to the children, because strangers would have made them scream. No one heard screams. From there, Miranda talks through the idea that the children may have been told to stay up late for a surprise. Then it gets harder to hear. She pictures them taken to a house in Smithers and told their family died in the fire. Their brother becomes part of that theory too, with the children also told their older brother had died in the war. Miranda thinks they may have been killed after being seen at the Charleston Hotel, or moved to Florida and then out of the country. Maurice weighs on her most. He was fourteen and was not seen at the hotel with the others, so she does not think he survived. Betty feels different to her. At five, Miranda thinks Betty may have been easier to place with a new family, while the others faced darker possibilities, including being sold into slavery.

As heard by us

A family-centered take on the Sauter mystery, with a new lead and a personal edge.

The episode centers on Sarah Turney bringing Miranda Weeks into the Sauter case, and that family link gives the conversation real weight. Weeks, as the great-great granddaughter of George and Jenny Sauter, comes in as someone chasing the story on her own terms.

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Why you'd press play

Hear a Sauter descendant share a fresh lead and her own theory about the case.

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