Recently, Cosgrove-Meurer productions launched an Unsolved Mysteries podcast, narrated by Steve French.

Episode 1 is a ghost/paranormal case. Episode 2 is about two missing children, Gage Daniel and Chloie Leverette.
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A Tennessee Valley mother's plea for help is being heard nationally. Eight-and-a-half years ago, Cheryl Daniel's children went missing.

They lived with their grandparents in Bedford County when their house burned to the ground. It killed the grandparents, but the children's remains were never found. It's widely believed that someone took the kids and they may still be alive.

The popular TV series Unsolved Mysteries launched a podcast last week and the newest episode features this tragedy.

Cheryl's children, Gage Daniel and Chloie Leverette, were seven and nine years old the last time they were seen. Today, they would be 15 and 17.

Local and federal agencies have all investigated this case, and some of the best in the country still can't figure out what caused the fire that night. After surveying the evidence at the home, they came to the conclusion that the kids did not die in the fire. But everyone is still left with the question where are they now?

"And my brother come up to me and he grabbed me and said ‘Cheryl, the last wall just fell in and nobody made it out,’" Cheryl told us.

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Her children's story has caught national attention. The popular TV series Unsolved Mysteries is now available in podcast form, and they picked up the story, which became available Wednesday.

"Was it arson? If it was, who set the fire? Where are the missing children?" a quote from the podcast.

"That's a lot of people that listen to that, who watch that," Cheryl said.

This gives Cheryl a rejuvenated sense of hope and that the mystery will be solved.

You can listen to the podcast on any platform, including Apple and Spotify. Chloie and Gage's episode is called Lost in the Ashes.

Link to listen:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lost-in-the-ashes/id1549903604?i=1000510435760

Article:
https://www.wrcbtv.com/story/43412520/mothers-plea-in-missing-children-case-makes-unsolved-mysteries-show

“Molli was on oxygen, was taking morphine for cancer and smoked in bed constantly,” Boyce said. “Plus that, it was a cool night and they had several space heaters through there.”

Boyce said the couple were hoarders, with uncountable items filling their home — both in the basement and above — making it difficult to walk through the rooms. One of their basement collections was significant.

Leon McClaran had once worked for a propane company and collected castoff tanks when he came across them, Boyce said. After the fire, investigators found evidence that 35-38 propane tanks were stored in the basement, some still holding fuel, Boyce continued.

An open door in the basement acted as a draft, sucking air and heat from the fire up to the children’s bedroom, directly above, Boyce said.

The fire was so intense that when it was finally brought under control, not one wall was left standing, the sheriff said.

“There wasn’t a piece of that house left,” he continued. “There was nothing, absolutely nothing. All that was left of that house was a little bit of plastic dripped from the vinyl leaves. The rest fell in the basement and burned up.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150314191557/http://columbiadailyherald.com/sections/news/local-news/search-bedford-county-children-endures.html

Link to Unsolved Mysteries website with age progressed photos:
https://unsolved.com/podcasts/lost-in-the-ashes/

Facebook page from mother:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Community/Chloie-and-Gage-Not-forgottenAlways-searching-569690079805322/

I read the entire thread on this case several years ago on Websleuths. I’m torn between the children were taken vs they were completely consumed in the fire.

It felt like the episode omitted some information. The mother speculates that someone who was written out of the will was responsible (hence, the missing safe)...surely she had someone in mind when she said that? Typically only close friends and family, or perhaps a charity, would be included in a will, especially given that Bubba and Molli didn't seem to have a particularly large or complicated estate.

Also, why would you take the kids, unless you have some sort of tie to them? It would seem a lot simpler to just kill them along with their grandparents. If they were taken, they were old enough that they'd remember their lives "before" (unlike a baby or toddler), yet they were young enough to need a fair bit of care/supervision. Gage in particular had special needs. It feels like it would be really difficult to keep that sort of things under wraps for almost a decade, especially if you still had a connection to the family. Yet they don't mention anyone who had been acting suspiciously.

It seems most logical to me (though not without question marks) that they died in the fire and their remains were missed.

It seems most logical to me (though not without question marks) that they died in the fire and their remains were missed.


Not so sure. They mentioned their teams went through thoroughly. Also one of the people worked on Oklahoma City 1995.

Not so sure. They mentioned their teams went through thoroughly. Also one of the people worked on Oklahoma City 1995.

Sure, hence the "question mark" comment. But what are the other options?


A friend or family member kidnapped them and has been holding them somewhere but has maintained normal relationships with the family and aroused no suspicion for almost a decade (seems difficult...also, why?)
A friend or family member kidnapped them and has been holding them, and has dropped off the grid or otherwise aroused suspicion (why was this not mentioned?)
A stranger took them and is holding them (Why? Two needy, unrelated kids--one with special needs--who are more than able to remember/inform someone who they are?)
Someone--be it stranger or friend--took them and killed them later (Why not just let them die in the fire as an "accident?")
They escaped and died, be it from an accident or foul play (seems unlikely to have that bad of luck, and why weren't their remains discovered?)


None of these seem terrible promising, particularly since of the most statistically likely suspects--the kids' fathers--one is dead and the other has evidently been cleared and involved with the investigation.

I agree with JaneError. Things usually fit the simplest explanation, but people tend to go for the more far out theories, when Occam should be applied.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150314191557/http://columbiadailyherald.com/sections/news/local-news/search-bedford-county-children-endures.html

That solves why the house went up, if it was arson then the person or persons involved wouldn't need to do much more than chuck a match in there. My belief is the kids were incinerated to a crisp wherever they were in the house due to all that fuel & that is why nothing was found, no arson-just total stupidity/mental illness from the grandparents-what sort of genius smokes in bed, especially with an oxygen tank/cylinder nearby & bunch of flammable liquid & likely old newspapers & general junk everywhere?

Amazed the mother let them anywhere near that place, or that social services if involved believed that was a fit place for them to go-the mother & her partner were under investigation between 2006-2010, so most likely something was going on & the kids were farmed out to the grandparents as a result of that, but how on earth a place like that could be considered a safe environment & considering one of the children was special needs & it is impossible to see how the grandparents could possibly cope at their age & with their own problems is crazy.

I agree with JaneError. Things usually fit the simplest explanation, but people tend to go for the more far out theories, when Occam should be applied.

Kids in cages, kidnapped by white slave trading, Illuminati, paedophile Democrats or Republican politicians(seemingly depending on your political bent) appeared to be the hot trending topic last year with lots of people having breakdowns on social media & regurgitating fake stories-much easier than parental abductions, kids running away, being snatched, lured away by ordinary paedophiles apparently.

I'm really enjoying the new UM podcast, but cases like this one always bother me. It rather reminds me of the Freeman/Bible and Sodder cases. What bothers me about these types of cases is that while I'm always tempted to think zebras so to speak and spin wild theories, there's always a part of me that wonders if maybe the victims haven't been found because there's simply nothing left to find. This is to say that I always end up wondering if the reason why the victims weren't found is because their remains were completely consumed by the fire. What nags at me about this however is that a lot of experts on the subject seem to feel that complete and total incineration of human bodies isn't all that common or easy to achieve. So where does that leave us?

Listened to this yesterday and I have to agree with the theory that they were simply incarcerated by the fire. The mother throws out a lot of possibilities (changes to the will, kidnapping, robbery) but in my mind it probably went something like this:

There was a small fire in the basement, grandfather goes down to investigate (which is why the door was open), grandmother follows, then the kids hear the commotion and naturally follow, then the propane tanks explode and unfortunately no one makes it out alive.

Such an odd case and very reminiscent of the Sodder children disappearance from 1945. I've always believed the Sodder children were killed in the fire and their remains were simply not recovered, but obviously, forensics have advanced so much since then. I could believe that the remains of Chloe and Gage were completely incinerated, but I do find it very odd that they would find remains from the family's pets, including a bird, but nothing from the children.

The fire experts don’t believe that a body can be fully incinerated. Why don’t you believe them? I don’t think “the most logical answer” is that their bodies burned when it contradicts the experience of experts in this field. It also doesn’t explain the sightings of the children.

There is a lot of evidence on the web that points to recovery of human remains from a fire to be difficult and sometimes impossible due to the intensity of the fire.

I remember on Forensic Files, the episode of the horrific multi vehicle wreck on I-75 near the Bowater paper mill in the 70s. One man said that his wife’s body was completely incinerated. There was nothing left, so they took some ashes from where she would’ve been and hoped they had a part of her remains to scatter.

I realize this was a vehicle wreck, but I used it as comparison because it was a hot fire that consumed everything.

I tend to agree as well that this kids were incinerated in the fire. For one, no real sightings of them have happened. Two, I don't think it was mentioned in the podcast but I read online, the grandparents were hoarders...hence why the grandfather had all those propane tanks down in the basement. That provides a lot of fuel to the fire.

It cracks me up that people with no fire experience think they know better than fire professionals. :lol:

Such an odd case and very reminiscent of the Sodder children disappearance from 1945. I've always believed the Sodder children were killed in the fire and their remains were simply not recovered, but obviously, forensics have advanced so much since then. I could believe that the remains of Chloe and Gage were completely incinerated, but I do find it very odd that they would find remains from the family's pets, including a bird, but nothing from the children.

Perhaps a family member or someone close took the children where they could be, at least in their mind, more properly cared for, and the grandparents were collateral damage. They could have also went in to steal and didn't have the heart to kill the grandparents and took them far away enough to be away from local media.

Of course, with all the fuel, it is possible that the kids were incinerated, but they found the pets and the adults. Maybe the kids were killed elsewhere.

I'm not sure we'll ever really know what happened.

According to fire experts (not armchair detectives), their bodies would not have been 100% incinerated. If you don’t believe them, feel free to crack open grandma’s urn on the mantle and check for yourself, folks.

The fire experts don’t believe that a body can be fully incinerated. Why don’t you believe them? I don’t think “the most logical answer” is that their bodies burned when it contradicts the experience of experts in this field. It also doesn’t explain the sightings of the children.

It can happen.. Look at 9/11. But.. There's a HUGE difference between 9/11 and a house fire.

For a simple housefire, regardless of oxygen, combustibles, accelerants... To get hot enough to destroy a body.. That's a reach.

According to fire experts (not armchair detectives), their bodies would not have been 100% incinerated. If you don’t believe them, feel free to crack open grandma’s urn on the mantle and check for yourself, folks.

I agree.. However, what you don't mention.. If you crack open that urn, what you see there has gone through a grinding/pulverization to get it to that level.

Cremation gets rid of alot, but.. Things like the femur and skull are really, really hard to destroy.

But.. What was the other case where the fire department went through and then the father found his daughter the next day? The one where the son basically shot her and set the house on fire?



Anyway, if you assume the kids didn't die in the fire.. Where are they? Not impossible to coerce kids that young into 'forgetting'.. One that you wonder if someday a DNA match happens.