Christian Gerhartsreiter
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Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter (born February 21, 1961) is a German-American con artist, kidnapper and murderer. From 1978 - 2008 he lived all over the United States under various false identities until his true identity was discovered while he was on the run for kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter Reigh Rockefeller. He was eventually convicted of the murder of John Sohus, who disappeared alongside his wife Linda in 1985 while Gerhartsreiter was staying with them in California.
Biography edit
Gerhartsreiter was born in Germany in 1961. He emigrated to the United States in 1978 by falsely claiming to be staying with an American couple he knew. He then stayed with the Savio family in 1979 claiming to be a member of a wealthy family. He studied at the University of Milwaukee under the alias "Christopher Gerhart" and married fellow student Amy Duhnke in order to obtain a green card, telling her that he would be deported to the Soviet Union and conscripted if he could not stay in the country. He left for California the day after the wedding and she eventually divorced him in 1992.
Gerhartsreiter travelled to San Marino, California, and lied in the guest house of Didi Sohus under the alias "Christopher Chichester". He stayed with Sohus's son John and daughter-in-law Linda. John and Linda Sohus disappeared in 1985 and Gerhartsreiter claimed they had gone to Europe before quickly leaving. The skeletal remains of John Sohus were later found in the backyard in 1994, having been beaten over the head, stabbed and dismembered. Linda Sohus has never been found.
Gerhartsreiter settled in Greenwich, Connecticut, under the name "Christopher Crowe", claiming to be a TV producer who had worked on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He was hired by the brokerage firm S.N. Phelps and Company to work the computers, but was sacked after it was discovered that he had submitted serial killer David Berkowitz's social security number as his own. He was fired from several other brokerage jobs until 1988, when he was pulled over by police while driving John Sohus's truck. Realizing police were getting close to discovering his true identity, he fled before he could be interviewed.
Gerhartsreiter later resurfaced in 1995 in New Hampshire using the identity of "Clark Rockefeller", a business related to the famous Rockefeller family. He married Sandra Boss and they initially enjoyed a stable relationship, but Gerhartsreiter soon became controlling and emotionally abusive. Gerhartsreiter went to great lengths to conceal his identity, forcing Boss to file their tax returns in a single name and lying to a public accountant to get him to do the same. They had a daughter, Reigh Rockefeller, in 2001. They divorced in 2006 after a private investigator discovered Gerhartsreiter was lying about his identity, although she did not discover his true identity. Gerhartsreiter was granted partial custody of their daughter.
On July 27, 2008, Gerhartsreiter was on a supervised visit with a social worker when he pushed the social worker aside, grabbed his daughter, jumped in his car and drove away. The social worker attempted to grab onto the car and was dragged a short distance before letting go. An arrest warrant was issued for "Clark Rockefeller" for kidnapping and assault. Meanwhile, Gerhartsreiter fled to Baltimore, Maryland, with Reigh under the alias "Chip Smith". During the manhunt, multiple callers identified Rockefeller as a different person.
Gerhartsreiter was apprehended after five days when the owner of a marina where Gerhartsreiter had left his boat lured him there by telling him his boat was leaking. Reigh Rockefeller was found alive in Gerhartsreiter's Baltimore apartment. His true identity was discovered when his fingerprints were matched to those in his immigration file, and further investigation also discovered his other identities, revealing him as the sole suspect in the murder of John Sohus. He was convicted of assault and kidnapping despite an insanity defence and received a five year prison sentence. He was then charged in 2009 with the murder of John Sohus. Jurors at his trial heard that Gerhartsreiter had lied about Sohus going to Europe after his disappearance; that he had been in possession of Sohus's truck after the murder; that two plastic book bags from universities that Gerhartsreiter had attended were found with the body; and that he had attempted to sell a bloodstained carpet after the murder. Gerhartsreiter was convicted and sentenced to 26 years to life, and will be eligible for parole in 2029.