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"Rockefeller" Kidnap Suspect Identified as German National

Dw staff (ah)August 12, 2008

The man calling himself "Rockefeller," held in the USA on the charge of kidnapping his daughter, has been identified as a German wanted for questioning about a couple's disappearance.

https://p.dw.com/p/EvWB
Christian Gerhartsreiter stands at a hearing
Gerhartsreiter (second from right) claimed to be part of the wealthy Rockefeller familyImage: AP

A spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sherriff's office has said a man being held in Boston suspected of kidnapping his daughter is a German from Bavaria who is thought to be linked to the disappearance of a Californian couple in 1985.

After a number of eye-witness reports, the Los Angeles Sherriff's office have "positively identified" the man who called himself "Clark Rockefeller," apprehended following a manhunt in July on charges of kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter, is in fact Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter.

Gerhartsreiter is wanted for questioning in relation to the disappearances of guest house owners Jonathan and Linda Sohus in 1985, while he was living on their property in San Marino, Calif.

The investigators are "confident" Gerhartsreiter is the same person who has been using the names "Clark Rockefeller" and "Christopher Chichester" at the time of the couple's disappearance in 1985.

This has prompted investigators to request new forensic tests on as yet unidentified human remains found at the Sohus property nine years after the disappearance.

Gerhartsreiter's lawyer has said that his client cannot remember any events before 1993. Although "Rockefeller" understands German, he has allegedly never lived in Germany and has no relatives there.