The Crimes of Clark Rockefeller - 664

Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Generation Y ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. How you doing tonight, Aaron? Good. Are you doing all right? I'm doing as good as I can. Tonight's case is one that I'm actually not that familiar with or hadn't been familiar with up until this point. I've read some internet comments comparing it to the talented Mr. Ripley, but once we get into it, I think that's a loose comparison. I know a lot of people use terms like sociopath, narcissist, pathological liar, and all of these terms have their separate definitions. But I will say that I don't think that it makes them exclusive from each other when it comes to an individual. Do you have any thoughts on that or who we're going to be talking about tonight, Aaron? Well, I've never seen the talented Mr. Ripley. I'm not familiar with that story at all. But, you know, when we are looking to cover things on the show, sometimes we say, well, this family needs their case highlighted or this case set a precedent, things like that. And sometimes we cover something because it's odd. Well, in this case, we're covering someone who was quite the con man. and it's interesting to me how there was a common thread about the way he lived but also it showed that in his world he was the only one who truly mattered i won't spoil the talented mr ripley for anybody if you haven't seen it yet but uh has to do with a little bit of identity theft and murder so do we have any announcements yes this may crime con is happening again in las vegas and And so if you are headed to Las Vegas for CrimeCon, please use our code GENY. It saves you some money on the tickets and it lets them know that we're still wanted there. So we really appreciate those of you who've already used our code. Thank you very much. And like I said, if you're planning to go, use our code GENY. It's easy to add in the form on the website, CrimeCon.com. We look forward to seeing you there. And as always, check out our Patreon if you want to support us directly. Lots of extra content out there. We've put out lots of extra content out there. So we have a whole back catalog of cool stuff. Go check it out. But one of the best things that, you know, when you say content that's up on our Patreon is our original episodes. So many people are saying, hey, I was listening to you back in 2012, 2013. And I remember you had a Bigfoot episode or a Oak Island Money Pit episode. Where are those? Well, the where you would get them is on our Patreon. So go check it out. We just uploaded the Oak Island Money Pit. Justin, you just re-edited it a little bit. Yeah. But the sound's better. The pacing's a little better. But yeah, check it out. Those were some good times recording those strange episodes. So with that, Aaron, what are we talking about tonight? Well, with as big a story as this is, I'm going to just relate some of the things that happened. In 1985, John Sohus and his wife, Linda, went missing. The man who had been living in the guest house suddenly moved out. And later on, John's remains were found in 1994. Now in 2008, the same man that had been living in the guest house, he kidnapped his own daughter off the street. And let's just say by the time he hit the courtroom, his long legacy of false identities and crimes were being exposed. So we have a man named Christian Carl Gerhardtsreiter. He was born in Siegsdorf, a small town in Bavaria, West Germany, on February 21st, 1961. He claims he was born in 1960. So Aaron, right off the bat, we have him saying one thing and facts saying another. Yeah, I think throughout this episode, people can make their own determination about when he was actually born based on his claim versus what we have written down here. Yeah, and pretty much everything. So this town was popular with tourists from neighboring European cities for its idyllic scenery at the foot of the Alps. And they would often pass through while traveling. Like, hey, we're headed this way. We should make sure we go through Siegstorf. And his parents were called Simon and Ermgard Gerhardtsreiter. And his younger brother was Alexander. Now, Gerhardtsreiter's father was an artist and a painter. His mother was a homemaker. and he attended grade school in Bergen and Siegdorf, followed by a private high school education in Trondstein. And old classmates who knew him, they described him as mischievous and a troublemaker, but intelligent. And another thing that was really known about him was that he was really into America and American culture, film and Hollywood, which is not that uncommon. I mean, if you were to watch the Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary on Netflix, that was one of the things that drove him. In fact, it might have been the primary driving force behind his success in life was wanting to go to America and become a name there. And I think that's very common, especially back in the 70s and 80s. A lot of people looked at America as this perfect place. They saw the movies, they looked at Hollywood, they saw the sunshine, and this is just something that everyone dreamed of. And there is an element here where he lives in this small town where it's mostly tourists that come through and they all have stories to tell. They all are living these lives. And I think that he wanted a part of that. He wanted to live that life. Yeah. And land of opportunity too. So in 1978, while he was still in West Germany, Christian Gerhardt's writer met American tourists, Elmer and Gene Kown. He then applied for permission to enter the U.S., claiming that the Cowlans had invited him to come and stay with them in California. Now, this was a ruse, but it worked. And he got a visa using his real name, and he was granted permission to fly to New York. And that's where it all kind of begins. It was here in 1979 that he enrolled as a foreign exchange student at Berlin High School and began claiming he was from a rich West German family. He claimed his family were industrialists, and according to some, he vaguely indicated that he may have been of European royalty. He ended up lodging with the family of author Edward Savio. Savio would later say when he first met Gerhardt's writer, Gerhardt's writer was wearing interesting white sunglasses and tight clothing and was speaking in his best attempt at an Americanized accent. That's kind of funny because this is, I think, his way of trying to fit in, but it's an exaggerated version of it, and he probably sticks out like a turd in a punch bowl. Well, while he was living with his family, he would walk around their house judging their home, and according to Edward, would be openly rude about their home in front of his mother saying, I wouldn't live like this. So the family also noticed that Gerhardt's writer began to almost shapeshift into another person. He was changing the kinds of clothing he was wearing. He was changing his hairstyle. And he seemed to be experimenting with different characters, the way he moved, the way he talked, etc. And so it was just a matter of time before they were like, we can't tolerate him. Like he can't tolerate our home, but we can't tolerate him. So then they're like, you need to go somewhere else. And he acted shocked, like, you want me to leave? I mean, after all, he's royalty, right? The audacity. Like, you're asking me to leave? You should leave. But no, he said that I'm going to move on to better things. And he headed off to Wisconsin, where he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin. And so at this point, he's obviously kind of burned a bridge. And while traveling to the University of Wisconsin, he took on a new identity and began going by the name of Christopher Kenneth Gerhart. And I think that this is going to be a pattern of behavior. It's sort of a single serving friend. He'll come in, he'll charm you, and then kind of burn that bridge. And then he'll become a new person after that point. So in Wisconsin, he enrolled in acting classes at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. And one of his classmates there was named Richie Riddle. And he later said that they noticed quite early on after beating Chris that he was prone to outbursts. He had a short temper. And he also recalled in an interview with NBC News that Chichester, another name that this guy went by, had to be forcibly removed from a party after refusing to leave, that he had an inflated sense of self-importance. So of course, people are getting upset with him because they don't like the way he speaks to them. And he'll say something like, do you know who I am? Because they're saying, dude, maybe you should leave or what's your problem? And he's basically saying, I can do what I want. And this is a funny antidote of do you know who I am? Because people will make that joke to at least me, Aaron, when we go to conventions or if we're doing a meetup or something. and I will kindly go over to, I don't know, the restaurant host and be like, hey, can we get this table or we have a party of eight. And I'm always really nice and kind and like, it's okay. And everyone will make the joke and say, hey, Justin, did you tell them, do you know who I am? And I'm like, no, I would never do that. I'm just Justin and I just need a table. But this guy would pull that card with everybody. And that's saying something when you don't say it ironically. So he's there for months before he drops out and he moves on again. In 1981, he married a woman just so he could get a green card and become a U.S. citizen. This woman's name was Amy and she was 22. She fell for a story that Gerhard's writer told her. What he said was, if I have to go back to Germany, they will make me enlist in the army and I'll have to fight in the Cold War. I don't want to do that. And she said, no, you shouldn't have to do that. So they got married. And the very next day after the marriage, Gerhardt's writer left Dunk behind and made his way to California. And here's a funny story, Justin, is this couple was at least on paper married until she finally divorced him. And that was in 1992. 11 years. Yeah, their marriage lasted longer than most people I know, sadly. Their actual marriage. It's funny. It lasted 11 years. but like they were only together for like a day. So he goes to California. This is estimated around the early eighties, 1981 to 1985. Gerhardt's rider made his way to San Marino, California. And what name was he living under at that point, Aaron? Yeah. So he heads to California and he's using the name Christopher Chichester and he's saying he's a 13th baronet. Now baronet is a title holder. It's kind of like he's British nobility, but it's kind of like a commoner though. It's a fancy commoner is the way I would describe it. So you can call him sir, but he's really a commoner with a special title. I think they've done this with all kinds of people. Even Sean Connery was given this where he's like, sir, Sean Connery, but its roots are medieval. It's been around a long time. As much as people will look to the United States as this land of opportunity. Us in the United States, we'll look at other countries and stuff like that and be like, oh, he's nobility. Oh, there's royalty. And we're fascinated by that aspect of other countries. Although I personally would be like, I don't know what that title means and I don't care. So he goes to California here and he's claiming that he's a distant relative of British statesperson and Royal Navy officer, Lord Montbatten, who was also a close relative of the British royal family. But he's also telling people he's a TV producer from LA. And the media tried looking into this. They tried figuring out where did this name Chichester come from? And they believe it came from a teacher he used to have back in high school that he was enamored with. So he pulled a name from somebody not just made it up Got it So he 24 years old He has this new identity and it this well well intelligent gentleman who has British roots right This is his whole persona now Yeah. And people are loving it. They think he's exotic and he's showing up at a local church. He's going to the Rotary Club and they're charmed. But this is where it takes a dark turn, Justin. He starts asking out girls in the area. And that is not me misspeaking. He's actually asking out girls, allegedly including a 12-year-old girl named Corey Woods. And he was saying, hey, you should go to the movie theater with me. And Woods said, yeah, I'm not the only young girl he was asking to do stuff with. And honestly, up until this point, Aaron, I think a lot of people have this fantasy of, I wish I could just disappear, go start a new life somewhere where Nobody knows my name. I understand that people are finding themselves. But at this point, I'm thinking, yeah, this guy, he's not trying to find himself. He doesn't have self. And therefore, the only way he's going to get through life is by taking advantage of other people. And he's never had any sort of proper upbringing. So he's now in his 20s and he's approaching 12-year-old girls. This is pretty disgusting. Well, and I wouldn't blame his parents because as we'll find out, he just sort of took off and there was no holding him back. But let's get to some people that we mentioned early on, John and Linda Sohus. This is 1985, San Marino, California. And Gerhardt's writer is living in the guest house of a woman named Ruth Sohus, but she was known as Dee Dee to everyone that was close to her. And this is typical, if you don't know, in Los Angeles and in California, a lot of people have guest houses and people stay there. They either rent them out or they allow family members to stay there. This is so commonplace. Even my sister actually stayed at a guest house of a major celebrity whom I won't mention right now. I just find it ironic that he was staying at their guest house. And it just takes me back to my childhood and remembering certain things. Well, the only reason I have any familiarity with this is because of the OJ Simpson case. And I'm sure we all remember his famous guest who lived in his guest house. Yeah, yeah. Everyone's shouting at their speakers or they're shouting into the air right now. But yes. So he stays there for a few months, right? and true to form. It seems like he's outstaying his welcome and a lot of the locals and neighbors are no longer interested in him, his strange behaviors, or all of his over-the-top whale stories that he likes to tell. Well, DeeDee's adopted son, John, who was a computer programmer, and his wife, Linda, who was an artist, they moved into DeeDee's home while Gerhardt's writer was living in the guest house. And there was a point, I guess, where the family wasn't quite getting along as well as you'd like. And I don't think Gerhardt's writer helped. He very much wanted to be the go-between. But it ends up in 1985 that John and Linda Sohus, they go missing. And it's very odd because nobody knows why he suddenly leaves and why this couple's missing. But there's actually a whole thing that starts happening where there's some postcards and some sightings of John's truck around town and things like that. And so the people are like, well, we haven't seen John and Linda, but maybe they're around, but normally we see them and now we're not seeing them. And then of course, Gerhard's writer is suddenly leaving and he had been living there for two years at that point. So they are missing, but there are some correspondences and Gerhard's out the door. He's gone. Just that is really telling and suspicious behavior. And John Sohus' skeletal remains would later be discovered in the backyard by workers. This is almost a decade later, 1994, while they were digging out a pool for the new property owners. So now the mystery of where John went has been solved 10 years later, of course. So he was missing, but he had been obviously murdered and buried in the backyard. And Linda's location and what happened to her is still a mystery. And when you read about this case, Aaron, people don't talk about Linda very often, do they? Well, her family does. But yeah, it seems like people who have talked about this case, they don't mention her much. I have some ideas on why, but one of those is because they haven't found her. So they can't make the claim that Gerhardt's writer might've been involved because he was never taken to court over this, wasn't charged, but we can all do simple math. Now, there was a friend of his that noticed that the dirt in front of the guest house on the Sohus property had been disturbed back then. And Gerhardt's writer was actually questioned about this. You know, like we heard that the dirt was disturbed, the earth was disturbed. Do you know anything about this? And he said, well, there were some issues with the plumbing. So, of course, then the detective looks into, was there any work done at the house, at the guest house, in the yard? They can't find any evidence of that. There was an acquaintance at church who said that around the time of John Sohu's murder, they said, Gerhardtsreiter borrowed a chainsaw from them. That's pretty dark. I'm sure that Christian Gerhardtsreiter said it was to cut back a tree or trim something with, but yeah, we have a chainsaw, we have plumbing, we have dirt here. Another acquaintance said he attempted to sell them a rug around the same time, but rolled it back up when dark colored spatter stains were pointed out. Meaning, hey, I got this rug. Do you want to buy it? What are these dark stains all over it? Oh, don't worry about that. And he rolls it up. So John's remains were recovered and they were spread across three plastic bags and a fiberglass box. According to criminologist Lynn Harreld, part of the victim's remains, including the skull, had been buried inside a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee book bag. Just one of the plastic bags were covered in the Sohus' backyard. A University of Wisconsin. Who's from there, Aaron? Yeah, we know that Gerhardt's writer spent some time there. And, you know, forensic analysts worked on this case, and they determined that the bags dated from the period when Gerhardt's writer lived on the property. Investigation revealed that the victim had died due to blunt force trauma to the head, possibly with a rounded blunt instrument. He'd also been stabbed several times. Now, John Sohus, they attempted to work on identifying him properly, but they couldn't compare his DNA to that of his family because he had been adopted. And of course, Linda, they looked. They could never find her remains because they assume she is deceased. And we have more information on that that we'll come up with later that'll really bring home why they know that she's not out there running around. Yeah. Before their disappearance, the couple had said that they had felt trapped and stifled living in Dee Dee's home, though they were happy together and their relationship was going well. But this is obviously not working out, and they considered Gerhard's rider creepy and mostly avoided him. Before they disappeared, John had an upcoming interview for a government job that he was very excited about. A friend of theirs, Sue Kaufman, said that Linda had called her to say she and John were headed to New York for two weeks for the government job, adding they want both of us. Aaron, some of these things kind of make sense, but when both of them disappear and you don't hear from them, I don't know if going to New York for a couple weeks is enough of an explanation of why they would just disappear for good. Yeah, but if we understand who Gerhardt's writer is and we're beginning to, then it might be this was yet another ruse, right? Because now they have a reason to leave. Maybe they're not going where they think they are. So one of the things that they did before they left was they checked their pet cats into a nearby kennel and they told them it'll be for two weeks, but they never came back to collect them. And according to Linda's family, there's no way in heck she would ever leave her cats behind. So they started making calls. They called Didi Sohus and she answered, although she seemed under the influence of alcohol, she was a known drinker. And her answer to them was, well, John and Linda, they're on a secret mission. So of course, Linda's family then contacts the San Marino police and they claim they'll launch an investigation. Now, the police do question Didi and she tells them what she told Linda's family, which is John and Linda are on a secret mission. And they said, how do you know that? And she said, well, this information, it comes from a source that I can't give you the name of. They cannot get her to give them the name of the person who told her that this is what they were up to. And so the investigation stalls out. Now, there's some more information from this investigation we'll get into later. But yeah, they really did interview people. They did talk to people. They looked into things. And some of that will come up later. And I don't know why Dee Dee appears to be going along with this ruse, or maybe she doesn't have any more information and she doesn't care. I don't know. Well, I would say, to be fair to Dee Dee, she's a much older lady and she drinks a lot. And let's just say maybe she's a little charmed. John and Linda had not contacted any friends or family. However, three months later, two postcards were mailed from France, purportedly from this missing couple. The first was sent to Sue, which reads, Dear Sue, kind of missed New York. Oops, but this can be lived with John and Linda. The second was sent to Linda's family, giving very little information other than stating she was in France. France was never part of the government job. France was never brought up before this point. Yeah, and it's just kind of interesting that suddenly they're supposedly in France. And this is before John's remains are found, obviously. And Linda Sohus' mother would later say that Linda didn't even have a passport, nor did she probably have any money to be flying to France to relocate and to leave the cats behind. It just, none of it added up. So more months go by and no more contact from John and Linda. Didi even goes to the police to file a missing persons report on her son, John, and she finally gives up the name of her source. Would that be the tenant living in the guest house? Yeah, bingo. Christopher Chichester is the name she knows him by. He had been lodging in her guest house. And then after her son and his wife suddenly disappeared, he moved on. And he had been there for two years, like I said. And she said, I don't know where he went to. And John's vehicle was also missing. And Dee Dee wasn't aware about how long it had been gone for. And this is California. They said they were going to New York. Probably going to fly from LA to New York, but his vehicle's missing. So maybe it was assumed they drove, but that's like the longest drive ever. Well, they could have driven to the airport, right? Yeah, I guess, you know, despite this new information though, police had no leads to follow. And once again, the case goes cold. Dee Dee moved to a trailer park, sold her property, and she ended up passing away two years later. So this whole saga of this guest house and Dee Dee and John and Linda kind of hits a dead end. Yeah, and the story picks back up in Greenwich, Connecticut. This is mid to late 80s, early 90s. John's truck was later discovered. It was about nine months later in Greenwich, Connecticut, after someone attempted to sell it without the proper papers. The potential buyer, he was the son of a minister, reported this because he thought this vehicle must be stolen. So he contacted the police and he gave them the name of the person who was selling in the truck. It was Christopher Crow. And it didn't take too long before they figured out that Christopher Crow is also Christopher Chichester. And it showed that DeeDee, who back in the day had tried to let police know, okay, here's the person I was talking to. Well, now they know he's just moved on to their area and he's back to his old ways. There was also an incident, Justin, where he was driving said truck and he got pulled over and the police were questioning him and he ended up getting away. He, of course, told a story and whatnot, but it was very close to him getting caught by the police here or there, but nothing too serious. You know, he has so many names, so many identities, so many places he's been, you know, these aren't like modern times where it's a little easier to track somebody. This is back in the day in the eighties. It's interesting that he goes from Christian to Christopher but he keeps Christopher for a little while probably easier to keep track of So here a really strange story Around 86 or 87 Christopher Crowe had been working at a brokerage firm called S.N. Phelps and Company. But according to coverage by Royer's Boston Globe, when his employers looked into his social security number they gave them, they discovered it belonged to that of David Berkowitz. The son of Sam, huh? Yes. Of all the social security numbers to steal and use for your own. Well, let's just say this didn't go over well with them. Yeah. So he moves on. He's got no experience, education, or background in sales and bonds. But he goes on to work as a sales manager in the corporate bond department of a sales firm. And they say he did this by charming and lying his way in, claiming to be from a royal background. But he didn't make it too long before he was fired due to incompetence. I'm just going to go off on a little side tangent here, Aaron. I'm sorry, and sorry to the audience. But this just shows me how when you are applying for the job, it used to be that it did not matter. There was very little vetting. And as long as you could write a resume and talk your way through an interview, that's all that mattered. Your experience, your hard work, your references, none of that mattered. Now, applying for jobs, it's all an algorithm that looks for buzzwords in your resume and it's a pay-to-play game. But just seeing how he was able to get a job as a sales manager, not even a salesperson, this is middle management so easily, it just, it annoys me. Yeah, understandably so. Now in 1988, Gerhardt's writer slash Crow is dating a woman named Mihoko Manabe and the pair met at Nico Securities, which was a Japanese brokerage firm with a New York City office where she worked as a translator. And she knew this man as head of the bond trading department and knew him by the name of Christopher Crow. So Crow and her, they're hitting it off. He moves into her apartment after just a few months of dating. And then he's fired when the firm figured out he's not using a real name. So then he goes on to work for Kidder Peabody and Company. And, you know, Mihoko said that after a phone message was left on Crow's voicemail from San Marino police regarding the Sohus' couple's disappearance, he changed his appearance. So he dyed his hair dark. He started dumping all of his household trash in various public trash cans. And he also made her walk on the opposite side of the street to him. What? Oh my God. What is going on here? I don't know how many people would put up with this. Red flag. Or flags. Little red flag there. Just little one. So, and it gets worse because he quits his job. He starts getting all of his mail sent to a PO box. And then he proposes to Mihoko saying we should move to Europe. And he gets his passport renewed just days after getting this call from the police. And this is where he starts changing his name again, Justin. He starts using the last name of Rockefeller, which we all know that name and the weight the Rockefeller name carries. So a lot of you, if you look up this case, you'll find it under Clark Rockefeller because that's obviously the most famous name, but it's not one that is real and he has no blood relation to the Rockefeller family. Yeah, now we're going to go on to, there's New York City, there's Boston. This is from 92 to 2008. And his full name that he goes by is James Frederick Mills Clark Rockefeller. But really, he just goes by Clark Rockefeller. And for those of you who don't know, the Rockefellers are an extremely wealthy family of German descent. They gained their fortune through John D. Rockefeller, who was the founder of the Standard Oil Company in 1870, which controlled pretty much all the U.S. oil refineries or most of them in the 1900s. But in 1911, the Supreme Court said, you can't do this. You can't have everything. So they made this company break up. And then it went from the Standard Oil Company to becoming ExxonMobil and Chevron. And of course, at that point, Miyoko, she had left him because of his behavior. she's no longer interested in moving to Europe with him she can see the red flags and luckily she's left so she's unscathed and Clark Rockefeller his personality is different than that of Christopher Crowe or Christopher Chichester it's said by people that he's now generous he likes to pay for everything he likes to have people go out and drink with him he throws large dining parties at his home where expensive art pieces were hanging on the walls and people addressed him as Mr. Rockefeller. But they said it's strange, you know, at these parties at the, you know, when he's out drinking, he's like this big time guy, right? But when he's just out on the street, they said he tries to keep a very low profile. He actually walks along with his head down and his hat tilted. So people don't see his face. Almost like he's trying to obscure his identity from, I don't know, law enforcement or anyone that might be looking for him. Yeah. And people would ask him questions like, oh, you're a Rockefeller. Oh, you have to tell him. And he wouldn't give them any information. So tight-lipped man. But he ends up marrying a woman named Sandra Boss in 1995. This is where the story is really reaching kind of a climax. So Sandra was working at a high-powered consulting firm and she met this Gerhardt's writer, Rockefeller guy, went at a clue party, which is, if you know, it's the whodunit board game clue. And she liked how intelligent he seemed, how knowledgeable he was about things. He could talk about many subjects. So she's charmed by him. Yeah. And Sandra, she's educated at Harvard and she has a very successful career. She is around circles of other people that have successful careers. So when she meets him, she thinks, you're one of us, right? Yeah, it fits right in. Well, they ended up having a child together in 2001, a girl who they named Ray Snokes Rockefeller. And in 2006, Sandra purchased a home for them in Boston, Massachusetts. This property was valued at about $2.6 million. Wow. She's obviously the breadwinner. She's the one that makes a lot of money here. She would take long commutes for work and was barely home, leaving Clark or Christian or whatever at home to be the sole carer of their daughter. And he actually was a very engaged father here, right? Yeah. And we're going to learn from their sometimes babysitter. Her name's Emily Miller. She was 16 that she thought he was an amazing dad, but that's because he doted on his daughter. He would take them to museums and galleries in the city and he would dress her up kind of like him. And she's watching this and she thinks, man, he loves his kid. But a lot of other people would say he doesn't like to go out that much. And he really doesn't allow his daughter to socialize with other kids her age. And Ray was attending an expensive private school. So everything looks like it's going great for Clark Rockefeller, for Sandra Boss and their daughter, Ray, until about 2006. And that's when Sandra has had enough. she's seeing through his BS. Yeah. Whether it's his expenditure of money, whether it's his ego, his lies, things start going wrong. And Sandra filed for divorce and he was allowed just three supervised visits per year with his daughter, whom would be locating with her mother to London, England. Now it's said that Sandra did not appreciate the way that he was parenting because she felt that he was being very manipulative. Sandra had hired a private investigator to look into her husband and discovered he was living under a false name. Although the PI, he could not trace his birth name. According to the PI, it's like this guy just appeared in his 30s. Like he just was born in his 30s and I can't find anything about him prior to that. Yeah, so the plan was she gets this divorce and then she's going to take her daughter and move to London, England. This divorce was finalized in 2007 and Sandra changed their daughter's name legally. And some reports were stating that Gerhardt's writer, Clark Rockefeller, had made a deal with Sandra where she would give him $800,000 and he would agree to not fight for custody of the daughter. But the thing was, is it was not a ruse. It was not a con, his feelings for his daughter. and he came up with a plan to abduct her. He didn't want her leaving the country. Yeah, because obviously she's not going to pay him $800,000. She's fighting for custody. She feels she's in the right because he's the liar. He's the one that's manipulating her. She's the one that's making all the money. Regardless of him doing what he does, she's just like, no, you are not the person you say you are. And now we have Gerhard's writer kidnapping his seven-year-old daughter from a street in Boston on July 27th, 2008. How did this go down? Well, the investigators believe this was thoroughly planned. And we'll go through the details now so you know why. There was a supervised visit with his daughter. There was a social worker there. They were in a children's park. And it was clear that Gerhardt's writer was biding his time. So he was waiting for a moment when the social worker wasn't keeping her focus on him. And so when that moment came, he shoved her to the ground, grabbed his daughter, and then pushed her into a vehicle that was waiting nearby. Now, when he did this, his daughter hit her head on the doorframe. And to show you how much he cares for this daughter, now he wants to get away, but he took her to the hospital before continuing on. And then he got them into a second vehicle driven by a female friend and drove to New York, then on to Baltimore. And of course, now he has to change things all up once again. And it's so upsetting that he is able to manipulate other people to help him in all of this. It's one thing for him to perpetrate this crime, plan it out, but now he has help, a second car to throw off his trail. It's upsetting to me. I'm sorry. When other people help criminals, I just think, what were you thinking? How in the world did you think this was the good guy if he's kidnapping his child. So again, he's got to change things up. He has an apartment and a catamaran boat ready and waiting. Now back in Boston, of course, the investigators, they want to find this child. They're concerned. Now Gerhardt's writer has been living in an apartment with his daughter and the apartment manager of the building recognized his face in the news and immediately called the police. And the manager said, yeah, I got your guy. In fact, I got his name. It's Chip Smith. And so the police don't care what the name is that they get. They just know this guy recognized this guy's face. So they know they got to get him, but they don't want to just rush in. So they come up with their own plan, their own ruse to con the con man. And what they do is get ahold of him and they say, Hey, there's an issue with your boat. It's got a leak. And so of course he's concerned because he needs this boat, you know, it's important to his plan. And so of course, when he pops out, they arrest him. And he's not going to tell them anything. He did not reveal his identity or anything. He would not speak to them. Law enforcement would run his fingerprints through a national database and discovered that he was actually Christian Carl Gerhardt's writer. And of course, he's going to deny this saying he was Clark Rockefeller and had no idea who this Christian person was. Not only did they discover his true identity, but also discovered several other identities he had been using, tracing them backwards to find his true identity. I mean, they had to go through a lot here, Aaron. And I understand that this is the early 2000s, so they have more technology and databases, but the amount of names and moves and marriages and everything. On top of all of this, they're going to find out that he is a person of interest in the 1985 murder of John Sohus, whose remains were discovered in 1994 at that residence that he had occupied under a previous name. His house of cards is crumbling down at this point, right? Yeah. And I think the main reason it is, is because these investigators are doing one heck of a job and they're primarily using fingerprints. The fingerprints are what they can tie together from all these different cases, interestingly enough. And there was a detective who was working John Sohus case as well as Linda And he knocked on the door of the guest house to interview the guest at the home And he said I wanna talk to you about John and Linda And the man who answered the door was completely naked He looked disheveled, but he claimed to be a nudist because he said, I'm not gonna put on clothes for you. I won't do that. And he was asked, do you know anything about their whereabouts though? And he said, oh, the couple? Yeah, they're on a secret mission. And of course, this is at the time when he lived in that guest house, years prior. But what better way to cut off an interview with law enforcement than to answer the door with no clothes on, make them as uncomfortable as possible and claim they're on a secret mission and you don't know anything about it, right? Yeah, he also claimed his mother was the famous child actor, Ann Carter, who at the time was still alive. And when they caught up with her, she said that story is untrue. So, of course, by now, this story, which is really many stories that we've been building up over the years, are completely unraveling. And by this point, investigators and journalists, they have a good idea who Christian Carl Gerhardt's writer is. Yeah. Aaron, if we went through all of the lies and all of the stories he told, we could be here for days. I will just say this to our listeners. You can go down this rabbit hole. I mean, there are just little anecdotal stories from investigators, from friends. This guy, you'd be walking down the street and he'd point at a building and be like, that's a Rockefeller building. If you ever want to tour it, I got the key right here. Just random things like that. And it's just funny that he said his mother is Ann Carter, just out of the blue. Like, why? Why say that? Why say anything that can be easily proven wrong? But it's all for this charm. It's to win you over. It's this trust. I mean, none of that really matters anymore because the police are now arresting him. Well, it's a known thing that once you've charmed somebody or some buddies, you can begin to tell them whatever you want. And sometimes people really don't want to reverse their feelings about somebody, no matter what lies they're told. so we have even his family his brother alexander he said that christian had not been in contact with his family back in germany for 20 years although he did receive a phone call from him at some point in the 1980s where he told them he had to change his name from gerhardt's writer to chichester because his original surname was too difficult for americans to say and as some of you can tell I have a harder time saying the one he changed it to. But that's a common thing, right? Alexander said that his brother had always wanted to live somewhere bigger than the small town that he was raised in and he wanted to be someone and to be rich and famous. Now, this is, again, that whole American dream, but I'll say this, it's easier to be a big fish in a small pond because being a minnow in an ocean is a lot harder to crawl up out of. So Gerhardt Reiter's lawyer, Stephen B. Rons, claimed that Gerhardt's writer did not recall that he was German or that he was from Germany. He also claimed he had no knowledge of his brother Alexander. He also said that Gerhardt's writer could only recall fragments of his childhood, that he had a nanny who was Scottish and once visited Mount Rushmore as a child. So he's continuing on. I mean, this has worked for him so far. he's continuing even with his attorney. And he tells his attorney that he couldn't recall immigrating to the USA in the seventies, nor marrying a woman named Amy, despite marriage records of the event. But he did seem to recall his life clearly from around the time that he met Sandra Boss, which was his second wife. This is mostly over this original child abduction charge, and he's claiming reason of insanity. And his lawyer is saying, yeah, yeah, he doesn't remember anything. He claimed that memories from even a decade ago were in fragments saying he worked as a stockbroker in New York on Wall Street, but he could not recall exactly where, when, or under which name. He also recalled living in California before that time, but could not come up with any specific details. I think this is just, he can't keep his lies straight. But of course, now it's August of 2008, his attorney said he doesn't remember murdering anyone and he doesn't remember being a tenant of the couple that was murdered. Totally distancing himself from John and Linda. Well, he remembers that he doesn't remember. But now the gig is up because no matter what he says or does, the system has him. Now he has to answer to the charges. In the summer of 2009, Gerhardt is now 47 and he's tried in Boston for the kidnapping of his daughter. He claimed insanity and he believed that his daughter had telepathically begged him to rescue her from her mother. So this brings up a lot of people who think they can diagnose this man. Mental health professionals from the defense say he's narcissistic personality disorder. He's got that. Mental health professionals from the prosecution claim he has mixed personality disorder, including narcissistic attributes. But that is all kind of a wash. I mean, what happens here is the jury takes a look at this case and they decide not only is he sane, but he's guilty. So he gets about five years in a Boston prison. And this is why I started our episode out this way. You have a sociopath, you have narcissists, pathological liars, and they all overlap. And this is the perfect example of someone who I believe knows exactly what they're doing is a con man and knows how to manipulate. That doesn't make them not culpable for their actions. So he goes from this Boston prison to face charges for first degree murder in the case of John Sohus. As you remember, Linda was never found, so they can't really do much there. It's April 10th in 2013 when he's found guilty and he gets 27 years to life, which included enhancements for using deadly weapons. But after the sentencing, Garrett's writer fired his attorneys and said he was going to represent himself. And in a statement, he said he was innocent of John Sohus' murder and said, I firmly believe that the victim's wife killed the victim. But be that as it may, once again, I did not commit the crime for which I stand accused. And the thing about this is he's trying to get a reduction because he's trying to say, look, I didn't do this. Don't give me all these years. Don't give me 27 years to life. But his appeal attacked the finding of premeditation and deliberation by the jury that they used to find him guilty of first degree murder. So I want to read part of the decision by the court to illustrate how this con man wasn't able to fool the judges. The court identified several key pieces of evidence that collectively demonstrated Gerhardt's writer's planning leading up to the murder. The defendant had borrowed a chainsaw shortly before the Sohus' vanished, and he had inquired about disposing of chemicals, suggesting he was preparing for the aftermath of a violent act. This behavior, along with the fact that he returned the chainsaw shortly after the couple's disappearance, indicated forethought regarding the murder and its cover-up. The court noted that the use of multiple weapons during the crime, including striking, John Sohus multiple times and inflicting stab wounds indicated a deliberate choice rather than a spontaneous act, because how are you beating and stabbing someone if it just suddenly occurred? So Gerhardt's writer's actions after the murder, such as digging a grave that would take hours to do and attempting to dispose of the remains in a fiberglass drum, further highlighted a calculated approach to conceal the crime. The court concluded that these actions, when viewed collectively pointed to a clear plan that aligned with the definition of premeditated murder. And that's not even taking into account all the other lies, all the other manipulations, all the other false identities. That's just taking this one incident in a vacuum and looking at it and saying, nah, nah, you plan this. This is just one paragraph from their appeal decision. And they had many more things to relate, but this is the one that stood out to me because you're talking about multiple weapons. You're talking about the disposal of the remains. And I have it in my head that he had hoped to make one of them completely disappear because then he can say, well, one killed the other and took off because there were some stories at the time about maybe there was some unease in the house, but it was probably due to him. It wasn't between this couple. I mean, by all accounts, they loved each other. So that wasn't going to work. But whatever happened, it was John's remains that were found. But Justin, you know, this was a long time ago, so he could be up for parole. Yeah. I mean, he was sentenced to 27 years, but, you know, with time served and good behavior and all that, he could be paroled by late 2029, which is kind of scary. Yeah. And this is because, you know, through the appeal and everything, I think they took a year off, but that's eligible. They don't have to let him out because this is 26 years to life in the end. I mean, whether it's 26 or 27 to life, I mean, there's still that life part. And it'll be interesting to see if anybody could trust him to be released into the general public. And I'd love to hear what people think about that. Now, Gerhardt's writer's friend, who's writer Walter Kern, went on to write a book about him and said, he looks at a warm, happy, trusting person like a burglar looks at an unlocked door, something to go inside and create havoc with. And here's an interesting paragraph, Justin. And I want you to read it if you can. But it's Kern was asked, how was he able to con so many people? And this was his answer. Vanity, vanity, vanity. I simply treat you like the person you hope you are, but are afraid inside that you're not. And you get addicted to that feeling of being important. And you think you can only get it from me. So you keep coming back to me. And if that is not just a narcissist wrapped up inside of love bombing you, complimenting you, and making you feel you can only get that confirmation, that love from them and them only. Right. And of course, he has in his tool belt that he's a Rockefeller, that he's British royalty. And so who would you want to get love bombed by or would you want to get any kind of compliment by than someone such as him? It's all reassurance. So if you've ever been fooled by somebody like this, understand you're not alone. I mean, at the end of the day, I think almost everybody wants some sort of confirmation. And unfortunately, that leaves us vulnerable. in ways we didn't even expect. So if you enjoyed this story, please leave us a review if you haven't already. If you'd like to comment on it, if you have any additional details maybe that we didn't get to in our telling of it that you'd like to share, please reply to our posts on Facebook or Instagram or on our Patreon at patreon.com slash generation Y. Gerhardt's writer made his way to San Marino, California and was living under the name Christopher Chesseter. Chesseter. Chesseter. Oh my God. Chissester. Chichester. Like chitch, almost like church, but chitch. Chitch. And then ester. Chichester. Chissester. No. Oh my God. We should be just releasing this at some point. Chishister. Chishister. I don't think you're going to get it. I feel like I'm saying it right in my mind. I'm hearing it right. You're saying Chishister. Chishister. No, you added extra T in there and S. Oh, my God. I'm sorry, Aaron. You're going to have to read the sentence then. I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you.