Christian Gerhartsreiter
Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter (born 21 February 1961) is a German convicted murderer and impostor. Born in West Germany, he is currently serving a prison sentence in the U.S. state of California. After moving to the U.S. in his late teens, Gerhartsreiter lived under a succession of aliases while variously claiming to be an actor, a director, an art collector, a physicist, a ship's captain, a negotiator of international debt agreements, and an English aristocrat.
Christian Gerhartsreiter | |
|---|---|
| Born | Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter 21 February 1961 Siegsdorf, Bavaria, West Germany |
| Other names | Clark Rockefeller Christopher C. Crowe Christopher Mountbatten Charles "Chip" Smith Christopher Kenneth Gerhart Christopher Chichester |
| Spouses | Amy Jersild Duhnke
(m. 1981; div. 1992)Sandra Boss
(m. 1995; div. 2007) |
| Children | 1 |
| Conviction(s) | |
| Criminal penalty |
|
| Details | |
| Victims | Daughter (custodial kidnapping) Jonathan Sohus (first-degree murder) |
| Date | 27 July 2008 February 1985 (first-degree murder) |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | Massachusetts, California |
| Location(s) | Boston, Massachusetts (kidnapping and assault) San Marino, California (first-degree murder) |
| Killed | 1 |
Date apprehended | 2 August 2008 |
| Imprisoned at | San Quentin State Prison |
In 1995, while assuming the identity of Clark Rockefeller, claiming to be part of the noted Rockefeller family, Gerhartsreiter married a successful businesswoman named Sandra Boss; they had a daughter together. Gerhartsreiter lived well solely on his wife's income. However, she became dissatisfied with his secretive, controlling behavior and sought a divorce. Inquiries on her behalf revealed that he had fabricated his name and his family background. The couple divorced and Gerhartsreiter agreed to accept limited access to his daughter on supervised visits. Gerhartsreiter was arrested on 2 August 2008, six days after he abducted his daughter while she was on a visit. He was subsequently convicted of the custodial kidnapping of his daughter.
In addition to Clark Rockefeller, Gerhartsreiter's aliases include Christopher Kenneth Gerhart, Christopher Chichester, Christopher C. Crowe, Christopher Mountbatten and Charles "Chip" Smith. Gerhartsreiter's true identity was revealed after author Edward Savio – with whom Gerhartsreiter briefly lived upon arriving in the U.S. – contacted the FBI during the manhunt after seeing a photo of "Clark Rockefeller" on the news. Police had been seeking Gerhartsreiter as a suspect in the 1985 disappearance of a married couple, Jonathan and Linda Sohus, in California. He was convicted in 2013 of Jonathan Sohus's murder and is serving 27 years to life in a California prison.