'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAMDAwMDAwQEBAQFBQUFBQcHBgYHBwsICQgJCAsRCwwLCwwLEQ8SDw4PEg8bFRMTFRsfGhkaHyYiIiYwLTA+PlQBAwMDAwMDBAQEBAUFBQUFBwcGBgcHCwgJCAkICxELDAsLDAsRDxIPDg8SDxsVExMVGx8aGRofJiIiJjAtMD4+VP/AABEIAAcACgMBIgACEQEDEQH/xABkAAEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABQcQAAEDAwIHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAECAwQABhEFIgcIEhMUITEBAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGEQEBAAICAwAAAAAAAAAAAAABAgADBBEhMWH/2gAMAwEAAhEDEQA/AIfDu2n7ytxbUmF2gdFmdL6EMZDreNyx9WRk7sgitQ0fljuWTpMB5PikORWVgpiRCNyAfRWoGlKl+TtdG4JJSoVE78l0YvfJ3w9TaAT6+yOf/9k='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The cons of Clark Rockefeller, who first arrived in the US as Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter from Germany in 1978, made headlines when he was arrested for kidnapping his own daughter from his ex-wife in 2008. At the time, he went by the name Rockefeller, pretending to be part of a wealthy family.
Rockefeller was soon linked to other crimes he committed during a decades-long con, including the murder of a San Marino, California, man named Jonathan Sohus, who went missing in 1985 along with his wife, while the fraudster was staying at the guesthouse in their family home. Jonathan's remains were unearthed in the backyard of the same home in 1994 and identified as the missing man in 2010.
After his arrest, Rockefeller was convicted of kidnapping and while serving his sentence stood trial for Jonathan Sohus' case in California. He was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to 27 years to life in prison.
The curious case of notorious conman Clark Rockefeller will feature on Dateline: Secrets Uncovered this Wednesday, May 17. The episode titled The Phony Rockefeller will air on Oxygen at 8:00 pm ET.
Here's what the synopsis for the upcoming episode says:
"A high-society hustler with a flair for spinning lies, the con man known as Clark Rockefeller is accused of murder; to solve the mystery, cold-case detectives begin to retrace his steps along a decades-old trail of deceit."
Clark Rockefeller: Five quick facts to know about the German-origin conman now convicted of murder
1) Born Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, Rockefeller came to the US in 1978
Clark Rockefeller, originally known as Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, first arrived in the US as a teenager on a tourist visa in 1978. After entering the country in New York City, he headed to Berlin, Connecticut, where he came across the family of novelist Edward Savio. There, he told them he was from a rich family in West Germany and lived with them for a few months before being asked to leave.
2) In 1981, he married a 22-year-old woman to secure a green card for himself
From there, Gerhartsreiter took on the alias of Christopher Kenneth Gerhart and traveled to Wisconsin where in 1981, he persuaded a 22-year-old woman named Amy Jersild Duhnke to marry him to obtain a green card. Gerhartsreiter left her a day after the wedding before heading to California. Reports state that Duhnke only filed for divorce in 1992.
3) Clark Rockfeller's arrival in San Marino was followed by the disappearance of a couple
From Wiconsin, the fraudster moved to California under the identity of Christopher Mountbatten Chichester. There in the upscale San Marino community, he moved into Ruth "Didi" Sohus' guest house. Not long after his arrival, Didi's son Jonathan Sohus and his wife Linda went missing. Back then, authorities had no evidence to determine if Jonathan and Linda Sohus were dead or had willingly left California. The same year, Chichester also vanished.
In 1994, Jonathan's skeletal remains were discovered in the property's backyard long after his family had sold the house. However, the case remained unsolved for more than two decades until Rockefeller's arrest in 2008. Then in 2010, the remains were officially established to be of Jonathan Sohus.
4) He took on the Rockefeller alias in the 90s after moving to New York City
Gerhartsreiter assumed the identity of Clark Rockefeller, pretending to be part of the renowned Rockefeller family while in New York City in the 90s and 2000s. There, he married an influential and successful businesswoman, financial lawyer and Harvard graduate, Sandra Boss in 1995. The pair had a daughter together and were married for more than ten years.
Sandra Boss filed for divorce and moved to London with their daughter Reigh after nearly ten years of marriage. She also got custody of the child with her former husband only being permitted to a few restricted supervised visits with their daughter. During one such supervised visit, Rockefeller kidnapped their seven-year-old daughter in 2008.
5) Clark Rockefeller was arrested and convicted of the kidnapping and then found guilty of murder
After the kidnapping, although there were no signs of Rockefeller, his wanted posters prompted people from across the country to come forward and reveal their personal encounters with the man who went by multiple aliases ever since his arrival in the US decades ago. Via forensic tests, his identity was confirmed and he was arrested in Baltimore, where he was using the alias of Chip Smith.
Clark Rockefeller was found guilty of his daughter's kidnapping in June 2009 and was serving time in prison when he was charged with Jonathan Sohus' murder two years later. In 2013, a California jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced him to 27 years to life in prison.
Dateline: Secrets Uncovered airs with a new episode on Oxygen this Wednesday.
