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 was born to Simon and Irmgard Gerhartsreiter on 21 February 1961, in Siegsdorf, Bavaria, West Germany; his parents gave his birthdate as 21 February 1961, while Christian himself has claimed to have been born on 29 February 1960.

He has a brother, Alexander Gerhartsreiter.

In 1978, Gerhartsreiter met an American couple, Elmer and Jean Kelln, who were traveling in West Germany.

He later used their names to obtain permission to enter the U.S., falsely declaring that the Kellns had invited him to stay with them in California.

After entering the country in New York City, Gerhartsreiter went to Berlin, Connecticut, where he found the family of author Edward Savio, telling them that he was from a wealthy family in West Germany.

The family allowed Gerhartsreiter to live with them, and in 1979 he was accepted as a foreign exchange student at Berlin High School.

Eventually he wore out his welcome with the Savios and was told to leave.

Gerhartsreiter decided to move to California to pursue a career in acting.

By the time he reached Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he had started calling himself "Christopher Kenneth Gerhart."

While there, he enrolled in a class at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

Deciding that he wanted to become a U.S. citizen, he married 22-year-old Amy Jersild Duhnke in 1981 in Madison, Wisconsin, in order to obtain a green card.

To persuade Duhnke to marry him, Gerhartsreiter falsely claimed that if he had gone back to West Germany, he would have to go into the military and be sent to fight in the Cold War on the Russian front line.

The day after the wedding, Gerhartsreiter left his wife and headed for California.

Police had been seeking Gerhartsreiter as a suspect in the 1985 disappearance of a married couple, Jonathan and Linda Sohus, in California.

He was initially identified as a person of interest by police in the 1985 disappearance and death of Didi's son, Jonathan Sohus, and his wife Linda.

Gerhartsreiter reportedly told people that the couple had traveled to Europe.

Their family received a postcard purportedly sent from France, though its authenticity has been questioned.

In late 1988, Gerhartsreiter was pulled over in Greenwich, Connecticut, while driving a pickup truck that had belonged to Jonathan Sohus, but he left the area before police could interview him.

At that point, police had no proof that Jonathan and Linda Sohus were dead, nor that they had left California voluntarily.

Duhnke filed for divorce in 1992.

Using the alias "Christopher Chichester," Gerhartsreiter lived in the guesthouse of Didi Sohus in the upscale community of San Marino, California.

Chichester was the last name of a teacher Gerhartsreiter was infatuated with while attending Berlin High School according to Edward Savio.

In May 1994, bones believed to belong to Jonathan Sohus were found buried in the backyard of the couple's former property.

Sohus's family members said the bones matched his general description.

Since Sohus had been adopted, there was no way to compare his DNA against that of biological family members and arrive at a conclusive identity.

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.

After being arrested by Boston police in 2007, Gerhartsreiter claimed that his mother was Ann Carter, an American child actress of the 1940s, and claimed that she had died.

Carter was in fact still alive and denied this claim in August 2007.

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.

He was convicted in 2013 of Jonathan Sohus's murder and is serving 27 years to life in a California prison.