Rockefeller impostor convicted of murder
A photo of swimming pool area being unearthed 1994 and finding the remains of John Sohus in the backyard of a home on Loraine Road in San Marino was shown during final arguments by prosecutor Habib Balian in the murder trial of Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles Tuesday. A jury has found a notorious Rockefeller impostor guilty of first-degree murder in the death of a California man nearly three decades ago. (AP Photo/San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pool )
Christian Gerhartsreiter listened to final arguments by prosecutor Habib Balian during his trial at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday. A jury has found a notorious Rockefeller impostor guilty of first-degree murder in the death of a California man nearly three decades ago. (AP Photo/San Gabriel Valley Tribune,Walter Mancini, Pool )
LOS ANGELES » A jury has found a notorious Rockefeller impostor guilty of first-degree murder in the death of a California man nearly three decades ago.
The verdict was reached today after the jury deliberated about a day.
Testimony in the cold-case trial of Christian Gerhartsreiter focused on the discovery of the bones of John Sohus long after he and his wife disappeared from his mother’s home in San Marino, a wealthy Los Angeles suburb.
The defendant, a German immigrant with delusions of grandeur, rented a cottage at the Sohus home in 1985 then disappeared about the same time as Sohus and his wife Linda who was never found.
The case was circumstantial and no reason was ever given for why the defendant would kill the victim.
Over the years, Gerhartsreiter adopted many names, including Clark Rockefeller.
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