99-year-old man beaten over parking spot 1
Inmates hides dope in his rolls of fat 2
Customer kills armed liquor store robber 3
By Steve Huff in bizarre, missing persons, unsolved
Monday, Aug. 25 2008 @ 6:49PM


NBC's Natalie Morales interviews Christian Gerhartsreiter, aka Clark Rockefeller.

You'd think the most interesting development in the endlessly fascinating saga of Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter (first known to the American public as Clark Rockefeller) would be Gerhartsreiter's interview with NBC news. A portion of the interview was broadcast on the Today Show this morning. It revealed very little about the case and a lot about Gerhartsreiter. In person he is effete and evasive. He plays with language like a lawyer, disputing fine shades of meaning in words -- the practiced sidestep of someone who is a confident and facile prevaricator.

To anyone with language training, brief glimpses of Gerhartsreiter's German roots can be heard as he speaks. There is a certain crispness in the way he pronounces some words that is decidedly German in nature, oddly meshed with an obviously adopted upper-crust New Englander's drawl.

Yet he is clear-eyed and his gaze is direct as he speaks with his interviewer. He controls his body language well. He seems, if anything, unusually calm.

Fascinating, yes. But the most interesting development in the case today has been reported by the Los Angeles Times:

Investigators are planning to use ground-penetrating radar in coming days to search for human remains and other evidence at a San Marino home that is at the center of a bizarre international mystery...

John [some reports refer to him as Jonathan] and Linda Sohus disappeared in February, 1985 from their home in San Marino, CA. At the time they rented a residence on their property to Christopher Chichester -- an alias used by Christian Gerhartsreiter.

The bones of a man were found buried in the rear of the Sohus's former home in 1994. No DNA tests were performed, but they were believed to be the remains of John Sohus. Linda Sohus is still among the missing.

Police in Los Angeles refer to Gerhartsreiter/Clark Rockefeller as a "person of interest" in the case.

According to the LAT, a geophysicist is coming in to study the property where the Sohuses and Gerhartsreiter lived in '85. The ground penetrating radar will be used to avoid disturbing the ground around the home. If any tell-tale results are found via the radar, authorities will know where to focus their efforts if they decide to dig for more evidence.

For his part, Gerhartsreiter/Rockefeller decided to avoid discussing the Sohuses with the media. A Boston paper reported that he "fell silent and smiled tightly" when asked about the missing couple and his attorney requested the interviewer change subjects. [Los Angeles Times and MSNBC.]