Man Who Claimed to Be a Rockefeller Charged With Murder

A man who allegedly posed as a member of the Rockefeller family was charged Tuesday with the 1985 murder of a San Marino man whose body was discovered nearly a decade later.

Prosecutors are seeking the extradition of Christian K. Gerhartsreiter, a 50-year-old German national who is serving a prison sentence in Massachusetts for kidnapping.

Gerhartsreiter is accused in the death of John Sohus, 27, who was last seen in April 1985.

A man who called himself Christopher Chichester -- who had been living in a guest home behind the Sohus family home -- also vanished, and investigators have since determined the man was Gerhartsreiter, authorities said.

Sohus' remains were unearthed in May 1994 by a crew building a swimming pool in the backyard of the home in the 1900 block of Lorain Road, where he and his wife, Linda, had lived.

Authorities have determined that John Sohus was killed by blunt force trauma to the head.

Sheriff's officials have since referred to Gerhartsreiter as a person of interest in the couple's disappearance.

In 2008, when Gerhartsreiter was labeled a person of interest, investigators returned to the former Sohus home and searched for several days for more human remains. At the end of the search, sheriff's officials would not say what they had found.

Gerhartsreiter has not been charged with killing Linda Sohus. Gerhartsreiter has previously said that his name is Clark Rockefeller. Investigators have said that fingerprints identified him as Gerhartsreiter, who came to Connecticut in the 1970s as a student from Germany. The Rockefeller clan has denied that he is a member of the famous American family.

Prosecutors are asking that his bail be set at $10 million.

If convicted, he faces 26 years to life in state prison, according to the District Attorney's Office.