CA CA - Linda Sohus, 28, San Marino, 8 February 1985

[mollymalone]

Knoxx, I saw this on that link you posted. Very interesting legal questions in this case no? I read where the marriage was conducted but a marriage certificate was never filed. So does that render the marriage invalid?

He gave up custody for cash and he refused to divulge his background or his real name. That's going to look good in court when his lawyer disputes the custody.

The Boston Herald reported that NO MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE was ever filed w/ the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics. What started as a "divorce" ended in a probate case: it wasn't even a real custody battle, because only a proven parent could legitimately contest custody of a minor. Alleged parents/custodians who refuse to prove their identity are unlikely to ever prevail: courts & judges don't favor "ghosts" and other bullsh*tters. What Right to custody does an 'alleged sperm-donor' have? Probably as much as a father who refuses a DNA test.

 

[capoly]

Prosecutors question whether Rockefeller is the man's real name. But that is the name he used in Cornish, including when he registered to vote in 2000.

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO84276/

Unfortunately, I don't think much effort goes into researching the identity of someone who registers to vote.

 

[mollymalone]

Especially back pre-911. Now where I live we have to show photo id's to vote. Previously all we had to do was check off our name on the roll.

 

[Knoxx]

rockefellower women names and photos/ I googled this in and am looking thru and came to page 5. I know its off the wall but take a peek if you want

http://images.google.com/images?nds...kefeller+women+names+and+photos&start=72&sa=N

 

[capoly]

rockefellower women names and photos/ I googled this in and am looking thru and came to page 5. I know its off the wall but take a peek if you want

http://images.google.com/images?nds...kefeller+women+names+and+photos&start=72&sa=N

Do you mean the likeness to Nelson R.? I've seen that mention in on-line posts by a few of those who met CR over the past few years. A few years back there was another fella on LI claiming to be a Rockefeller, he also had the Rockefeller look to him re hairline, nose etc but was found to be a fraud. Though after reading more of the Rockefellers, it seems they were quite the womanizers, so who knows what for sure!

 

[tuppence]

"Accused kidnapper Clark Rockefeller has refused to talk to two homicide detectives from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department who have called him a "person of interest" in the disappearance and presumed slaying of a newlywed couple from a wealthy California suburb in 1985.........


" ....Linda just didn't show for work one day,'' Marano said today by phone, recalling that she received one postcard from Paris that bore what appeared to be her signature.

Between 1985 and 1994, Marano said, she was twice contacted for a reference about Linda Sohus by a clothing store and a credit card company, but she cannot recall the exact date.


http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/08/rockefellers_at.html?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed7

 

[capoly]

"Accused kidnapper Clark Rockefeller has refused to talk to two homicide detectives from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department who have called him a "person of interest" in the disappearance and presumed slaying of a newlywed couple from a wealthy California suburb in 1985.........


" ....Linda just didn't show for work one day,'' Marano said today by phone, recalling that she received one postcard from Paris that bore what appeared to be her signature.

Between 1985 and 1994, Marano said, she was twice contacted for a reference about Linda Sohus by a clothing store and a credit card company, but she cannot recall the exact date.


http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/08/rockefellers_at.html?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed7

They were quite the odd couple. "His wife, Linda Sohus, was a powerfully built, 6-foot-1-inch tall woman who had a mane of red hair. She towered over John Sohus, who was barely over 5 feet tall."

 

[mysteriew]

"He bought a couple of cruisers and he parked them within the side of the road and put a couple of dummies in them.

Gilbert longed to have the site preserved as a part of the Cornish colony museum collection . . . But before he moved out three years ago, Rockefeller jacked up the entire structure to build a fortress like basement. It is now in an incredible state"

The fact that he was using dummy police cruisers to try to protect his house in addition to building a bunker does make me wonder if there could be any truth to a German spy angle. - Just that he seemed to be trying to scare off people who might be intimidated by police protection?

Of course this could be just trying to shore up whatever story he told Sandra.
I'm sure he had some story he told Sandra about why his past was such a secret - no SS, family, etc. I do not know her well but I did work with her and she is extremely smart - and my impression was that she was an honorable/good person. That makes this very difficult to understand - he must have had some convincing 'evidence' beyond just stories to make her believe his version of the past.

Spy School 101- you try not to attact attention from anyone but your target. The issues over the dummies in the crusiers would have attracted a lot of local attention, the issues over the house would attract regional attention.

It sounds like a guy without a lot of common sense, trying to pretend that he has some type of expertise in security. Who knows why he did that to the house.

As far as stories to Sandra, if your husband says he was orphaned and not close to relatives, you don't push him. That would represent a sad time in his life and you would wait to see if he chose to talk about it.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

How frightening to know this person could be responsible for two murders. Since his fingerprints match and there is an obvious resemblance to the wanted man, I find his ex-wife is very lucky not only to have her child back...but that he didn't harm her during their intial separation.

 

[Knoxx]

Connecticut families recall irksome, ‘odd’ visitor

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/re...#8216;odd’_visitor/srvc=home&position=0

 

[mollymalone]

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=6311628
Dan Banks says he met Clark Rockefeller in the 1980s at The Church of Our Saviour in San Marino. He says Rockefeller was known as Christopher Chichester then.
Banks says Chichester was a smooth talker, who always spoke to his daughter outside of church. "And I asked her what's going on. And she says, 'I don't know, I don't want to talk to him.' So, the following Sunday, I confronted him. I got between them and I said, 'Chris, you are no longer going to be making contact with my daughter, you understand?'" said Banks. "I was convinced then, and I still am, that he's the perpetrator of the crime," said Banks.

Cori Woods says her family invited Chichester over for Christmas dinner in the 1980s. She says he even tried to take her out when she was only 11 years old.
"I believe he called my mother the next day and asked if he could take me to the movies. And my mother said, 'Absolutely not.' And that was kind of the last thing I remember about him," said Woods.

 

[mollymalone]

http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_10121788
Since then a portion of the remains have been stored in a basement office at the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner. They've been studied and analyzed by Steve Dowell, the nation's top forensic tool mark specialist.

He believes the skull of the dead man was crushed with a blunt object like a two-by-four.

 

[Knoxx]

after reading all the newspaper articles and comments this morning I will say yes, "Snooks" and Sandra are lucky to be with us. He sure had me fooled....I wonder how his dog "Shelby" fits into this...

 

[mollymalone]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08052008/news/nationalnews/missing_couple_mystery_123158.htm?page=2
He always spoke with a British accent and dressed casually," Gus Parea, who lived next door to Chichester in San Marino, told The Post. "He seemed harmless." Shown pictures of Rockefeller, Parea said, "It sure looks like him." Parea said he believes Chichester is the last person to have seen the missing couple. "He was supposed to take them to the airport," Parea said Sometime later, Chichester told Sohus' now-deceased mom that her son wouldn't be coming back for a while, "because he was doing some sort of covert operation," Parea said.

 

[mollymalone]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/07/internationalcrime.usa

District attorney Conley said that Rockefeller's fingerprints matched those of Charles Smith, who has a criminal record. The prints may be linked to the California case. During Tuesday's hearing, Rockefeller's only remark was to deny that he was Smith. "That's not me," he muttered. Smith is the latest in a string of aliases possibly used by Rockefeller that have stymied attempts to determine the real identity of the man in custody in Boston.

 

[mollymalone]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hGbAirbzAI5iGCtDGLR58A4-gYQwD92D5CE80
Chris Sohus remembered his brother as a computer whiz and talented programmer who at one point worked for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. At first, the family thought John and his young wife had started a new life in Europe and lost contact with relatives back home. Only when the bones were found did they fear the worst. That's when it became reality, Chris Sohus said: "The likelihood is he's dead. We are hopeful this will result in some closure, getting some answers."


http://www.nypost.com/seven/08062008/news/regionalnews/new_clue_in_rockefaker_mystery_123310.htm
Linda's sister, Katherine Jacoby, said that when the bones of a man were discovered on the couple's property in 1994, the thought crossed her mind. "I thought maybe it was a jealousy issue and maybe my sister and Chichester had fallen in love and they killed her husband," she said. "But then I thought that from what I was told, this Chichester guy seemed like the bad one, so I thought maybe he had killed him and then later killed her."

 

[mollymalone]

http://blogs.masslawyersweekly.com/...-rockefeller-kidnap-case-appears-problematic/

Boston attorney Stephen B. Hrones of Hrones, Garrity & Hedges has suggested that the parental kidnapping charge brought against his client won’t stand.

But Hrones may want to check out a 1989 Supreme Judicial Court decision, Commonwealth v. Beals, 405 Mass. 550, which analyzed the parental kidnapping statute (G.L.c. 265, §26A) that is at issue in the Rockefeller case.

 

[mollymalone]

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/r...g?articleid=1111336&srvc=home&position=active
Linda Mayfield was the first girl John Sohus had ever introduced to his entire family, so everyone knew their courtship was serious. “When I met her she was very friendly,” John’s half-sister, Ellen Sohus of Phoenix, said about her sister-in-law yesterday, after learning police have reopened the long-missing young couple’s case. “She wasn’t shy. It seemed like they fell in love, and they were married within a year.”John Sohus’ half-sister remembered him yesterday as a shy, awkward and tender young man; a brilliant techie more fluent in computer programming languages and the world of “Star Trek” and Dr. Demento than he was in his own interpersonal dealings. “He was working at Jet Propulsion Laboratories in Pasadena when he was just a kid,” Ellen Sohus said. “John was the original computer nerd,” she said. “He had these dark-rimmed glasses and greasy hair. Just goofy. And just wonderful.”

Linda, an auburn-haired artist who drew unicorns, was more outgoing, a demeanor that the Sohus family thought complemented their “Johnny” well. “They both played Dungeons and Dragons,” said Ellen Sohus, referring to the fantasy role-playing game. “It is certainly a possibility in my mind that she had something to do with it,” Ellen Sohus said. “It is hard to explain why she was never found.

And according to the TV show “Unsolved Mysteries” feature on the case, Linda told a friend prior to the disappearance that she and John were going on a secret two-week trip related to John’s new government job. And John’s mother told people a “source” had told her the couple were on “a secret mission.” Her source later turned out to be none other than Chichester, according to the show.

 

[mollymalone]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hGbAirbzAI5iGCtDGLR58A4-gYQwD92D5CE80
He did all the right things to ingratiate himself with his upscale neighbors, including volunteering at the local library, said Ray Cornwall, a neighbor who has lived in the community since the 1970s. Chichester arrived with a British accent, but some were suspicious of him because of his fantastical claims to fame and fortune, Cornwall said. He told people he was related to a famous British sailor who had navigated the globe and was also related to the Mountbatten family, a wealthy and influential British line.
"He's a prototype con man. He's really good at it," said Cornwall, whose daughter dated Chichester briefly in the mid-1980s. "It's going to be hard to prove anything, because he's not left any permanent trail. It's all smoke and mirrors."

 

[Knoxx]

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1111587

Heir today, gone tomorrow

California pal: He claimed to be wealthy...