John and Linda Sohus
Real Name: Jonathan and Linda Sohus
Nicknames: John (Jonathan), Cody (Linda)
Location: San Marino, California
Date: February 8, 1985
Bio
Occupation: Computer Programmer (John), Artist (Linda)
Date of Birth: December 20, 1956 (John), September 17, 1956 (Linda)
Height: 5'6 (John), 6'0 (Linda)
Weight: 120 lbs. (John), 200 lbs. (Linda)
Marital Status: Married (to each other)
Characteristics: Caucasian male. Brown hair, brown eyes (John). Caucasian female. Red hair, blue eyes (Linda).
Case
Details: In May 1994, the bones of an adult male were found buried in the yard of a home in San Marino, California, while digging for a pool. Police and family members believe they belong to Jonathon Sohus but since it is believed that he was adopted, there is no way to make an identification using Sohus' family DNA. On February 8, 1985, John and and his wife Linda disappeared after telling their friends that they had been enlisted by the government to do some top-secret work. Shortly after they vanished, friends and family started receiving postcards from them in Paris, France, and John's mother, Didi, was given exclusive information from a man she called her "source" about how John and Linda were on a "secret mission". At first, she was reluctant to give police any information about her missing son or daughter-in-law, but eventually decided to file a missing persons report. She also told police that her source was the Sohus's former tenant, Christopher Chichester, and that both he and John's pick-up truck had vanished a few months earlier.
Christopher Chichester
Three years afterwards, Didi passed away without ever knowing what happened to her son. Then, nine months later, John's truck turned up in Greenwich, Connecticut, when a man named Christopher Crowe was selling it to a minister's son. Police later found out that Crowe was actually Christopher Chichester. However, by the time police determined his identity, he had vanished again. It wouldn't be until May 1994, when the skeleton was found, that the investigation began to start up again. Forensic tests could determine that the remains were probably John's, but without DNA or dental records, they could not conclusively prove that the remains were his. Detectives used luminol in the guest house of the Sohus property, which determined that someone was probably murdered in the home. However, both John and Linda remain missing.
Suspects: The police would like to track down Christopher Chichester and ask him a few questions. It is unrevealed if Linda is alive after orchestrating her disappearance or likewise murdered with her husband. Police have since determined that his real name is Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, and that he is from Germany. He was born in 1961, is 5'8", and 150 pounds.
Extra Notes: This case first aired on the January 13, 1995 episode.
Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter
Results: Unresolved. The man known as Christopher Chichester has been shown via fingerprint evidence to actually be German-born Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, who was apprehended in 2008. He was using the alias Clark Rockefeller and was arrested right after he abducted his own seven-year-old daughter. Over the years he conned friends and even his ex-wife into believing he was a part of the wealthy Rockefeller family. Authorities plan to reopen the investigation of the Sohus case now that Gerhartsreiter's parental kidnapping trial has concluded. He was sentenced to four to five years in state prison on the kidnapping charge, and additional time for an assault charge. Gerhartsreiter has, however, refused to cooperate with police in their investigation of the Sohus case. Then, in March 2011, Gerhartsreiter was charged with John's murder. Police claim that evidence found confirms that the remains that were located in the backyard of the house were actually John's. On April 10, 2013, Gerhartsreiter was convicted by a Los Angeles jury of first-degree murder for John's murder. However, Linda has never been found, but police assume that she is deceased.
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