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You are here: Home / Missing Persons / What happened to Linda Sohus?

What happened to Linda Sohus?

March 16, 2011 By Alice

From the LASD on Nixle: On  March 15, 2011, the LA County District Attorney’s Office filed murder charges against Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter for the 1985 murder of John Sohus(26).

Gerhartsreiter, of German nationality, is also known as Christopher Chichester or Clark Rockefeller.

“In February of 1985, John (26) and Linda Sohus (28) disappeared from their home in the 1900 block of Lorain Road in San Marino, California. In 1981, prior to their disappearance, Gerhartsreiter arrived in San Marino. He eventually rented a guest house from Ruth Sohus, the mother of John Sohus. Shortly after John and Linda’s disappearance, Gerhartsreiter also disappeared.

Linda SohusOn May 5, 1994, during a swimming pool excavation on the Lorain Road property, unidentified human remains were unearthed by the construction crew. San Marino Police were called to the scene, followed by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau personnel and Los Angeles County Coroner’s personnel. Those remains were eventually identified as John Sohus. Linda Sohus was never heard from or seen again, and her remains have not been found. Efforts to locate Gerhartsreiter in 1994 failed and the case went cold. From 1994 to 2008, Gerhartsreiter was still a suspect in this case.

On July 27th, 2008, Gerhartsreiter kidnapped his daughter in Boston, Massachusetts. He was sentenced to prison in June of 2009 and is currently serving time in Gardner State Prison in Gardner, Massachusetts. He will be eligible for parole in 2012. Once Gerhartsreiter was found in 2008, Detectives Tim Miley and Delores Scott from the Cold Case Unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau, reopened the investigation into the murder of John Sohus.

Through the use of modern technology combined with evidence gained at the crime scene, as well as recent investigative leads, Sheriff’s Cold case homicide detectives presented the evidence to the Office of the Los Angeles County District Attorney for consideration for filing an allegation of murder against Suspect Gerhartsreiter. The D.A. filed the case Tuesday alleging murder, and the judge issued an arrest warrant. Sheriff’s Cold Case Homicide detectives are seeking extradition of Gerhartsreiter from the state of Massachusetts.

Sheriff’s Cold Case Homicide detectives are asking for the public’s help dating back to 1985. Linda Sohus has never been found. Possibly someone has information about this case and did not share it because they thought it was minor, yet it may actually be an important link to this case.”

If you have any information please contact the Sheriff’s Cold Case Homicide investigators at 1(323) 890-5500. If you want to remain anonymous contact LA Crime Stoppers by dialing 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or, text the letters TIPLA plus your tip to CRIMES (274637) or, use this website http://lacrimestoppers.org

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Filed Under: Missing Persons Tagged With: California, DNA, FBI, Forensics, Linda Sohus, Missing Person

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On this website, I write about old, unsolved cases. Most are from the pre-DNA era and are in need of renewed media attention. I only do research and leave the active investigation of these cases to the professionals.

My posts are about homicides, missing and unidentified people, wrongful convictions, and forensics as related to these cases.

On book reviews: I only review select works of true crime, crime fiction, and historical fiction/mysteries. The stories have to fit my website's theme and research. It remains my prerogative to not review a book.

My database has over 300 cases listed by the victim’s last name. You will find a brief description there as well. The database will always be free to the public to use. You cannot buy ad space on my website, ever.

All writing suggestions that come in by email are added to my to-do list in the order in which they were received. Please be patient. My to-do list is very long but no case gets dropped and I will get back in touch.

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Thank you,

Alice de Sturler

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Copyright: Please add a link back if you use my work. Let your readers know where you found your information. I do the same for you. If you need help with this, just contact me. Thank you, Alice de Sturler

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