48 Hours - The Long Con: Clark Rockefeller Part 2 | My Life of Crime

Episode Date: March 22, 2023

In 2008, a man masquerading as a member of the New York Rockefellers was unmasked as a German man named Christian Gerhartsreiter. In Part 2 of “The Long Con”, he goes on trial for the murder of his former neighbor John Sohus, but the prosecution has little to no direct evidence implicating him. They also lack an obvious motive. Why would a conman like Gerhartsreiter commit murder and risk blowing his own cover? And after the trial, Erin Moriarty sits down with Gerhartsreiter to continue exploring the question behind it all: Who was Clark Rockefeller, really? 48 Hours correspondent Erin Moriarty takes you inside the investigation of “Clark Rockefeller” on her podcast, My Life of Crime. Based on the 48 Hours investigation, “aka Rockefeller”.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. It's Erin Moriarty, and we have a special episode for you today from my original podcast, My Life of Crime. I'm taking you inside true crime investigations like no one else, taking on killers and those

accused of crimes. Here's an all-new episode of My Life of Crime that takes you deeper into aka Rockefeller. Follow along as I go beyond the scene of each crime, behind prison walls, and into the killer's inner thoughts. It's all on this season of My Life of Crime. Tell me who you are. I'm sick of this bulls**t. I've been dealing with this all week.

Tell me who you are. Clark Rockefeller. No, you told me you are not Clark Rockefeller. Clark Rockefeller doesn't exist. I don't think there is a real person under there. I don't think he even knows who he is. That's FBI agent Tammy Hardy. Back in 2008, she interrogated the man who called himself Clark Rockefeller after he was arrested for kidnapping his own seven-year-old daughter. Who are you? I can't tell you. Why? I can't tell you. Because you've done something that somebody is looking for you for, right? Clark Rockefeller had been unmasked as a fraud. He was really Christian Gerritschreiter,

unmasked as a fraud. He was really Christian Gerritschreiter, a German man who moved to the U.S. in 1978 and created fake identities for three decades. But was he also a killer? Did you kill John Soes? No. Did you kill Linda Soes? No, absolutely not.

She's around somewhere. You believe she's still alive? Absolutely. I'm Erin Moriarty, and this is my Life of Crime. Getting the truth from a man who has been living alive for three decades is not easy. In the early 1980s, he pretended to be Christopher Chichester, a British baronet complete with a posh English accent living in San Marino, California. A few years later, he became Christopher Crowe, a TV producer in Greenwich, Connecticut. And then a few years after that, Clark Rockefeller of the Rockefeller dynasty in New York City.

But when I spoke with him in a California courtroom in 2013, he had long been unmasked and had been convicted of a series of criminal charges, including kidnapping his seven-year-old daughter and the murder of a California man, John Soas. old daughter and the murder of a California man, John Soas. And now Garrett Schreider was an inmate in the L.A. County Jail and had just been sentenced for the murder of Soas. He insisted, however, he was innocent and he had agreed to talk about the evidence. When was the last time you saw John Soas? I don't remember. I didn't pay attention to him. I mean, you know. Yeah, but after you heard he was missing, you knew he was missing. You'd be thinking, God, when's the last time I saw him? Not really. Not really. They were neighbors. That's all. They were living in your landlady's home. They weren't just neighbors. They were living in the main house. They were neighbors at some point. I heard that, I heard from, I heard something about some sort of, you know, frankly, I can't really remember all that stuff. But you knew John was missing. The police came to your door. By the way, you probably remember that John Soas was the son of the woman who rented the guest house to Garrett Schreider.

According to the prosecutor at trial, a police officer came to the door of the guest house, but left without asking any questions when Garrett Schreider opened the door naked. That never happened. It never happened. So you're saying that testimony was a lie? Not a lie. It was probably Yankovic probably misremembered it. It's difficult to know what is the truth with Garrett Schreider.

Throughout my interview, he refused to share any details about his various identities. Which persona did you like the most? Who did you like being the most? Clark Rockefeller? Um, no, no, no, no. Let's not get into that again. Aaron, Aaron, Aaron. Well, because we're talking about how you would put on these personas,

that it was fun. Let's go back to the trial testimony. That's why we're here. And he insisted he would only talk about his murder trial. Don't, let's not just talk about the evidence. Let's talk about the truth. Let's talk about with you. No, we're talking about the evidence here. And that's, we're talking about what's presented in the testimony and during the trial and nothing else. That's what we're talking about. And during the trial and nothing else.

That's what we're talking about. Very important. But even then, he evaded most of my questions, complaining to my producer that I was being, quote, too adversarial. Judy, you got to stop it. It's getting accusatory again. You know, you got to stop that, Aaron. You can't just look. I'll talk to you. I'm happy to keep on talking to you.

As long as you don't come up with such accusatory stuff. You got to stop it. This is evidence against you at the trial. It's not accusatory. I'm just showing you the evidence at trial and asking you to explain it. This was evidence at trial. At the time of his trial in 2013, Garrett Schreider didn't look like he could kill anyone. He was in his early 50s, a lean, nerdy-looking man with thinning brown hair. But back in 1985, when John Soas and his wife Linda disappeared,

1985, when John Soas and his wife Linda disappeared, Garrett Schreider was in his mid-20s and living just yards away from the couple in the guest house of their home as Christopher Chichester, the 13th Baronet of England. By the time John's body was uncovered in 1994, Garrett Schreider was long gone, then living as Clark Rockefeller on the East Coast. Soas' body was badly decomposed and no one could say how he died. So LA County detectives took the victim's skull in pieces to be reconstructed by a special lab in Hawaii. to be reconstructed by a special lab in Hawaii. Forensic pathologist Frank Sheridan then took a look. This is where the facial bones would be, but we never know. Dr. Sheridan determined that John Soas had been brutally bludgeoned. How do you know that? How can you tell? Partly it's based on looking at the edges of the fractures, the dark appearance.

Dark edges on the fracture lines mean, according to Dr. Sheridan, that the injury occurred at the time of death, not a decade later when the body was unearthed. The decomposing scalp blood can sink down into the fracture lines, and that's one of the indicators that these fractures occurred shortly before death. How many times do you think John Soas was hit here? In this area here, I believe at least twice. It takes a fairly fair amount of force to cause this kind of injury.

But was his killer Garrett Schreider? There was certainly some circumstantial evidence. He knew the victim, John Soas, was the son of his landlord, Dee Dee Soas. John and his wife were living in the main house on the property where Garrett Schreider rented a guest house. John Soas was also found buried just feet from where Garrett Schreider was living. also found buried just feet from where Garrett Schreider was living. And then there's this also really weird fact that John's body had been wrapped in plastic bookstore bags traced to colleges that Garrett Schreider attended. One, a bag from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, was only available in the years that he was in school there,

but no fingerprints belonging to the defendant nor any DNA was found. But you have to understand that obviously the bags in the body have been underground for nine years and dirt just decomposes everything. L.A. County Sheriff's detectives Dolores Scott and Tim Miley told me that they were sure they had the killer. Right, but you've got a jury that might say reasonable doubt.

All we can do is put on the best case we can. But there was a major problem. Investigators believe that Garrett Schreider killed both John Soas and his wife Linda, but they couldn't find her body. Gerrit Schreider says there's a good reason she hadn't been found. He says she's the one who killed John Soas. If Linda, in fact, killed her husband, wouldn't you have seen her burying the body? Well, if you believe that I'm home every single second, that I never leave my house,

that I never go out at all, that I don't go away on weekends. Moving a body is already difficult, let alone wrapping it, digging a deep grave, and then burying it. Wouldn't you notice the ground was dug up? It was not a very well-kept property. Let's put it that way. He claims that Linda killed her husband and then did what he had been doing for years.

She simply disappeared into another identity, and he was being blamed for her crime. You believe she's still alive? Absolutely. What makes you believe that she's still alive? Well, we had a trace to her. Gerrit Schreider told me that he and his attorneys had found a woman, a horse trainer, who he claims has a similar name. B-E-L-I-N-D-A-S-C-H-U-S. A name that, C-H-U-S, a name that if you take the O and you cut off the right part of the O,

it turns it into a C, which turns it into the name Schuss. Belinda Schuss. If this turns out to be the same person, it would be a very easy way to change one's name. It would also be a way to change one's name that obscures it completely. But the only evidence you have that you say Linda's alive is the fact you have this horse trainer who has a similar name? So far. That's it? The horse trainer is not Linda Soas, and she had nothing to do with Linda's disappearance.

But that's the only thing. I hope to create a website that says it's findinglinda.org and she will be found. billion credit card utility company records and could find no evidence that Linda Sohus went anywhere, did anything, saw anyone after she disappeared in February 1985. 30 billion records under the name Sohus. If you wanted to disappear, are you likely to use the same name Sohus after you disappear. That's a totally useless thing. And also the 30 billion records largely refer to stuff like traveling in and out and then in utility records and such and if you don't travel in and out of the country,

if you don't have utilities, if you're in an all utility paid building, for example, you don't create such a record. And Gershreiter's attorneys did introduce postcards in Linda's handwriting that had been postmarked in Europe and sent to Linda's family and friends. Is that evidence that Linda is hiding out? No, everything points to her being deceased. Detective Dolores Scott says DNA on the stamps doesn't match Linda. And while it doesn't match the defendant either, she and Detective Miley believe that Garrett Schreider created this fiction as well.

He got someone else to send the postcards. Proves that he has the ability to have somebody send a postcard from Europe when he's not there. The postcards were such an ingenious move. You know what I mean? Your common murderer doesn't try to cover a crime that way. That's Walter Kern, a well-known novelist. He met Garrett Schreider in the late 1990s. He fell for his act and really believed that he was hanging out with a Rockefeller. He could fool anyone. He was brilliant. He was diabolical. Okay, but what's the motive for murder? Why would Garrett Schreider kill John Soas and his wife?

While prosecutors don't have to prove motive at trial, jurors do usually want to know the reason for murder. motive at trial, jurors do usually want to know the reason for murder. Investigators began to wonder if the defendant was borrowing from plots of mystery novels and movies. And that made sense to Walter Kern, a novelist himself. I don't think it was murder he was interested in. It was getting away with murder. You know, he was a fan of Hitchcock and film noir. He was steeped in the literature and the cinema of murder. Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley came to mind. The main character in that novel created false identities and after killing a friend, forged the victim's signature on letters sent to friends. And a lot of these movies he saw have a plot in which somebody who thinks they're very smart commits the perfect crime.

And it makes fools of everybody else because they get to go forth with a secret that no one else will know. Kern points to the fact that before the couple vanished, know. Kern points to the fact that before the couple vanished, Linda told friends that she and John were going to New York while he interviewed for a secret government job. But investigators could find no evidence that the couple ever left the area. To me, one of the most convincing pieces of evidence was the stories they told about going off on a secret mission. Going off on a secret mission was a Clark idea. Now, obviously, that was to prepare people not to look for them, to prepare people for their absence. The prosecution had a similar theory,

that Garrett Schreider was the one who came up with that secret government mission. Yet they had no direct evidence to support that claim. So will a jury believe that? Or will they instead wonder if Linda Soas did kill her husband? Linda and John, if you could have seen them together, it would be very hard for you to believe that she would have done anything to hurt John. That's Ellen Soas, John's younger sister. She was convinced that Gerhard Schreider killed her brother and her sister-in-law and then stole their truck. All the things that I learned about how he changed identities, trying to sell my brother's truck, covering up all of these things. Gerhard Schreider says Dee Dee gave him the truck.

You don't believe that? No. She didn't touch the bedroom that they had slept in. All of his stuff and Linda's stuff was left untouched. She wouldn't have done that and given the truck away. So what are you thinking right now? As the case went to the jury, most of the journalists in the courtroom thought Garrett Schreider would just walk, and so apparently did he.

I believe it because I know for a fact that I did not do this. I know that for an absolute fact. Sitting in that courtroom, waves of anger would come over me. Every minute I was sitting there I was going, please jury, find him Fact. Sitting in that courtroom, waves of anger would come over me. No, you're not. Every minute I was sitting there, I was going, please, jury, find him guilty. He did it. He did it. Walter Kern again.

Deferred to the old-time court reporters who were there around me. And I said, so what do you think is going to happen? They said, oh, he's going to get off. I'm like, well, Why do you say that? Oh, the evidence is so circumstantial. One of the victims is missing. She might still be out there. Maybe she did it.

They can't establish a motive. These people had me convinced that, you know, this was going to be Clark's greatest magic trick. Ellen Soas feared that too. I was very worried that those key pieces would be enough to create doubt. Okay, is it correct the jury

is least averted? Yes. But when the jury came back... We the jury and the above entitled started to cry because we finally got justice. Justice, maybe for John Soas. But Linda's body has to this day never been found. Do you believe then that Christian Gerhard Schreider also killed Linda? Yes. Yeah, I believe she probably met a similar fate to my brother.

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It was called Candyman. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free, with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. The jury thought the same thing. They struggled over the lack of direct evidence

that connected Garrett Schreider to the murders, but they were ultimately persuaded by the book bags used to wrap the body of John Soas. I was curious how the jury felt about Linda and had the opportunity to ask the foreperson, Kristen Lee. Did you feel Linda had anything to do with it? I didn't. So did you believe at the end of the trial that if Christian Gerhardt Schreider killed John, he probably killed Linda, too? Yes. Christian Gerhardt Schreider, who didn't testify at his own trial, continued to insist that Linda killed John Soas and made an appeal to the judge.

Your Honor, I can only say once again that I want to assert my innocence and that I firmly believe that the victim's wife killed the victim. It didn't work. He was given what is a life sentence in California, 27 years to life. You've already heard Gerstreiter claiming he barely knew John and Linda Soas despite living on the same property, or how he directly contradicted San Marino police officer George Yankovic's story about visiting him to inquire about John Soas' disappearance. He also dismissed law enforcement's efforts to comb through 30 billion records looking for Linda Soas. And there were more things he couldn't explain. Another thing the jury said was the fact that John Soas' body was buried in a place that only you could see. If you look at just a simple layout of the property, that spot where I think it was buried, I'm actually not sure,

but that spot that, who was in there, that, what was her name? Lynn Harold said it was buried. That spot is visible from just about anywhere on the property. Well, the place where the body was buried was only visible from where you lived. And that convinced the jurors. No, I think you're misstating that. You're misstating the evidence. That's what the jurors say. I'm telling you what the jurors said. The jurors didn't say anything. I didn't ever heard the jurors talk anything, say anything. We talked to jurors. Well, I don't have that information. Another incriminating piece of evidence to the

jurors, the fact that Garrett Schreider had John Solis's truck. How did you end up with the truck? Wasn't testified at the trial. Wasn't testified to at the trial. But you can understand why the jury felt that you were driving the truck. Wasn't testified to at the trial. But that's one of the reasons why the jurors found you guilty. They should have applied reasonable doubt that this truck was in my possession for three and a half years with its license plates attached, unaltered, unchanged,

in excellent condition, why would a person who is aware of criminal liability preserve evidence like that in its original state, with the license plates attached, in the driveway for anyone to see? Answer that. Well, you didn't always leave it in the driveway and you didn't drive the truck. You used other vehicles. The testimony says that Chris Bishop saw it in the driveway. That's what the testimony says. If the testimony said that day the sky was green, then that day the sky was indeed green. There is also this, not presented at trial, but found in San Marino police records.

Remember that secret government mission John Soas was applying for in New York? His mother, hold on, John's mother said that she was getting all her information about where John was from you. She didn't testify at the trial. She's dead. That's right.

But she told police back then that she was getting her information that John had this job, this secret job, and she got it from you. She also told police that John was working for your family overseas.

Where would John's mother get that information? She did not testify at the trial I can't I can't speak for what she said to anyone at the time I have no idea she told me at one point that stop and stop before we continue this this interview. I want to speak to only facts that were testified to in the trial and nothing else. Don't you think, though,

that if you were truly innocent of killing someone, you would just want to tell the truth. It wouldn't be what came out in court. You would want viewers and Americans to know why you say you're innocent, and you'd be willing to answer any question. Why are you just limiting it to what went in in the court? Because I cannot jeopardize my appeal.

There are more examples, but you get the point. appeal. There are more examples, but you get the point. Garrett Schreider claims he didn't kill John Soas, but couldn't or wouldn't properly answer my questions regarding the many suspicions that surrounded him. And then at one point in the interview, it seems he slipped, if just for a moment. So help me understand this. You're just saying, you're not necessarily saying you didn't kill John Sohs. You're saying that there wasn't enough evidence for the jury to find you guilty of killing John Sohs. That's correct.

You're not saying absolutely you did not kill John Sohs. You're just saying the jury shouldn't have been able to find you. Okay. Well, no, I'm trying to understand. Judy, Judy, we got to stop this. All jury shouldn't have been able to find you. Okay. Well, no, I'm trying to understand. Judy, we've got to stop this. All right. It's Aaron trying

to swisp my words here. No, I'm not. Aaron, don't put any words in my mouth. I won't put any words in your mouth. Why else do you believe, then, the jury was uncorrected in this?

Oh, I can't speak for the jury's decision. Half of them were probably too stupid to understand a reasonable doubt. The other half were probably too lazy to even think about what's been presented and just wanted to get out of here. This will be overturned. Make no mistakes about this. So it's just a minor inconvenience until then. That's all it is.

After his trial, Garrett'sider fired his lawyers and filed his own appeal. It was denied along with another petition filed in 2015. He's now housed at San Quentin, a prison near San Francisco. His ex-wife Sandra moved with their daughter to London. Ray is now in her early 20s. Looking back, Walter Kern says that Garrett Schreider had been living the life that he had once read about. He wrote me a letter from his jail cell that I got just recently in which he claimed that his entire career in America

was based on a novel he read when he was 10 about somebody who came up in society through fraudulence. I think that might have been The Great Gatsby. Gareth Schreider had told me a similar story. He grew up in Germany fascinated by American culture. When you were growing up, did you get most of your ideas about America from watching movies and reading books? Books. Books?

I'm a big reader. You once mentioned The Great Gatsby. Yeah, that's one of them. And of course there was television. One program in particular. Gulligan's Island is one of my favorite television shows. Why? Because it's actually a religious show, and the characters represent the seven deadly sins.

Gilligan is sloth. The skipper is anger. The professor is pride. Marianne is envy, and Ginger is lust. The millionaire's wife is gluttony and the millionaire is greed. There's a story that you modeled your accent after Thurston Howell III. Thurston Howell III.

Is that true? Perhaps unconsciously. Is that what your idea of what a blue-blooded American would sound like? Perhaps unconsciously. This is my darling wife, Mrs. Thurston Howell III. How do you do? But he consciously created the characters he became,

carefully constructing backstories. We only saw the Clark that comes out on stage, but there was a lot of offstage time when he was dressing the set, making the props, adjusting the costume. I think he loved that. Walter Kern eventually wrote a book about his former friend called Blood Will Out and sees his former friend in a much different light now. That emptiness is evil. It's that lack of feeling, using everybody as a tool, everybody as a way to

get your will, is as close to a definition of evil, as monstrousness as I can come to. You really think he's a monster? I think he's a monster. I think he's a monster. Maybe. But I also feel a little sorry for Christian Garrett Schreider. His British accent and posh airs probably aren't going to go over too well at San Quentin. You can't help but wonder what was so lacking in his own life that he had to pretend to be other people. Did he think he'd only have friends if he had money and prestige? Or was Walter Kern right? Is Garrett Schreider just a con man through

and through who tried and failed to get away with murder? If he is, he has finally found a place where he can fit in just fine. I'm Erin Moriarty, and this is my life of crime. This podcast series is developed by 48 Hours in partnership with CBS News Radio. Judy Tigard is 48 Hours executive producer. Steve Dorsey is CBS News Radio executive producer. Production and editing for this season of My Life of Crime is by Alan Pang. Danielle Levy is our coordinating producer. This episode was also produced by Judy Ryback, Greg Fisher, and Paula Rosa of 48 Hours. Craig Swagler is vice president and general manager of CBS News Radio. And finally, thanks to all of you, our listeners.

We owe it all to you, the millions of 48 Hours fans. Don't forget to join me online. I'm at EFMoriarty on Twitter, and we're at 48 Hours on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. See you soon. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory

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