‘Rockefeller’ San Marino Murder Trial to Be Held Downtown

A will face trial in Downtown Los Angeles, the Pasadena Star-News reported Wednesday.

took place in the Alhambra Superior Courthouse. The trial is scheduled to begin in September.

“Attorneys had hoped to move the case to Pasadena or Burbank, but weren't successful because a Pasadena judge is a witness for the prosecution,” said the Star-News.

Gerhartsreiter, who called himself Christopher Chichester in San Marino in the 1980s and years later claimed to be Clark Rockefeller, rented a guesthouse on Lorain Road and is charged with the 1985 murder of John Sohus, who lived in the main house with his wife, Linda, and his mother, Ruth "Didi" Sohus.

John and Linda Sohus disappeared from San Marino in 1985 and John's bones were found in the backyard of the Lorain Road home in 1994. Linda Sohus has never been found.

See links to all previous Patch coverage of the Gerhartsreiter/“Rockefeller” case and its local connections here.