Library Author Night with Frank Girardot and Ro Ruffalo on 1/30 Focuses on 'Clark Rockefeller' of San Marino

Two local mystery authors, Ro Ruffalo and Frank Girardot, will be presented during an Author Night event in the South Pasadena Library on Thursday, January 30th at 7:00 p.m. The free program will be held in the Community Room at 1115 El Centro Street.  No tickets or reservations are needed and refreshments will be served. Special thanks to Book ‘Em Mysteries of South Pasadena. 

Ro Ruffalo is a first-time novelist and her “Truly Disturbed: The Upland Murders” is a swift-paced foray for policewoman protagonist Jasmine Kincaid as she shadows a serial killer through Upland. Tough and passionate, Kincaid is dead set on becoming Upland’s first female detective, but she faces a bitter rival: Officer Frank Sawtelle. Jasmine also plays a cat-and-mouse game with the killer and the contact not only threatens her career, but also her life. Ro researched and wrote her book during the 10 years she served as a citizen volunteer for the City of Pomona. 

Frank Girardot’s scintillating true crime book, “Name Dropper: Investigating the Clark Rockefeller Mystery” is about a man who’s been called a psychopathic con, a cold-blooded killer, an art lover, and a doting father. His actual name is Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter and he first came to the United States from Bavaria on a student visa in the 70s. His rise to near aristocracy in America in the 1980s led to his prominence in some of the nation’s most elite communities, including Wall Street, Greenwich, Boston’s Beacon Hill, and nearby San Marino, California.  He’s posed as a physicist, a ship’s captain, an art collector, and an investor with a variety of aliases. After dubbing himself Christopher Chichester, the XII baronet of Chichester, he was the last person to see John and Linda Sohus of San Marino alive. Nine years later, when John Sohus’ bones were dug up in the backyard of the home the three shared, Chichester became a person of interest in the homicide investigation. Linda Sohus has not be seen since 1985. 

Frank Girardot is the Editor of the Pasadena Star-News and an award-winning journalist who has worked his craft for more than 25 years. He considers the Rockefeller story the most fascinating case he’s covered, and that includes  O.J. Simpson’s and the 1958 murder of James Ellroy’s mother, Geneva Hilliker Ellroy. Frank first began covering the mysterious German national’s story in 2008, about the time Rockefeller was arrested for abducting his daughter. Rockefeller’s fall placed him squarely in a decades-old homicide case and landed him in the country’s toughest, most overpopulated jail. On August 15, 2013 he was convicted of murder in an Alhambra courtroom and is currently serving 27 years to life. Rockefeller’s trial received national attention and was featured on many television shows, as was “Name Dropper.”  The Lifetime cable TV network premiered a movie called “Who is Clark Rockefeller in 2010” and a featured length film called “The Man in the Rockefeller Suit” is in development by Fox Searchlight.