New York, NY -- (SBWire) -- 03/08/2013 --As the trial for the murder suspect and con man best known as Clark Rockefeller gets underway in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, March 11, Star Creek Entertainment releases Frank C. Girardot Jr.’s gripping true crime book, “Name Dropper: Investigating the Clark Rockefeller Mystery” (19.99).
Based on his year-long investigation, Girardot reveals chilling details about the evidence – most of it circumstantial -- that led to Rockefeller’s arrest for allegedly killing computer geek John Sohus in San Marino, CA in 1985. Actor Dean Norris, who wrote the book’s foreword, says Girardot’s meticulously researched tale is sure to leave readers horrified.
“‘Name Dropper’ could alternatively be titled ‘Jaw Dropper’,” said Norris, best known for his role as DEA agent Hank Schrader in AMC’s “Breaking Bad.” “It’s not only an intriguing look at the almost unbelievable and bizarre life of Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter (aka Clark Rockefeller), but it also is a tautly written whodunit spanning several decades, thousands of miles and linking Chris to a grisly murder left unsolved for 28 years.”
Girardot, an award-winning journalist, is the editor of the Pasadena Star-News in Pasadena, CA. He led the Star-News’ 2008 investigation that is likely at least partly responsible for the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office’s decision to file murder charges against Rockefeller.
“I got interested in this story because of John (Sohus),” said Girardot. “Long before anyone knew about Clark Rockefeller, what remained of John’s skull was kept in a brown paper bag in a basement laboratory at the L.A. County Department of Coroner. It was stapled together and passed around as a teaching tool, so I was told. So when Rockefeller turns up and he’s linked to this mystery I knew something about, how could I not write a book?”
According to L.A. County prosecutors, Rockefeller is actually Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, a German national who came to the United States on a student visa in the late 1970s and never left. He conned society’s elite from San Marino to Beacon Hill for more than 25 years, changing his name and his life multiple times along the way.
In 2007, Rockefeller was arrested -- and subsequently convicted -- in the kidnapping of his daughter in Boston. At the time he also was a person of interest in the disappearance of Sohus and his wife Linda, whose whereabouts remain unknown.
“I’ve come to the conclusion we will never know what became of Linda Sohus,” said Girardot. “Everyone who comes into contact with the story will take away something different about her fate. We will never know, unless in some Perry Mason-esque moment, she throws open the doors of the courtroom and waltzes in at the eleventh hour. I don’t think that will happen but it could. The story is that bizarre.”
Along with appearing as an expert commentator on the Rockefeller case on “Dateline NBC” and Greta Van Susteren’s “On the Record” on Fox, Girardot writes a bi-weekly Crimescene column that is followed by readers around the globe.
“Name Dropper: Investigating the Clark Rockefeller Mystery,” is available for purchase at http://www.rockefellermystery.com or http://www.amazon.com.
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