Christian Gerhartsreiter - Charged With Murder

Charged With Murder

Gerhartsreiter was initially identified as a "person of interest" by police in the 1985 disappearance and possible murder of Jonathan Sohus, a California man in whose guesthouse he lived as a tenant in the upscale community of San Marino, during the mid-1980s. Bones believed to belong to Sohus were found in 1994 buried in the back yard of the home he had lived in with his wife, Linda, who is also missing. Sohus's family members said the bones match Jonathan Sohus's general description but, since he was adopted, there was no way to compare his DNA against that of biological family members and arrive at a conclusive identity.

Gerhartsreiter, who was then using the alias Christopher Chichester, reportedly told people that Jonathan and Linda Sohus had traveled to Europe. Their family reportedly received a postcard from the couple sent from France after Jonathan and Linda Sohus had disappeared, though its authenticity has been questioned. "Chichester" was pulled over by police in Greenwich, Connecticut, in the late 1980s driving a pickup truck that had belonged to Jonathan Sohus, but he left the area before police could interview him. Police had no proof that Jonathan and Linda Sohus were dead or had not left voluntarily.

News reports indicated that a grand jury was to be convened in the spring of 2009 to examine the evidence in the Sohus case. The Hon. Frank Gaziano, judge in Gerhartsreiter's parental kidnapping trial, barred prosecutors from presenting evidence about the Sohus case to avoid prejudicing jurors against Gerhartsreiter.

On March 15, 2011, Los Angeles County prosecutors charged Gerhartsreiter with the murder of Jonathan Sohus.

On October 17, 2011, an Alhambra Superior Court judge ordered Gerhartsreiter to appear in court there on January 18, 2012 for a preliminary hearing where a judge was to decide if enough evidence existed for the case to go to trial. On January 24, 2012, Judge Jared Moses of Alhambra Superior Court ruled that Gerhartsreiter must stand trial for the death of Sohus. The murder trial was held in March and April 2013 and Gerhartsreiter was convicted of first degree murder on April 10, 2013. The verdict includes an enhancement for use of a deadly weapon to bludgeon Jonathan Sohus to death. Forensic evidence showed that Sohus had been struck in the head two times with a rounded, blunt object and then stabbed six times. His body had been cut in three parts. Evidence in the case was largely circumstantial, but jurors were most swayed by two plastic book bags found buried with Sohus's remains: one from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where Gerhartsreiter attended classes between 1979 and 1982, and one from the University of Southern California, where Gerhartsreiter audited film classes. One juror said that was the most solid piece of evidence presented to the jury. Jurors also heard evidence that Gerhartsreiter was in possession of the Sohus' pickup truck following the murder. Gerhartsreiter faces 26 years to life in prison when he is sentenced.