‘Rockefeller’ extradited to face charge

BOSTON — A German man who claimed to be a member of the famous Rockefeller family is heading to California to face a murder charge.

Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter was flown out of Massachusetts on Wednesday. He is to be arraigned Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court on a charge stemming from the 1985 killing of Jonathan Sohus. Boston lawyer Brad Bailey says Gerhartsreiter will plead not guilty.

Gerhartsreiter was living in a guest house on property owned by Sohus’ mother in San Marino, California, when the victim disappeared.

He has been serving a four- to five-year prison sentence in Massachusetts for a 2009 conviction in the kidnapping of his 7-year-old daughter.

Gerhartsreiter came to the U.S. in the 1970s and assumed many identities, including Clark Rockefeller, a supposed relative of the wealthy family.