LOS ANGELES: A German man who posed as a member of the Rockefeller family after allegedly killing his landlord in California was found guilty of first degree murder yesterday. Christian Gerhartsreiter, 52, was convicted in the death of John Sohus, who went missing in 1985 but whose remains were found nine years later in the backyard of his home in the upscale LA neighborhood of San Marino. Gerhartsreiter — who was born in Germany in 1961, and also pretended to be a Hollywood producer and an English aristocrat during his years evading arrest after the killing — faces a possible prison sentence of 26 years to life.When John and Linda Sohus vanished in February 1985, Gerhartsreiter was living in a guest house owned by John Sohus’ mother. Prosecutors believe the German also killed Linda Sohus, but he was only charged with the one murder. After the alleged crime, Gerhartsreiter moved to Connecticut and changed his name a number of times, eventually becoming Clark Rockefeller and getting married, fooling even his wife for 12 years. The impostor was sentenced to a five-year prison term in 2009 for kidnapping his seven-year-old daughter, a trial that ultimately led investigators in Los Angeles to connect the dots in the Sohus murder case.
Senators close to immigration deal
WASHINGTON: A bipartisan group of US senators is very close to reaching a deal on immigration reform and a bill could be introduced in Congress within days, sources said. The reform, a key focus of US President Barack Obama’s second term, could contain a long-term path to citizenship for the country’s more than 11 million illegal immigrants, as well as an expansion of quotas of foreign workers and tighter border security. “We are optimistic that we will be able to introduce legislation soon,” a Senate aide said. The four Democrats and four Republicans, who have held negotiations since February, could introduce their measure as early as today or in the coming week, sources said.
Student stabs 14 in Texas attack
WASHINGTON: A US college student stabbed 14 people, leaving two victims critically wounded, late on Tuesday in a rampage that ended when he was wrestled to the ground and taken into custody, police said. Television images showed a red-headed white youth with a goatee being led off in handcuffs after the incident at the sprawling Lone Star College’s Cyfair campus, about 60 miles north of Houston.
Couple held after taking sons to Cuba
MIAMI: A US couple who fled to Cuba after snatching their two young sons from the care of their grandmother are behind bars in Tampa, Florida, local law enforcement said. A US aeroplane carrying Joshua Hakken, his wife Sharyn Patricia and their sons, aged two and four, landed in Tampa from Cuba early yesterday, local media reported. Hakken was attempting to flee US authorities when he took his wife and boys to Cuba aboard his sailboat on Monday. TV footage showed the couple arriving in the United States in handcuffs.
US Posts to keep Saturday delivery
WASHINGTON: The Postal Service has abandoned its cost-cutting plan to end Saturday delivery of first-class mail, the agency’s board of governors said yesterday, citing congressional opposition. The retreat demonstrates how difficult it will be for the financially strapped Postal Service to tame its costs and modernise its operations. Agencies
