Rockefeller imposter jailed for 27 years to life for California murder

Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter slayed son of his Los Angeles-area landlady and buried his dismembered remains in backyard

Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter acted as his own lawyer after firing his attorneys following his conviction in April. Photograph: Pool/Reuters

A German-born con man who posed for years as a member of America's wealthy Rockefeller family was sentenced on Thursday to 27 years to life in prison for slaying the son of his Los Angeles-area landlady and burying his dismembered remains in the backyard.

Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, acting as his own lawyer after he fired his attorneys following his conviction in April, professed his innocence again in court before a Los Angeles judge pronounced the maximum sentence faced by the defendant.

Gerhartsreiter, who for years lived under various aliases, including Clark Rockefeller, was found guilty of first-degree murder at the end of a month-long trial in the sensational case.

The remains of the victim, John Sohus, 27, were discovered in 1994 buried in the backyard of the home he shared with his wife, Linda, in the Los Angeles suburb of San Marino.

Both John and Linda Sohus were reported missing 28 years ago while Gerhartsreiter was renting a guest house on the property from Sohus' mother and living under the guise of a British aristocrat named Christopher Chichester.

By the time John Sohus' remains were unearthed by a work crew preparing to build a swimming pool on the property for a new owner, Gerhartsreiter had resurfaced on the East Coast under other assumed names. Linda Sohus remains missing and is presumed dead.