Friend: Defendant Tried To Sell Bloodstained Rug

Published January 23, 2012 9:54PM (EST)

ALHAMBRA, Calif. (AP) — A man who masqueraded as a Rockefeller on the East Coast and is now accused of murder in California has been confronted in court by witnesses who say he tried to sell them an Oriental rug with a bloodstain.

Christian Gerhartsreiter is charged with murdering 27-year-old John Sohus, whose bones were unearthed in a backyard in a wealthy Los Angeles suburb in 1994, nearly 10 years after Sohus and his wife vanished.

Robert Brown testified Monday during a preliminary hearing that in 1985 the man he and his wife knew as Chris Chichester showed up with the rug among belongings he wanted to sell because he was going away.

Brown says his wife looked at the run, pointed out the bloodstain, and Chichester quickly rolled it up and left.


By Salon Staff

MORE FROM Salon Staff


Related Topics ------------------------------------------