ENCORE: Three Weddings and a Funeral: Part 2 | 175

By the late 1980s, Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter is now known as New York City bond trader Christopher Crowe. But even the Wall Street lifestyle is not quite glamorous enough for him. So he decides to transform once again, this time into a billionaire heir: a Rockefeller. With his new last name, he meets the woman of his dreams and settles into the leisurely life he’s always wanted. But when his past catches up with him — skeletons and all — it’ll all go up in flames. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Sarah Hagi?

  Audible subscribers can listen to all our episodes of Scamfluencers ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app.

• 0:15Scaachi Koul?

  Haggy?

• 0:17Sarah Hagi?

  Yeah. I don't like when you say it like that.

• 0:22Scaachi Koul?

  Well, that's how I'm gonna say it now. I wanted to ask you, what's the worst and weirdest way a man has lied to you? And not like, oh, I'm six feet tall, but he's actually 5'10" because they all say that. I mean, like, a real honker that you never saw coming.

• 0:36Sarah Hagi?

  You're making the assumption that I speak to men.

• 0:39Scaachi Koul?

  I mean, I know you have historically talked to them. I just don't know if you're currently doing that.

• 0:45Sarah Hagi?

  Honestly, nobody's ever really lied to me in a big way, at least that I know of.

• 0:50Scaachi Koul?

  I used to go out with this guy, it was a long time ago, who had, like, a secret family in the suburbs.

• 0:55Sarah Hagi?

  No.

• 0:56Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah, but the thing that offended me was that, like, he pretended he didn't have a car. And I was like, I could have gotten some rides out of that lie, at least.

• 1:04Sarah Hagi?

  Yeah, that's really disappointing. He had a whole secret family, and he was like, I actually don't have a car.

• 1:10Scaachi Koul?

  It's literally unbelievable. Well, this week, I've got a story about a man who tells so many women so many different lies that he can barely keep track. And frankly, Sarah, neither can I.

• 1:28Scaachi Koul?

  In the summer of 1988, Christian Karl Gerhardt's writer steps out of the Manhattan humidity and into the lobby of the high-end investment banking company Kidder, Peabody and Company. Three years ago, he abandoned California and the identity of Christopher Mountbatten-Chichester. He'd slowly worked his way across the country, sleeping in his truck, while sleeping in John Sohas's truck. And somewhere between San Marino and New York, he'd taken on a new name: Christopher Crow.

• 1:59Scaachi Koul?

  Since then, he's settled into a new life in one of the richest towns in America, Greenwich, Connecticut. And surprisingly, Christopher has found himself a real job. Someone at a yacht club was so taken with him, they offered to help him get started in the bond trading world.

• 2:14Sarah Hagi?

  Must be nice.

• 2:15Scaachi Koul?

  Can you imagine somebody coming up to either of us and be like, "Here are some stock secrets"?

• 2:20Sarah Hagi?

  Hey, I don't know anything about you. I dig your vibe. Let me bring you into this very mysterious, random lucrative world.

• 2:29Scaachi Koul?

  Cool. Well, Wall Street seemed like the perfect place for Christopher Crow to flourish. It's all suits, cocktails, and playing with other people's money. He's been commuting to New York, working at a few firms. But Kidder is really prestigious. It's a place with real, blue-blood, old-money appeal. Christopher breezes past the front desk. With his Brooks Brothers wardrobe and casually unaffected attitude, he walks into the office of the head of the Financial Bonds Division, and he just asks for a job. It's so bold. Unsurprisingly, it actually works.

• 3:05Sarah Hagi?

  Yeah, this is so deeply upsetting. I couldn't walk into, like, a Tim Hortons and get a job.

• 3:11Scaachi Koul?

  They would not hire you, no. They would know right away. So obviously, Christopher is wildly unqualified. At this point, he may have cobbled together a slight understanding of bond trading, but he spends most days expensing lunch and having other people do his work for him. Things are working out for Christopher Crow, whoever that is. He's comfortable, maybe too comfortable. And he's about to make a big mistake, one that draws the only kind of attention that Christopher doesn't want: a missing persons investigation.

• 3:52Scaachi Koul?

  From Wondery, I'm Sachi Cole.

• 3:54Sarah Hagi?

  And I'm Sarah Haggy.

• 3:55Scaachi Koul?

  And this is Scamfluencers.

• 4:05Scaachi Koul?

  In our last episode, we met Christian Karl Gerhart's writer, a soon-to-be notorious liar. Raised in a tiny German town, Christian always believed he was destined for more, and he would do anything to get it. He lied his way into a US tourist visa, he lied about being rich, and he made up several increasingly bizarre aliases. His lies are so detailed that he has to keep a stack of Post-its in his car to keep track. The thing that gets me about this story, Sarah, is his lies are just so ludicrous, but people keep believing them. But soon, it all unravels in catastrophic, irreversible ways. This is Three Weddings and a Funeral, Part Two.

• 4:53Speaker 02

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• 5:21Speaker 03

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• 5:53Scaachi Koul?

  It's November of 1988 and everything's coming up Christopher Crowe. He's walking along an Upper West Side street. The leaves are turning and there's a brisk chill in the air. The neighborhood feels like something out of You've Got Mail. He walks up to a two-bedroom apartment a block from Central Park. It's where his girlfriend lives, Mihoko Manabe. They met at his last finance job. She's 28 with black hair and deep brown eyes. He just moved in with her last month, leaving Greenwich behind. And unlike Christopher, Mihoko is legitimately working her way up in the financial world. Christopher couldn't have found a better or more convenient match. But this afternoon, Mihoko has something important to tell him.

• 6:36Scaachi Koul?

  She says that the police called, asking about a missing persons case. They want to know if Christopher could help them find John and Linda Sohas. Mihoko's confused and concerned. Does he know anything about this case?

• 6:50Sarah Hagi?

  That's crazy that they were able to find him after all this time.

• 6:55Scaachi Koul?

  So, remember how Christopher took John Sohas's truck?

• 6:58Sarah Hagi?

  Yes.

• 6:59Scaachi Koul?

  Before he left Connecticut, he gave it to a friend. And he told them that they would need to pay for the title change with the California DMV. But what Christopher didn't realize was that the truck was still listed as the car of a missing person. So when the guy called the DMV in California, the DMV notified the San Marino Police.

• 7:18Sarah Hagi?

  Dude, burn the car.

• 7:21Scaachi Koul?

  This is basic crime shit.

• 7:22Sarah Hagi?

  It's so crazy when it's like, he's done so much deception.

• 7:27Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah.

• 7:27Sarah Hagi?

  And he's lied so much and he's fooled so many people and he just makes this mistake that was like-

• 7:33Scaachi Koul?

  I know.

• 7:34Sarah Hagi?

  Honestly, very rookie. And yes, he was a rookie at the time, but also like, haven't you seen one movie?

• 7:41Scaachi Koul?

  Exactly. Well, back in their New York apartment, Christopher comes up with a story on the fly. He tells Miho Ko that that wasn't really the police. It's actually someone who's coming after him and his family. And she believes him. Christopher remains calm, but he knows everything has changed. His time as Christopher Crowe is ending. He's gonna have to leave his life behind. He doesn't leave New York or break up with his girlfriend. But as Miho Ko would later testify, he completely changed. Here's what she says in the documentary series 48 Hours.

• 8:17Speaker 04

  Fairly soon after Detective Allen's call, we moved to another apartment. He grew a beard. I helped color his hair. We never came out of the building at the same time. Always walked down different sides of the street.

• 8:31Sarah Hagi?

  Yeah, that's exactly how an innocent man would act. He would go full Bourne Identity.

• 8:37Scaachi Koul?

  Oh, yeah, it sucks. Well, Christopher doesn't stop there either. He wants Miho Ko to shred their trash and cut ties with their friends. Fun, normal stuff. And not too long after the police call, Christopher asks Miho Ko to marry him. And Miho Ko, being loyal and still in love, she says yes. We don't know exactly what he was thinking, but Miho Ko later says that she thinks the proposal was a kind of twisted thanks for helping him go and stay in hiding.

• 9:07Sarah Hagi?

  Oh, gosh. I feel bad for her. I mean, it's obvious he's so good at manipulating, so I'm kind of in no position to judge her.

• 9:17Scaachi Koul?

  The happy couple take a trip to Maine to scout out wedding venues. Christopher's mind is probably spinning. He's getting ready to marry Miho Ko, but he's still legally married to someone else. And he knows the police are hunting for him. And then, one afternoon in Maine, he goes to a restaurant and books a table for two, under the name Rockefeller. This trip is supposed to be about the beginning of his life with Miho Ko. But it's actually the beginning of the end. Christopher Crowe is about to vanish into his most audacious alias yet: Clark Rockefeller.

• 10:00Scaachi Koul?

  Five years later, in 1993, Clark sips sherry in a new apartment on the Upper East Side. He looks out the window at the street, dotted with trees and brownstone steps. He's now 32 years old and newly single. Mihoko just moved out. She met someone who actually wanted to tell the world that they were together. And when Mihoko goes, so does the existence of Christopher Crowe. He's now Clark Rockefeller. That's right, he's claiming to be the descendant of the mega-rich oil baron John D. Rockefeller. And Christopher uses his new persona to put some distance between himself and the missing persons investigation. He tells everyone that his parents were tragically killed in Connecticut, so he's vowed to never step foot in the state again.

• 10:45Sarah Hagi?

  You'd think that people would have heard of Rockefellers being tragically killed.

• 10:52Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah, also, it's the 90s, right? So the information access remains somewhat limited for most people.

• 10:59Sarah Hagi?

  Yeah.

• 10:59Scaachi Koul?

  Well, tonight, Clark is hosting a party. Most of the people invited are probably from the Episcopalian church he's been going to. He's gotten himself a dog, a beloved purebred Gordon setter named Yates. And he says sherry is his favorite drink. Sarah, do you remember anybody else from our story who really loved sherry?

• 11:19Sarah Hagi?

  DeeDee from San Marino.

• 11:21Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah, correct. And it's another detail from his past that Clark has taken on to signal that he belongs in the wealthiest circles, just like his art collection. Clark's got abstract expressionist works by artists like Rothko and Pollock, just leaning against the wall. Clark says that he inherited them from his aunt, who, quote, "started that little old museum on 53rd Street." Sarah, he's talking about the MoMA.

• 11:47Sarah Hagi?

  You know, I feel like with these stories, there's like the big lie that they're telling to move through the world. And then there are these tiny little lies that make you hate them even more.

• 11:57Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah.

• 11:57Sarah Hagi?

  And this guy's story is like littered with these... Stupid, stupid lies.

• 12:03Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah.

• 12:03Sarah Hagi?

  Oh, this little museum on 53rd Street? Even if this guy was talking to me and that was his true legacy, I would want to punch him in the face.

• 12:12Scaachi Koul?

  I know. Only, Clark knows that the art is fake. They're just really excellent forgeries that he got from someone he would later describe as an opportunistic friend. But they're good enough to fool even his art expert friends. Instead of working, Clark spends his days wandering Central Park with Yates, chatting up any fellow dog owner wearing a designer coat. He may or may not be aware that Amy Gerstelt, his wife, has officially divorced him. But either way, as far as he's concerned, Clark Rockefeller is available, and he's determined to find himself a rich wife.

• 12:52Scaachi Koul?

  Sandra Boss is in New York in the spring of 1993, interviewing for a summer job. She's got light brown hair and green eyes, and her high, round cheeks make her look younger than 26. She's getting her MBA at Harvard, but tonight, she's letting loose, heading to a party on the Upper East Side. She and her sister tell the doorman that they're here to see Mr. Body. It's a joke about Clu, like from The Board Game, and it ties into the party's theme. Sandra's wearing a red scarf because she's been told to come to the party dressed as Miss Scarlet. Actually, Sandra doesn't know it yet, but their host has planned this whole party just to meet her.

• 13:33Sarah Hagi?

  Yeah, there has to be an easier way.

• 13:35Scaachi Koul?

  You don't meet men at Clu-themed extravaganzas in the 90s?

• 13:39Sarah Hagi?

  No, can't say if anyone's ever thrown a party just to meet me.

• 13:43Scaachi Koul?

  Well, this is Clark Rockefeller's party. And when Sandra walks in, Clark makes a beeline for her. He knows Sandra's sister through church, and Sandra's sister is happy to introduce them. Clark doesn't leave Sandra's side all night. She's flattered. I mean, a Rockefeller wants to impress her.

• 14:02Sarah Hagi?

  Oh, boy. A Rockefeller does not want to impress you, girl.

• 14:06Scaachi Koul?

  Well, here's a little more about Sandra. She grew up in Seattle in an upper-middle-class family. She's super smart and competitive, but she's also really shy. But Clark makes her feel comfortable. Even though he's wearing these ridiculous purple pants, he is supposed to be Professor Plum, obviously. They're still an instant attraction. They spend the whole night talking. Clark tells Sandra his totally-made-up life story, full of tragic drama. He attended Yale at just 14, where he was so happy, until the accident. Clark tells Sandra that his parents were killed in a car crash. And Sandra's moved. He sweeps her off of her feet. They start dating long distance while she finishes up at Harvard.

• 14:50Scaachi Koul?

  They spend romantic weekends together, talking about literature, their faith, and making the world a better place. She wants to meet the rest of the Rockefellers. But something always comes up. Clark tells her early on that his wealth has been wiped out by a complicated lawsuit. So, really, all he has is the family name. One weekend, about a year after they met, he whisks her away to an island off the coast of Maine. And while there, he takes out a Tiffany's ring, and he asks her to marry him. She says yes, and it all feels like a fairy tale. But Sandra has no idea that 3,000 miles away, a huge discovery is about to be made. Her fiance's past life will change her life forever.

• 15:38Scaachi Koul?

  The same spring Clark proposes, Detective Sergeant Tim Miley is working on one of the most gruesome cases of his career. He's a big guy with a beard and a neck not really built for button-up shirts. He's been working gangs and homicides in the Los Angeles area for 10 years, but he's never caught a case like this. In sleepy San Marino, a construction crew digging a pool has stumbled onto a pile of bones. A body that was cut up into pieces, stuffed in a box, and buried.

• 16:08Sarah Hagi?

  This was the detail you told me at the beginning of the last episode.

• 16:13Scaachi Koul?

  Right. And when the coroner examines the bones, they find a crack in the skull. This person died from blunt force trauma. This was a brutal crime. Detective Miley's team learns that DeeDee, the older woman who owned the home, rented her back house to a young man named Christopher Chester. And that nine years ago, the couple who also lived in the house were reported missing. At the time, the police assumed that the couple moved out and on with their lives. But now, things look much, much darker. Police were able to determine that the buried bones belonged to John Sohas. And crime scene investigators inspect the back house and find evidence that someone tried to clean up a huge amount of blood.

• 16:57Scaachi Koul?

  So now, they've got the victim and the likely scene of the crime. At first, the cops pin Linda as a suspect. But Detective Miley can't figure out where Linda is. Witnesses tell him that she was last seen with Christopher Chester. And since then, there's been no trace of her, except a few postcards sent to friends and family, supposedly from France. But Linda had never gotten a passport, so she couldn't have left the country. Detective Miley assumes that she's dead too. And he has a pretty big lead. The bones were wrapped in bags from USC and the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, which were the two schools that Christopher attended.

• 17:36Sarah Hagi?

  Come on, man. The two schools you went to? He's really lazy.

• 17:41Scaachi Koul?

  Word spreads across the country. Christopher Chester is wanted for murder. Detective Miley digs into the few clues that DeeDee left behind. And that's when he comes across something strange. Sarah, do you remember the couple who helped DeeDee out at the end of her life?

• 17:56Sarah Hagi?

  Yeah, they're the people that DeeDee left everything to in her will instead of her son, right?

• 18:01Scaachi Koul?

  Yes, exactly. The Weatherbees. Well, it turns out, they were Christopher's friends. Detective Miley just knows something is seriously off about that whole situation. So even though the case goes cold for the next 10 years, he does not give up. And then, in 2008, he finally tracks down Linda Weatherbee. She's in the hospital. And just before dying, Linda admits to Detective Miley that she and her husband made a deal with Christopher to step in and take care of DeeDee in exchange for $40,000 and a cut of whatever she left them in her will. Miley doesn't believe the Weatherbees had anything to do with the murder. They just ripped off an old lady. Detective Miley thinks he has his man.

• 18:46Scaachi Koul?

  But Christopher doesn't exist anymore. Now, he's known as Clark. And with the cops on his tail, he's desperate to make that alibi ironclad by marrying the woman of his dreams.

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• 19:48Speaker 05

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• 19:52Speaker 06

  I'm Gemma Whelan, and in the new season of The Spy Who, we tell the story of the original femme fatale, the spy who was Mata Hari. A famous dancer turned World War I secret agent accused of seducing Allied officers to uncover their plans. But was she a temptress or a scapegoat for French failures? Follow The Spy Who now, wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also listen to the full season of The Spy Who Was Mata Hari early and at free on Audible.

• 20:34Scaachi Koul?

  It's 1995, and Clark stands in front of friends and family in a historic Quaker venue on the island of Nantucket. Well, Sandra's friends and family. No Rockefellers could make it. The only member on the groom's side is his dog, Yates.

• 20:49Sarah Hagi?

  That's convenient. Oh, sorry. My whole Rockefeller family, they had this, like, ribbon cutting. No one was able to show up. It's this whole thing. You know, we get married every day. Like, it's not a big deal.

• 21:00Scaachi Koul?

  The Rockefellers are very busy. They don't have time to go to the wedding of some person in their family who they barely know, who doesn't exist. But at the wedding, Sandra is in a white dress and pearls, and Clark is in a blue suit and striped tie. But he can't wear his signature glasses. It's too risky. Unsolved Mysteries recently aired an episode about John Sohas's murder. And along with describing the grisly details, it showed a photo of the prime suspect, Clark. Or Christian. You know, our guy. So Clark doesn't want to take any chances that someone might recognize him. Clark decides they can't have a big wedding in their Episcopalian church in New York City. Because though he can dye his hair and get contacts, he can't change his legal name without getting found out.

• 21:45Scaachi Koul?

  Clark tells Sandra, actually, he's no longer an Episcopalian. He's a Quaker. And coincidentally, Quaker weddings do not require an officiant, like an ordained minister. So there's no one at the wedding in charge of any actual paperwork. And Sandra's just starting a lucrative and very demanding job at McKinsey & Company, one of the most prestigious consulting firms in the world. It's super stressful, so Clark offers to handle filing the marriage license. But Sarah, he never does. It'll be another decade before Sandra learns that they were never legally married.

• 22:21Sarah Hagi?

  There is so much happening here. I don't even know where to begin.

• 22:25Scaachi Koul?

  See, you also need a stack of Post-its to keep track. See what I mean? Well, Clark Rockefeller will return to New York as the husband of a rich woman. Finally, he has everything he wants. And now, all he has to do is make sure that no one ever discovers his true identity.

• 22:48Scaachi Koul?

  About three years later, Clark sits in the library at the Lotus Club in Manhattan. It's one of the oldest, most famous literary clubs in the United States. And the air is thick with history and privilege. The wood-paneled walls are decorated with portraits of New York's most powerful men. And Clark likes to come here to enjoy cocktails amongst a group he finally feels is worthy of him. Now that he's a kept man, this is how Clark spends his days: hanging out in exclusive clubs, always ordering the oysters Rockefeller, which, in case you don't know, Sarah, is a disgusting, broiled alternative to fresh oysters that include breadcrumbs and spinach. But while Clark has been living a lavish life, his guard is still up. He won't let anyone take his picture.

• 23:33Scaachi Koul?

  And if they do, he screws his face up into a hideous expression, like every bratty younger brother ever. I've got a couple of photos of him. Sarah, can you describe them?

• 23:43Sarah Hagi?

  Yeah, it's kind of like when you're looking at photos in horror movies and you're like, oh, there's like a demon in this photo. He's making like the dumbest face you can imagine. Like, his tongue's sticking out, his eyes are all screwed up. And then in the next one, it's a bunch of people at a table outside, and he has his hands in front of his face.

• 24:05Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah, he's hiding.

• 24:07Sarah Hagi?

  He's hiding, and it's just kind of like, come on, dude, go up.

• 24:12Scaachi Koul?

  Well, Clark's paranoia is creeping into his marriage. And as Sandra will later testify, his behavior starts to shift.

• 24:20Speaker 07

  He became much more directive about my movements. He wanted to walk me to and from work every day. He began to be less supportive of my seeing my friends. I observed that he could get a job that paid and contribute.

• 24:42Scaachi Koul?

  A Rockefeller in name only.

• 24:44Sarah Hagi?

  It's crazy because she's such a successful woman, like... She's obviously worked her way up in this industry, and she's working very hard. And this guy's holding her down in this huge way, and you're just kind of like, leave him. Yeah. Like, even if he wasn't a murderer, leave him because he sucks.

• 25:06Scaachi Koul?

  Well, Sarah, Clark's not qualified to do anything, including being Clark Rockefeller. Meanwhile, Sandra has climbed the corporate ladder at McKinsey. By the early 2000s, she's leading consulting work for Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Senator Chuck Schumer. If Sandra leaves Clark, he'd be left with nothing. And he also must know, at this point, that authorities are looking for him in connection with a murder. He keeps picking fights with her, screaming and sometimes hitting her. He must be feeling desperate, hanging on by a thread. And under all that pressure, his abusive behavior towards Sandra is about to escalate.

• 25:47Scaachi Koul?

  It's the summer of 2000, and Sandra is now one of the youngest partners in the history of McKinsey. She has a lot of power, and she's making a lot of money. And after another grueling week of work in New York City, she's making the five-hour, 250-mile commute north to her and Clark's new home in Cornish, New Hampshire. Clark demanded that they move there last year. While Sandra works all week, Clark runs around town. Well, actually, Sarah, he segues around town. He bought one of those using Sandra's money. He's also using her money to go antiquing and to endlessly renovate their house.

• 26:23Sarah Hagi?

  What an asshole. No one segues around town and isn't a total asshole.

• 26:28Scaachi Koul?

  There are no good segwayers, that is true.

• 26:31Sarah Hagi?

  That's grounds for divorce, in my opinion.

• 26:33Scaachi Koul?

  Correct. But when Sandra pulls up, their new home is not very inviting. It's dark, and there's barely any heat. There are so many stalled renovation projects that parts of the house could collapse at any moment. And her relationship with Clark is in similarly rough shape. Her long commutes give her plenty of time to think. And she's come to a decision. Sandra decides she's leaving Clark. She even gets an apartment for herself in the city. Sandra immediately feels liberated. But soon, Clark shows up at her door. In her court testimony, Sandra later explains that it was a grand gesture, designed to win her back.

• 27:11Speaker 08

  He came to New York. He wanted to take me shopping. You know, he was very romantic in his, you know, conversation and very demonstrative. I had to go to an event. He made a big effort borrowing some expensive jewelry from his family, he said. So he was trying to impress me.

• 27:35Sarah Hagi?

  You know, it is really interesting that his family would be willing to loan him jewelry, but presumably she's never met them unless he was able to like elaborately hire actors.

• 27:46Scaachi Koul?

  Mm hmm.

• 27:48Sarah Hagi?

  Also, like, any money he would spend would presumably be hers, right?

• 27:53Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah, correct. But Sandra lets him back into her life. He's acting like the Clark she fell in love with. So she lets herself enjoy the attention, allowing him into her apartment and her bed. But later, Sandra will testify that she suspects that Clark tampered with a condom.

• 28:11Sarah Hagi?

  So he's basically trapping her with sexual assault. He's trying to get her pregnant so that he doesn't get left behind and she stays with him.

• 28:19Scaachi Koul?

  Yes, exactly. And shortly after, Sandra does find out that she's pregnant. She has no idea what to do. And Clark doubles down on the psychological pressure. Sandra later says that he creates, quote, "a cloud of paranoia around her friends and her family," insisting that he's the only one she can trust. She's overwhelmed and she feels physically too weak to even think about leaving him. Sandra decides to stay with Clark so that they can raise their child together. Sandra is brilliant and capable, and she must be hoping that this time, she'll be the one in control.

• 28:58Scaachi Koul?

  On May 24th, 2001, Sandra gives birth to a baby girl, Ray. Clark's not at the hospital. Sandra doesn't even know where he is. And when he finally does show up 18 hours later, he insists that they give the baby Sandra's last name. He just doesn't want her to bear the burden of being a Rockefeller.

• 29:19Sarah Hagi?

  Ah, gotta hand it to him. He studied nepotism kids. So you know what, Sandra? Let's just give him your last name of your actual, successful and pedigreed family.

• 29:28Scaachi Koul?

  Quite altruistic. But the thing is, Sarah, Clark initially isn't even that interested in Ray. But Sandra does notice that the more time he spends with her, the more Clark feels a fatherly connection. Sandra wants to send Ray to the finest schools, but Clark insists on homeschooling her himself. He teaches her to read at just two years old. They have a real bond. And somewhere along the way, he starts calling Ray Snooks. Sarah, do you remember that name?

• 29:56Sarah Hagi?

  Yes, that is the name of the daughter from the first family he scammed. The one he like left outside while he was watching TV.

• 30:05Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah, exactly right. And I don't know, maybe life as a dad is softening Clark up. Because when Sandra insists that they move to Boston, where she's working now, Clark actually agrees. And when Ray starts going to school, Clark goes back to spending all day at bougie clubs until he picks Ray up from the bus stop. Clark has Ray memorize the periodic table and read aloud to him from scientific journals.

• 30:28Sarah Hagi?

  I mean, there's still something very weird about this. Like, even though I guess technically that's decent parenting, it just seems like he's projecting something onto his child and nothing about it seems normal.

• 30:42Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah, look, we're working with a very low standard here. But in 2007, Clark's hands-on parenting gets a serious reality check. Sandra learns that Ray is struggling at school socially, even though she's really smart. She's struggling so much that she gets held back from starting kindergarten. Sandra wants to take Ray to a psychologist, but Clark is outraged and he refuses. For Sandra, this is the last straw. Shortly after, she stuns Clark by telling him that she's leaving. She cuts Clark off and files for divorce. And things get really ugly fast. But the biggest fight of all is over Ray, who's now nearly six years old. Clark desperately wants custody, but Sandra fights him. He tries

• 31:27Scaachi Koul?

  to use Sandra's career against her, saying he's the one who practically raised Ray on his own. Sandra realizes that if she wants to win this custody battle, she's gonna have to fight dirty. But first, she needs to find out who she's really dealing with.

• 31:48Scaachi Koul?

  Six months later, Sandra has moved into her own apartment in another beautiful neighborhood in Boston. And she's waiting for news from her divorce lawyer. The proceedings are seriously stalled because Clark is holding everything up. Sandra's convinced that Clark must be hiding money somewhere, so she hires a private investigator to find out the truth. But she is completely unprepared for what she finds. Clark Rockefeller doesn't exist.

• 32:15Sarah Hagi?

  Oh, my gosh. Imagine being like, this guy's hiding his wealth from me. And then being like, wait a second. There is no wealth because he's not a real person.

• 32:25Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah, so predictably, Sandra's world is rocked. But after she recovers from the shock, she makes a decision. That's it. She's done being pushed around. Sandra tells Clark she knows he's lying about his identity. But she's willing to stay quiet if he gives up custody of Ray and lets them move to London immediately. She's accepted a job offer there. She offers Clark $800,000 and three supervised visitations a year. Clark has no choice but to agree. He takes the money, but he immediately regrets it. Without his daughter, his life is empty and meaningless. Sandra thinks she's finally out-con the con man. But she underestimates how far Clark is willing to go to evade any consequences.

• 33:10Scaachi Koul?

  And this time, he's ready to take their daughter with him.

• 33:20Speaker 09

  You stepped out for your morning jog. Except it's not your usual morning jog. You started listening to an epic sci-fi book on Audible. 30 chapters later, you've accidentally run a half marathon. You lost track of how far you've run, somewhere just past the city limits. You can't stop. You have to find out what happens next. Then it's over. The universe seems bigger. You feel different. You feel like you have no idea where you are. Audible. Stories that speak to you. Imagine you're reading Pride and Prejudice, except you're not reading it. Harris Dickinson and Marissa Obella are reading it to you on Audible. Her barbs sting you. His coldness sends a shiver up your spine. Your heart aches. Your ears burn.

• 34:05Speaker 09

  You yearn for Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy to profess their undying love for one another. You can't bear it any longer. Well, maybe a chapter longer. Performance is so good, you'll give love a second chance. Audible. Stories that speak to you.

• 34:30Scaachi Koul?

  It's July 27, 2008. Clark struts down the cobblestone streets of Boston's historic Back Bay neighborhood with his seven-year-old daughter, Ray, on his shoulders. It's been nearly eight months since he's been allowed to see his daughter, but they're finally back together. Except now, a social worker named Howard trails behind them. It's a perfect day, but one perfect day isn't good enough for Clark. So Clark puts Ray down, and then he turns to Howard and body slams him to the ground. A waiting SUV starts up, and Clark runs to it. He throws Ray inside and then jumps in himself. He slams the door, yelling, "Go, go, go." But Howard can't just let them get away,

• 35:12Scaachi Koul?

  so he gets up, lunges for the car, and literally hangs on as it accelerates. They end up dragging Howard down the street until finally he hits his head so hard that he lets go. And with that, the SUV takes off. Ray cries while Clark yells directions at the driver, and they disappear into the city.

• 35:32Sarah Hagi?

  Holy shit. That is so violent. That's like a new low. This guy is the worst. Howard could have died.

• 35:41Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah, well, I mean, he obviously doesn't care about that. An Amber Alert goes out immediately, and every law enforcement officer on the East Coast is looking for Clark Rockefeller. And Sandra is distraught. She makes a video pleading with him to return their daughter.

• 35:56Speaker 10

  Please, please, bring Snooks back.

• 36:00Speaker 10

  There has to be a better way for us to solve our differences than this way.

• 36:05Scaachi Koul?

  But he's not Clark Rockefeller anymore, and he doesn't even live in Boston either. Clark used Sandra's divorce settlement money to buy a house and a boat in Baltimore. And he came up with a new persona for himself, Anne Ray. He takes her to Baltimore and changes his name to Captain Chip Smith. And Ray is now Muffy.

• 36:28Sarah Hagi?

  What? I'm sorry, Captain Chip Smith and his daughter Muffy? What, like, children's book did he steal this from?

• 36:36Scaachi Koul?

  It's really stupid. And then about a week later, Captain Chip Smith is at home and receives a call that his boat is taking on water. He rushes outside and a voice calls out, "Hey, Clark." He turns around at the mention of his old name, the name of one of the most wanted men in the country. And he's busted. It's the FBI. They swarm him and safely get Ray out of the house. It's been five harrowing days and a lifetime of lies. But finally, Christian Karl Gerhart's writer has been caught.

• 37:12Scaachi Koul?

  Even in custody, Clark refuses to go by his real name. He insists on being called Clark Rockefeller. And when he's questioned by the FBI, he refuses to give a straight answer.

• 37:23Speaker 10

  Who's the real guy under all this?

• 37:26Speaker 11

  The real guy is Snucks's father. That's all I want to be. My whole goal in life is to be Snucks's father.

• 37:35Scaachi Koul?

  He's charged with assault for what he did to Howard, the social worker, as well as kidnapping. But believe it or not, Sarah, lying about his identity was not a crime. It is very illegal to steal a real person's identity, but there never was a Clark Rockefeller, which is a great loophole for me, Sachi Kardashian, to know about.

• 37:53Sarah Hagi?

  I do think it is really insane that there's no crime of actual scamming in that sense of identity theft. Because

• 38:02Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah.

• 38:03Sarah Hagi?

  there is no Clark Rockefeller. He just made this guy up.

• 38:07Scaachi Koul?

  It's not actually the issue at hand.

• 38:11Scaachi Koul?

  But Christian/Christopher/Clark/Chip won't even tell the truth to his own lawyers. And faced with this nightmare client, his defense team tries to plead insanity, but to no avail. And around nine months after his arrest, in May of 2009, Clark sits in a Boston courtroom in a suit jacket, a pair of khaki pants, and a smart tie. It's the uniform he's worn to so many dinners and clubs full of bougie friends hanging on to his every lie. But now, there's no ritzy club, no fancy friends. It's just a jury of his peers and a parade of former friends and colleagues taking the stand to call out his lies. Each one is another nail in the coffin. But no testimony is as damning

• 38:56Scaachi Koul?

  as that of Sandra Boss, who speaks confidently and clearly on the stand.

• 39:01Speaker 07

  I'm not saying that I made a very good choice of husband. I mean, it's pretty obvious that I had to blind spot. All I'm saying is that it is possible that one can be brilliant and amazing in one area of one's life and be really stupid in another.

• 39:17Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah, that's fact. While the man she married keeps his eyes on the floor, for once, he has nothing to say. On June 8, 2009, 48-year-old Christian Gerhart's writer is convicted of assault and kidnapping. He's sentenced to four to five years for the kidnapping and two to three for the assault. Two years later, he's taken to California, where he's tried and convicted for the murder of John Sohas, and he gets sentenced to 26 years to life. He maintains his innocence, claiming Linda murdered her husband, which is a convenient narrative for him since Linda is still missing. Christian will be up for parole in 2029, when he will be almost 70 years old. And by then, someone entirely new.

• 40:04Scaachi Koul?

  Ooh, Sarah, what a story.

• 40:07Sarah Hagi?

  What a trip. It's horrifying and it's also a very exhausting story. He worked so hard for nothing.

• 40:16Scaachi Koul?

  I know. It's the same shit that we always talk about where it's like if you put a fraction of this effort into doing anything legitimately, you would have more. But you fight so hard to get these scraps that aren't even real.

• 40:28Sarah Hagi?

  Yeah, it's also just really crazy to like go from somewhere like Germany where there's like a huge social safety net from the government of like, you know, it's not hard to go to school and there's healthcare and like to be like, eh, I'm gonna go to America and ruin people's lives.

• 40:47Scaachi Koul?

  Well, because it's like the American dream has a hold on everybody. I mean, I moved here from a place with free healthcare. I did it too. The only difference is I didn't make up a name. I am Sachi Kardashian.

• 41:01Sarah Hagi?

  I am just floored by this story, especially because like I feel like it deals with a type of influence we don't get to talk about very often that has nothing to do with social media, but like more the direct influence someone like him could have on actual people.

• 41:17Scaachi Koul?

  The country club influence?

• 41:19Sarah Hagi?

  Yeah.

• 41:19Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah. I mean, do you think, we talk about this a lot, like whether certain scams that are from the 70s or the 80s or the 90s would happen now with like access to the internet. Do you think that he would have been able to get away with being like, I'm a Rockefeller? Had we been able to look up the Rockefeller family tree on like Britannica and figure out where he was?

• 41:43Sarah Hagi?

  I don't think he would have done that specifically. I think he still would have found his way to like scam his way into the upper crust of society. I think he could have easily pretended to be a part of some sort of German or like... You know, Western European aristocracy that would have been hard to Google or something. You know, I feel like he was so determined and he is so manipulative. I almost wish there were more clips of hearing him speak or like knowing about how he was able to convince these people because it was all types of people that he was able to fool. Like, I wouldn't consider anyone in this story to be like an idiot, you know?

• 42:21Scaachi Koul?

  No, no, he's really convincing. And I mean, he also went far and above what he needed to lie about in this scam.

• 42:30Sarah Hagi?

  Like, getting fake art is such an unnecessary portion of this.

• 42:34Scaachi Koul?

  Everybody already believes that you're rich. Everybody already believes you're a Rockefeller. You're already dating this woman. You already have this apartment. You don't need to do that.

• 42:42Sarah Hagi?

  Yeah, and also, there wasn't a huge material gain for him either. It's not like he, you know, was able to floss money from people and invested in this and grow the money. It's not like he was living this amazing life. Like, he was living in his car for a bit. He was always under someone's thumb, in a way. After all that, after the murders, after living with an old lady and ruining her life, that's all you have to show for it?

• 43:08Scaachi Koul?

  I feel like with these scams, there's like an element of revulsion that the scammer has for rich people. Like, they want to trick rich, powerful, upper crusty people because they kind of resent them. Like, the resentment that he had for his own wife because she was like well off and working very hard and came from a, you know, a good family. He hated that about her, but he wanted to possess it.

• 43:33Sarah Hagi?

  And you know, I mean, as we've seen throughout these recordings, it is kind of easy to scam a lot of rich people as long as you are able to speak their language and do the right things.

• 43:44Scaachi Koul?

  Well, as ever, I mean, the moral of this story is don't date men if you don't want to get dogged.

• 43:51Sarah Hagi?

  That's your takeaway?

• 43:52Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah.

• 43:52Sarah Hagi?

  Here's where I stand on this.

• 43:55Scaachi Koul?

  Okay.

• 43:55Sarah Hagi?

  Just because someone seems quirky and European doesn't mean you can't ask them some hard questions. You can't set aside people's like sinister qualities because you're like, oh, they're foreign.

• 44:08Scaachi Koul?

  Yeah, never trust a cute European accent without full documentation.

• 44:15Sarah Hagi?

  Yes, absolutely.

• 44:25Scaachi Koul?

  Follow Scamfluencers on the Audible app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes of Scamfluencers ad-free by joining Audible. This was Three Weddings and a Funeral, Part Two. I'm Sachi Cole.

• 44:40Sarah Hagi?

  And I'm Sarah Haggie. If you have a tip for us on a story that you think we should cover, please email us at [email protected]. We use many sources in our research. A few that were particularly helpful were Mark Seal's book, The Man in the Rockefeller Suit, the 48 Hours episode, AKA Rockefeller, and the Oxygen documentary series, A Wedding and a Murder: Vanishing Vows. Special thanks to court reporters Richard and Fay LaRue.

• 45:10Scaachi Koul?

  Colleen Scriven wrote this episode. Additional writing by us, Sachi Cole and Sarah Haggie. Our senior producer is Jen Swan. Our producer is John Reed. Our associate producers are Charlotte Miller and Lexi Peery. Our producer and story editor is Sarah Enne. Our story editor is Alison Weintraub.

• 45:27Sarah Hagi?

  Sound design is by Sam Ada. Fact checking by Gabriel Drolet. Additional audio assistance provided by Adrian Tapia. Our music supervisor is Scott Velazquez for Freeze on Sync. Our senior managing producer is Tanja Thigpen. Our managing producer is Matt Gant. Kate Young and Olivia Richard are our series producers. Our senior story editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Our senior producer is Ginny Bloom. Our executive producers are Janine Cornolo, Stephanie Jens, Jenny Lauer-Beckman, and Marshall Louie for Wondery.

• 46:08Speaker 12

  A trucker merges onto the I-10 in New Orleans. He checks his mirrors. The lane is clear. And then, boom, impact. A pickup truck, seemingly out of nowhere, scrapes down the side of his 18-wheeler, multiple passengers inside. One man flees the scene, and the driver of the pickup, he doesn't seem all that upset. It didn't feel like a regular accident, because it wasn't. Across the city, truckers are getting sideswiped, all on the same stretch of the same freeway. And behind many of the cases is one person, a Hollywood stunt woman turned personal injury lawyer named Vanessa Moda. This podcast is a story about fake accidents that lead to real consequences and a scheme that ends in betrayal and murder.

• 46:53Speaker 12

  Listen to Over My Dead Body: Operation Sideswipe wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.