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Bones found in a backyard may be the former residents missing for years.  John and Linda Sohus  Human bones were found in the backyard CASE DETAILS In May 1994, while digging a swimming pool in San Marino, California, a workman made a grim discovery. Three plastic bags and a fiberglass box full of dismembered sections of a human skeleton. According to Det. Ronnie Lancaster of the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department, the bones may belong to two former residents:
 John and Linda disappeared suddenly The two missing persons were John Sohus and his wife, Linda, who had once lived in the house with John’s mother. Their sudden disappearance 10 years earlier had mystified everyone who knew them. Now it appeared that either John or Linda or both may have been killed and buried in their own backyard. According to their friends, John and Linda felt trapped living with John’s mother and looked forward to escaping to a place of their own. John held several part time computer programming jobs. Sue Bermudez Coffman, a friend of Linda’s, said Linda was beginning to find success as an artist:
Now in their late 20’s, it appeared the young couple had finally gotten the break they’d been hoping for. According to Sue, Linda and John had been asked to interview for important new jobs:
Linda told Sue that the trip was scheduled to last two weeks. But Linda and John never returned, and the mystery only deepened in the later months.  Linda paid to board her cats for two weeks Prior to the trip, Linda had boarded her six cats at a local kennel and paid in advance for the two-week stay. But at the end of eight weeks, she still had not claimed her pets. The kennel owner tracked down Linda’s sister, Kathy, who said it was uncharacteristic of her sister to do such a thing:
Kathy telephoned John’s mother, DiDi Sohus, hoping she had an explanation. In several phone calls, DiDi kept insisting to Kathy that John and Linda were on some sort of a secret mission:
 Postcard supposedly from John & Linda Linda’s family filed a missing person report and San Marino Police started an investigation. Their first stop: Didi Sohus’ home. DiDi told the police the same story: that John and Linda were on a secret mission and that she got this information from someone she called “her source.” Didi refused to identify the person. With no evidence of foul play, the police were powerless to investigate further. Finally, a full three months after the Sohus’ had left for New York, Linda’s friend, Sue, received a picture postcard from France that she said aroused her suspicious:
Then another card was sent from France to Linda’s family. According to Kathy Jacoby:
Three months after refusing to help the police, Didi Sohus had a change of heart. She, too, filed a missing persons report on John and Linda. Didi finally revealed that her “source” was actually the tenant in her guest house, a man who called himself Christopher Chichester. He’d lived there for the past two years, but suddenly moved out, leaving no forwarding address.  A luminol test found blood in the guest house Didi also reported that her son’s pick-up truck was now missing, though she had no idea when it disappeared. There still was no proof however, that a crime had been committed, and therefore the investigation stalled again. Soon after filing her missing persons report, DiDi Sohus sold her house and moved to a trailer park. She died two years later, the fate of her son, still a mystery. The case sprang to life again nine months after Didi died. The Sohus’ truck turned up 3,000 miles away in Greenwich, Connecticut. A man calling himself Christopher Crowe had tried to sell the pick-up to the son of a local minister without the title papers. Rather than buy the truck, the minister’s son reported it to the police. Sgt. Daniel Allen of Greenwich, Connecticut, Police Department did some digging:
 Christian Gerhartstreiter Be it Crowe or Chichester, the ex-tenant seemed to be the one person who might be able to shed light on the Sohus’ disappearance. But he had vanished again. The investigation had stalled, until the dismembered skeleton was discovered five years later. At that time, a forensic anthropologist examined the remains and determined that they fit the physical descriptions of John Sohus. A lack of dental records however, prevented conclusive identification. Det. Ronnie Lancaster said he was mystified about how the bones might have been buried in the Sohus’ backyard:
Detectives hoped to learn more using a chemical called luminol, which emits a distinctive glow when it comes in contact with blood. Luminol was applied to the cement floors in the guesthouse on the former Sohus property. Within moments it would become apparent if there was evidence of murder. There was. The telltale glow was unmistakable. Det. Robert Carr, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department administered the test:
But whose blood? Was John Sohus murdered in the guesthouse, then buried in the backyard? If so, what happened to Linda? Officially, both John and Linda Sohus are still missing. Update: More than 20 years after John and Linda Sohus disappeared, a man calling himself Clark Rockefeller was identified as a “person of interest” in the investigation. Rockefeller was arrested in a parental abduction case. Fingerprints proved that he was, in fact, Christian Gerhartstreiter — alias Christopher Chichester — the man who’d lived in the guesthouse next to John and Linda Sohus. After further investigation, the Los Angeles County District Attorney recently filed charges against Christian Gerhartstreiter for the murder of John Sohus. Gerhartstreiter has denied any involvement in the case of John and Linda Sohus. However, he was convicted of the murder of John Sohus and sentenced to 27 years to life. No trace of Linda Sohus has ever been found. Watch this case now on Amazon Prime in season seven with Robert Stack and in season two with Dennis Farina. Also available on YouTube with Dennis Farina. Various seasons available now on Hulu. |
Christian
I just watched it and googled to see any further updates. It’s just odd the mother, sold her home in San Marino and moved to a trailer home right after finally filing a report months after. Not just that she moved to a trailer home from San Marino which has always been affluent. Someone said she might have been spiteful they were leaving her and she had chichester murder them. But what was she getting out of it, other than permanently never seeing her son? Which just doesnt make sense. They shouldve followed the money trail from the sale of the home. Because shortly after is when Linda’s family received the letters from Europe. Idk I have no doubt chichester did it, especially with all the blood found in the guest home. But what about Linda? That’s what I’m curious about, was she having an affair with him and they planned it all. Because according to the families, all the info never came directly from john. It was from Linda telling her family John had “a new job and they wanted both of them,’ very odd. And according to the cat boarding place it was her who took the cats in. And as far as johns mother it was chichester feeding her information. Also Linda had suddenly becoming successful in her field of art, which his hard to accomplish.
That’s why I think Linda has something to do with it and took some of the money from the home and they screwed over John’s alcoholic mother
Anonymous
I changed my mind. If Linda was involved Christopher would have ratted her out. He is completely silent about her whereabouts. John being found with horse and chicken bones shows evidence of farm animals. They could have destroyed much of the evidence. Didi actually didn’t know what was going on. Christopher was always without clothes and Didi never wanted to disturb him and his private activities.
Anonymous
Whoever killed John must have really liked animals. There is evidence he was eaten by pigs. And I had a dream about the cats. They just couldn’t stay off the bed where luminol shows john killed. Linda wanting her family with the truck is typical of a covered up homicide. Moving vehicles is a common decoy for killers.
Anonymous
The classic covered up crime scene. No trace is the best trace of them all. Some people call them private family funerals. As for missing adults, they are either dead or hiding from the law. Boarding up the cats is very suspicious. If they were prowling around the outside of the residence they could have aroused a scene. Why not just leave them with your mother in law until they moved? And the poor mother in law. She had a crazy daughter in law. She likely witnessed the death of her own son. And was possibly threatened the same fate if she reported it.
Truth
The bride looks wasted in that picture.
Bill Blaski
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanityfair.com/style/2009/01/fake_rockefeller200901/amp
Interesting article on this lunatic
Charles
I am completely baffled by this. Was a motive ever discovered? Was this just a spree kill?
Anonymous
Don Sherman was very similar. He was in a love triangle. (Later was murdered by his wife.) That case was also on Unsolved Mysteries. Christopher was a nudist. And both cases have a lady named Linda. Christopher is another Don to me.
Drove
This is extremely weird!
Anahi
This is so confusing and i must say that this will be really a good thing.
Anonymous
The Los Angeles detectives did a very good job. It is very easy to look at the case wrong.
Mack
That is so sad to know, I must say this is so mysterious and would be amazing to have a good time.
nancy
This is so unbelievable.
barack
That is really creepy to face such situation seriously.
jack
That is quite strange to read it out and i will never want to face that situation.
william
It is so stunning to have something like that.
Laura
Does anyone know which episode or season features this case?
Unsolved Mysteries Post author
It is in S7:E11 with Robert Stack, S2:E4 with Dennis Farina, and in SP017 on Lifetime and Escape.
william
I will love to have some fun there.
William
massive stuff read out here.
alisjack
Incredoble.
alisjack
i will love to have some fun there.
alisjack
That is really very creepy to know that.
Anonymous
Maybe Gerhertsreiter was somehow involved with WW2 German fugitives and John and Linda’s mission was to look for Nazi war criminals. Just a thought as it is no crazier than other conspiracy theories
Anonymous
Sounds more like a dungeons and dragons game gone wrong.
Sharron
Anyone think maybe the wife killed the husband and escaped to Europe???
Anonymous
You are very good. You would make a good detective.
bertrand
If the postcards did come from Gerhertsreiter then it should be easy to verify. Did he travel to France during the time the postcards were sent? And if he did kill them both, it would likely have been at the same time as they both went missing together, then why would he hide the bodies in two different locations?
Anonymous
That is possible. But I he never seen that. As for what flight of boat they boarded, that is a needle in a haystack.
Anonymous
Christopher was staying in California when Linda sent the April 25th post card from New York. He is documented being interviewed by police. (He still could have drove there and back however.)
Joann
Did anyone ever find out who actually sent the postcards from Paris that were signed by Linda Sohus – someone had to. Thanks.
dominic
The postcards more than likely came from Gerhertsreiter. Either he forced her to sign the postcards under duress or he simply forged her signature himself.
Anonymous
That should be investigated by handwriting experts.
Anonymous
According to John’s mother they were from Linda. She was very clear about that. I wish she was still alive to give her account. She looked like an alcoholic. But she actually didn’t start to drink heavily until the disappearance. Her money could have also went to Linda. (There is an unknown trail that had her downsize to a trailer park almost broke.)
sage
anyone else find it weird how the mom decided to just leave after they went missing? and how they went missing as soon as they were prepared to leave the mothers house??
Anonymous
She was possibly too intimidated to say everything she knew. She could have been threatened.
JM
It was the mother who had her son and daughter-in-law killed.
She hired this guy Chichester to murder them. She was angry that they were abandoning her, leaving her all alone. The pickup truck was given to Chichester as part of the payment for the murder for hire.
Paul
This theory makes the most sense. Questions: Did the mother save the postcard and, if so, was handwriting analysis done to verify signature? How could he be in France and CA at the same time, unless … the wife really was in France and in cahoots with Christopher?