Police use radar in new search in Calif.

Officials seek remains of Rockefeller friend

An aerial view of the former home of John and Linda Sohus, who went missing in 1985 in San Marino, Calif. (NICK UT/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Kathy Jacoby has long believed that her sister is dead, but she was hopeful yesterday that California authorities will discover new evidence that might bring her family closure and perhaps link her sister's death to the man known as Clark Rockefeller.

"I've already decided that my sister is dead," Jacoby said of Linda Sohus, who disappeared in 1985 and is feared to be dead, along with her husband, John Sohus.

"If they found her remains, that would give us some closure," Jacoby said in a telephone interview from California. "And if they could find some proof that this gentleman was behind it, that would be even better."

Investigators converged yesterday on a property in San Marino, Calif., where Rockefeller lived in 1985 in a guesthouse while the recently married Sohuses lived with John Sohus's mother, Didi, in the main house, say relatives, friends, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Steve Whitmore, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman, said yesterday that cadaver-sniffing dogs scoured the property and that investigators used ground-penetrating radar to scan the backyard for signs of human remains.

Whitmore said detectives are expected to be back at the site today.

"It's been productive," he said of the daylong search. "It's been very productive." He would not elaborate.

In 1994, workers digging a pool on the property discovered bones believed to be those of John Sohus, but neither Linda Sohus nor her remains have been found.

Investigators have met a roadblock in trying to determine whether the bones were Sohus's, because he was adopted and they do not know of any biological relatives from whom they can take a DNA sample.

Rockefeller is considered a "person of interest" in the case, Los Angeles County authorities have said. He is being held in Boston on charges of kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter last month.

Authorities say Rockefeller's true identity is Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, a German-born con man who has used a dozen aliases.

In a telephone interview yesterday, John Sohus's adoptive sister expressed optimism that the investigation will reach a conclusion. "I think that it's great that they are looking, and I really hope that they find more evidence and can really just make a solid case against this guy," Ellen Sohus said from Arizona.

Sohus calls the man Gerhartsreiter, the identity that the FBI said is the only true name that belongs to the man who has been calling himself Rockefeller for more than a decade. She believes he was directly involved in her brother's death and is equally culpable in Linda Sohus's disappearance.

"I wish I could just unlock this guy's brain and know exactly what happened," she said.

Ellen Sohus, who is the daughter of John Sohus's father, Robert Sohus, said she was interviewed by investigators about 10 days ago, but they did not provide her with details about the case they are building.

"They definitely weren't pessimistic," she said. "They said they had a team of people on this. . . . It was my feeling that they were hungry to get it solved."

Rockefeller's defense lawyer, Stephen Hrones, said yesterday that he hopes authorities end the mystery surrounding the couple, but said the outcome is of no significance to his client.

"Good luck to them if they can identify the person or find the other missing person," he said. "My client has nothing to worry about. He wasn't involved, and he never killed anybody."

Hrones once again acknowledged that his client knew the couple and lived in a guesthouse on their property, but said interaction between them was minimal.

He also repeated his contention that his client purchased John Sohus's pickup truck from Sohus's mother, who failed to send the vehicle's title to him.

"He hardly knew them," Hrones said. "There is absolutely no motive at all. Why would my client do this?"

Rockefeller is due in Boston Municipal Court on Wednesday for a status hearing on the pending Massachusetts charges. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.

John Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com.