What the juries saw, and what Sandra Boss’s testimony crystallized, was a man who knew the difference between his claims and reality, who used that knowledge strategically, and who was able to pursue his own interests with a deliberateness that required planning, attention, and awareness.
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## The Absence at the Center: Linda Sohus
Among the many unresolved threads in this story, the most significant — and the most human — is the continued absence of Linda Sohus.
She married Jonathan Sohus in the early 1980s. She was living with him at the San Marino property when Christopher Chichester was their tenant. She disappeared in 1985 at the same time her husband did. Her husband’s remains were found in 1994. She has never been found.
The 2011 murder charge against Gerhartsreiter named only John Sohus — because Linda’s body was never recovered and her fate was never established. Without remains, without physical evidence of her death, a murder charge for her killing could not be sustained.
At sentencing, Gerhartsreiter made the claim that she killed her husband. This claim, offered without evidence by a man who had spent decades demonstrating that he would say whatever served his purposes in a given situation, has not been corroborated by any investigation.
The Charley Project — a database of cold cases involving missing persons — maintains an active entry for Linda Sohus. She would be in her seventies today if she is alive. No evidence has emerged of her survival.
Her story, and what actually happened to her, may never be known.