Missing London 'Rockefeller girl' snatched by her father may have been spotted in Delaware, say police

13 April 2012

In happier times: Clark Rockefeller with his daughter Reigh Boss


An international manhunt was continuing last night for a mysterious American and the young daughter he has abducted.

Seven-year- old Reigh Boss, who lives in London with her management consultant mother Sandra Boss, vanished with her father Clark Rockefeller while on a visit to see him in Boston, Massachusetts.

 Rockefeller, who is divorced from Miss Boss, is said to have bundled his daughter into a car on Sunday and driven off. They were last seen at New York's Grand Central Station four hours later.

Police are investigating Rockefeller's past. The 48-year-old has claimed to be related to the American oil dynasty of the same name  -  they say he has no links to them  -  and has used at least six aliases.

An American report claimed yesterday that a state worker had gone to Delaware police after seeing a well-dressed man - believed to be Rockefeller - and a little blond girl wearing a flowered dress standing in the corner of a car lot.

The woman said they had red suitcases with them.

When the woman turned her car around to snap a picture of the pair, they were gone.

According to KYW in Philadelphia, police are treating the sighting as a credible one and have been in contact with Boston police.

Officers are also making inquiries in a series of countries after Rockefeller told friends he was planning to take Reigh away.

He mentioned places as far apart as Bermuda, the Bahamas, Peru and even Alaska in what police fear was a false trail to throw them off the scent.

The FBI and U.S. Coast Guard joined the search after Rockefeller boasted that he had bought a 72ft yacht called Serenity with a payment which included £150,000 in gold bars.

Vanished: Reigh Boss was bundled into a car

Vanished: Reigh Boss was bundled into a car

Coastguard authorities and New York harbour police have stepped up their search for the boat, using a jet to scour the Atlantic Ocean and placing local marinas on high alert.

Bermudian maritime authorities said there was no indication that the yacht had entered or was near its waters, and said they had not yet been notified to be on the lookout by the US.

Boston police superintendent Bruce Holloway said of Reigh: "We are concerned for her safety."

Ms Boss reportedly told investigators that she feared her ex-husband could potentially harm her daughter, who speaks with an English accent.

Reigh was on a visit supervised by a social worker when she vanished. Her mother, who works for McKinsey & Co in London, was last night with police in Boston building up a picture of her ex-husband.

Snatched: The FBI has provided this undated photo of Reigh Boss, the daughter of Clark Rockefeller and Sandra Boss, who has been kidnapped by her father

Snatched: The FBI has provided this undated photo of Reigh Boss, the daughter of Clark Rockefeller and Sandra Boss, who has been kidnapped by her father

Mr Rockefeller, 48, allegedly kidnapped his daughter on a street in Beacon Hill, Boston, on Sunday during a supervised visit, grabbing her and jumping into a waiting 4x4 driven by another man.

A male social worker, who was overseeing the visit, attempted to cling to the vehicle and suffered minor injuries.

The black 4x4 was found yesterday morning and Boston police said they are questioning the getaway driver.

But police have no new leads on the whereabouts of Mr Rockefeller and his daughter, whose nickname is Snooks.

Mr Rockefeller was last seen in Grand Central Terminal in New York on Sunday night. He is said to have been planning the abduction since the end of his marriage and police believe he has related differing accounts of his plans to elude capture.

Left and right, dresses understood to have been purchased by Mr Rockefeller before he and his daughter disappeared

A second driver, who has not been identified, drove Mr Rockefeller to New York from Boston. She told police that she had no idea of Mr Rockefeller's abduction plan and that he told her he would be travelling to Long Island where his boat was docked, inviting her to go with him to Bermuda. She refused, driving off and alerting police.

Details have emerged of the murky background of Mr Rockefeller, who only three years ago acquired a Social Security number in the name, raising doubts over his true identity.

He is understood to have adopted multiple aliases and claimed to have worked in a variety of occupations including as a physician, a mathematician and in financial services.

Mr Rockefeller and Ms Boss married in 1995. She filed for divorce from Mr Rockefeller in January 2007 with the final decree issued last December.

Rockefeller is believed to be on his 72-foot catamaran

Rockefeller is believed to be on his 72-foot catamaran

Ms Boss, a Harvard graduate, is one of management consultant McKinsey's most senior staff in London and is on the board of The Mount, the Massachusetts estate of the author Edith Wharton. Currently staying in the Four Seasons Hotel, Boston, she refused to comment.

Until their separation, the pair divided their time between their $2.3 million brownstone in Boston and a home in Cornish, New Hampshire. Sources in Cornish said Mr Rockefeller was a pillar of the community, funding a new police station. 

Anguish: Sandra Boss is London-based

Anguish: Sandra Boss is London-based

He is a member of Boston high society and was a director of the city's privileged Algonquin Club but resigned his membership three months ago.

Algonquin Club manager Lassaad Riahi said: "Clark Rockefeller is a polite, kind, well-mannered gentleman. What I've seen in the news has surprised me."

Contrary to what Mr Rockefeller initially told his ex-wife, police doubt that he is a scion of the Rockefeller oil dynasty. Fraser Seitel, a spokesman for the descendants of the "robber baron" tycoon John D. Rockefeller, also said he was not related to the family.

Rockefeller lived like a millionaire with two spectacular homes but had no obvious job.

He boasted of a vintage car collection, but apparently does not have a driving licence.

He does not even have a social security number. Without it a person cannot work and would have difficulty even opening a bank account.

Neighbours said that while his wife worked long hours, he acted like a country squire at their £385,000 15-room ' cottage' in New Hampshire  -  even taking a starring role by dressing as Mars the god of war in a pageant three years ago.

An acquaintance said he complained about his French chef and reeled off details about his car collection.

'It was all so obviously untrue,' they said. 'He always appeared harmless but very strange. It seemed like he was lying a lot.'

God of war: Clark Rockefeller as Mars

God of war: Clark Rockefeller as Mars

Rockefeller told others he was a mathematician, a physicist for an aerospace company, an investment banker and 'was doing some very important hush-hush work for the Pentagon'.

Even his marriage to Miss Boss is shrouded in mystery. When she filed for divorce 18 months ago, the couple told probate officials they had married on Nantucket Island in 1994 but did not provide a marriage certificate.

According to the Boston Herald, officials could find no  record of the nuptials.

Although police are baffled by Mr Rockefeller's background, he is independently wealthy and owns an impressive collection of abstract paintings including works by Mondrian and Rothko. 

Boston police have issued an arrest warrant for Mr Rockefeller on charges of custodial kidnapping and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (the SUV).

They said he uses a variety of aliases including J.P. Clark Rockefeller, James Frederick, Clark Mill Rockefeller and Michael Brown.

Rockefeller recently went through an acrimonious divorce with Reigh’s mother, Sandra Boss, 41. They had been married for ten years.

He is reported to have lost custody of his daughter, whose nickname is Snooks, because of concerns that he might try to abduct her.

Miss Boss, a Harvard graduate, has flown from London to Boston while police search for her daughter.

The City superwoman

Wealthy and well-connected, Sandra Boss seems to have successfully combined the demands of motherhood with a high-flying career.

At 41 she is firmly established at the prestigious global management consultancy firm McKinsey & Co, where she is an expert on banking and securities. 

She is believed to have been born and raised in Seattle on America's west coast, and has a twin sister, Julia. 

It was after her divorce from Clark Rockefeller last year that the impressively titled 'group co-head of Global Corporate and Institutional Banking Practice' moved to London, taking up a director position.

A socialite as a well as a powerbroker, her CV bears the impeccable credentials of an MBA from Harvard, as well as a degree in American Studies from Stanford University.

She joined McKinsey in 1994 - at about the same time as she is thought to have married Rockefeller in Nantucket, Massachusetts. 

With several major projects under her belt, Boss led consulting work on a pro bono basis for New York City following 9/11, and later worked as an aide to New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.

She has ties to prestigious institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. 

With Rockefeller she enjoyed a luxury lifestyle, with both a city home and a country retreat. 

In Boston's historic Beacon Hill district they shared a £;1.1million brownstone where neighbours included former Presidential hopeful Senator John Kerry. In affluent Cornish, New Hampshire, they shared a 15-room 'cottage' built in 1889.

Miss Boss moved to Britain after the divorce, bringing Reigh with her and changing her surname to Boss.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in