High Crimes and Misnomers

For the past week, I’ve been completely fascinated with a real-life Lifetime Original Movie that’s unfolding in Boston. I’ve considered writing about it but put it off because I figured no one else would care. Then I remembered I don’t care what you think, and decided its high time you heard this story.

It’s the story of a father who kidnapped his daughter amidst a nasty custody dispute. Sadly a common occurrence, but what’s unique about this case is it involves false identities, yachts to Peru and a possible connection to an unsolved murder in California.

Oh, and Segways. It also involves Segways.

I first got intrigued when I was reading a Boston news site two weekends ago to check on the Red Sox. I saw an Amber Alert had been issued for a girl named Reigh Rockerfeller who’d been kidnapped in the Back Bay. The Back Bay is an anciently upscale neighborhood in Boston where all the old money lives. And obviously, “Rockerfeller” is about as blue blood as you get. This was odd.

But wait – Google tool bar informed me that the Standard Oil family spells it “Rockefeller.” Maybe this girl was a mere commoner after all.

Over the next few days, I start finding out more. A lot more. The Web site’s spell check was off – the girl’s name is in fact “Rockefeller.” Reigh Storrow Mills Boss Rockefeller to be exact. That’s five names, two of which (Storrow being the other) are navy blue blood in the northeast.

The girl’s mother is a Stanford and Harvard educated marketing executive who divides her time between Boston and London and sits on the board of Edith Wharton’s estate. OK. Big money. Check. But the father, who snatched the kid…He’s another story.

His name is Clark Rockefeller, but no one can figure out if he’s one of the Rockefellers. He’s always been vague. He’s also gone by a host of different aliases. He claims he owns a yacht on Long Island and police think he’s taking the daughter on it to Peru.

This guy is quite the character. He acts like he comes from money – speaking in a faux British accent, dressing like an uber-preppy and riding everywhere on a Segway. Yet no one knows anything about his family or where he comes from. He claims to be a scientist, but apparently doesn’t work. Information leaks that at least one reason he and his wife got divorced is because he lied about his background. He lost custody of the girl because he wouldn’t show ID at a hearing.

Finally, over the weekend, the police catch the guy. He’d taken his daughter to Baltimore and rented an apartment in a converted carriage house in a tony neighborhood. He had a boat in Baltimore, but it weren’t no yacht. He was arrested and taken back to Boston.

Now, homicide detectives in LA are flying to Boston to interview Rockefeller – if that’s his real name – because his fingerprints were somehow connected to an unsolved murder there. The little girl and her mom, by the way, have been reconnected and are said to be doing just fine.

Isn’t this crazy!? I know I’m not supposed to feel this way, but the fact that fabulously rich people with questionable pasts are involved make this case ten times more interesting. I’m not gonna lie. And I didn’t even mention how the father dragged a social worker behind his car when he first kidnapped the girl, or the mom’s emotional plea video that the Boston Police Department posted online.

Call me a sicko, but I really hope this guy turns out the Zodiac Killer or something. If he’s just some failed actor or White Snake’s original drummer, I'm going to be really disappointed.

You're totally the one on the upper left, aren't you "Rockefeller"?