Police free little Snooks by tricking ‘Rockefeller’ kidnap father

13 April 2012

The kidnapped daughter of a London-based management consultant has been rescued unharmed after police lured her father from his hideout.

Clark Rockefeller had spent a week on the run after snatching seven-year-old Reigh during a supervised visit in Boston last Sunday.

A frantic manhunt began and the pair were eventually located in downtown Baltimore after police received a tip-off from  a 'concerned member of the public'.

Sandra Boss and her daughter have been reunited

At a press conference last night police revealed how they tricked Rockefeller into leaving the apartment before rescuing his daughter, nicknamed Snooks.

Police chief Ed Davis said Rockefeller was contacted and told his yacht was taking on water. When he left Reigh behind in the apartment to check on his boat, he was arrested.

‘He was co-operative,’ Mr Davis said.

Police moved into the apartment and found Reigh unharmed. She said she was ‘very happy to see very nice people’, according to police.

A police source told the Boston Herald newspaper: 'We got the girl, she’s fine, he left her in an apartment.’

But the police said it was too early to say how the girl spent her week on the run.

It was initially feared that Rockefeller had sailed off with his daughter to the Caribbean under a false passport after associates said he had boasted of having a 72ft yacht.

But he was staying with Reigh 350 miles away near a marina in Baltimore, where he had moored the yacht – which actually turned out to be just a 26ft catamaran.

Today he was being questioned by police.

Reigh’s disappearance had sparked an international manhunt for Rockefeller, a self-
proclaimed art dealer who did not dispel rumours he was part of the Rockefeller dynasty that earned its fortune in the oil industry.

Getaway car: the 4x4 used by Clark Rockefeller to snatch his daughter Reigh from a street in Boston

Getaway car: the 4x4 used by Clark Rockefeller to snatch his daughter Reigh from a street in Boston

The FBI believed that Rockefeller may have cut his daughter’s blonde hair and dressed her like a boy.

Agents think he also obtained a passport in the name of Michael Brown to escape detection. 

Reigh Storrow Boss with her mother Sandra pictured before the kidnap

Reigh Storrow Boss with her mother Sandra pictured before the kidnap

Reigh’s mother, Sandra Boss, who lives in London with her daughter, had made an emotional video appeal for her return.

Ms Boss, 41, a partner in the global management consulting firm McKinsey, was last night  on her way from Boston to Baltimore to be reunited with her daughter.

In the internet video, Ms Boss had appealed to Rockefeller, saying: ‘Clark, although many things have changed, you will always be Reigh’s father and I will always be Reigh’s mother.

‘We both love her dearly and have only her best interests and well-being in our hearts.

‘I ask you now, please, please bring Snooks back. There has to be a better way for us to solve our differences than this way.

‘I also want to thank everyone for your help. And Reigh, honey, I love you and miss you so much. Remember you’re always a princess.’

An undated photo of Clark Rockefeller and his daughter Reigh Storrow Boss

An undated photo of Clark Rockefeller and his daughter Reigh Storrow Boss

Rockefeller and Reigh were last seen at New York’s Grand Central railway station on Sunday night.

Earlier that afternoon, a social worker reported to police that Reigh had been kidnapped on a supervised visit.

It was Rockefeller’s first supervised visit with his daughter since he split with Ms Boss in December.

Officers were told that the father grabbed the child, pushed the social worker out of the way, and fled in a 4x4 vehicle.

Boston police had issued an arrest warrant for him on charges of custodial kidnapping, assault and battery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Police said Rockefeller used a variety of aliases including J.P. Clark Rockefeller, James Frederick, Clark Mill Rockefeller and Michael Brown.

He is a former director of Boston’s exclusive Algonquin Club, but resigned from it three months ago, the club’s manager said.

Ms Boss is a Harvard graduate who has worked with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

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