Boston Area News

BOSTON (WBZ) ― The father accused of kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter during a supervised visit in Boston has been ordered held without bail as authorities continue to try to figure out exactly who he is.

The man known as Clark Rockefeller was arraigned in Boston Municipal Court on Tuesday after being flown back from Baltimore, where he was captured Saturday. Rockefeller, 48, is charged with felony parental kidnapping, assault and battery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

He stood still and looked down as the charges against him were read. He didn't speak to the judge during the hearing, though a court microphone caught him muttering, "That's not me," when a prosecutor mentioned an alias they attributed to him.

Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley said Rockefeller's daughter, Reigh Boss, was injured when she was shoved into the getaway car during her alleged abduction on Marlboro Street in the Back Bay on July 27.

Conley said Rockefeller took her to Massachusetts General Hospital to be treated for a head injury, explaining reports that the two had been spotted at the hospital.

"No one is suggesting he intended to hurt his daughter," said Assistant District Attorney David Deakin. "But he put her in (the car) so quickly and so roughly that she ended up banging her head roughly on the door."

The two then took a cab away from the hospital and hired two people to drive them to New York City, prosecutors allege. He was caught Saturday in Baltimore, where he had bought a home and a boat.

Prosecutors cited Reigh's injury and Rockefeller's mysterious identity as reasons to hold him without bail.

Conley said investigators are "stymied" in their attempts to figure out Rockefeller's true identity. He has at least half-dozen aliases and has told authorities he doesn't remember his history.

Investigators have discovered that Rockefeller has used several Social Security numbers over the years, none of them valid.

Conley said police have been trying for nine days to figure out his real identity and said investigators still don't know.

Authorities have no record of anything related to Rockefeller before 1993.

"Our experience tells us he's more of a schemer than someone who has lost his memory," Conley said after Rockefeller was ordered held without bail.

Police found $270,000 worth of gold coins in the rented house in Baltimore where Rockefeller was eventually arrested. Police also found $12,000 in cash.

Rockefeller's attorney, Stephen Hrones, said his client did not "kidnap" his own daughter and denied a report in The Boston Globe that Rockefeller's fingerprints may have been linked to a California slaying.

"Garbage, completely untrue," Hrones told reporters.

Hrones told reporters that Rockefeller is not guilty of abducting Reigh.

"How could you kidnap your own daughter?" Hrones said. "He loves his daughter. Kidnapping doesn't apply, it was his own kid."

But Conley noted Massachusetts has a law against parental kidnapping.

"Just because he's Reigh's natural father, it doesn't absolve him," he said.

Hrones said he knew Rockefeller socially before Rockefeller hired him Tuesday, but he wouldn't say how they knew each other. He described him as a good guy who loves his daughter.

Rockefeller served as a director of Boston's exclusive Algonquin Club, but resigned about three months ago.

There is no indication Rockefeller is related to the famous family descended from Standard Oil billionaire John D. Rockefeller Sr., family members said.

Reigh, known to family and friends as "Snooks," was found in good condition in Baltimore and has been reunited with her mother, Sandra Boss. The two live together in London, where Boss is a senior partner in the London office of the management consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

Los Angeles authorities confirmed to KCBS-TV that they are looking into a possible connection between Rockefeller and the 1994 discovery of human remains in a southern California city.

The Boston Globe, citing unidentified sources, said Rockefeller's fingerprints may have been linked to an out-of-state license application under a different name. The Globe says that name is on a list of people wanted in the homicide case in California.

Rockefeller has numerous aliases, but Hrones said Clark Rockefeller was his client's legal name. He said he knew Rockefeller socially before Rockefeller hired him Tuesday, but he wouldn't say how. He described him as a good guy who loves his daughter.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)