Clark Rockefeller profile

A seven-year-old girl whose mother is a City executive has been abducted by her father during a visit to the United States and is believed to be on his catamaran heading to the Caribbean or South America.

Reigh Storrow Boss, who lives in London with her mother, was snatched on Sunday while visiting her father in Boston, Massachusetts.

Clark Rockefeller, 48, grabbed his daughter and jumped into a waiting car. The male social worker who had accompanied the child tried to cling to the vehicle and was slightly hurt.

Mr Rockefeller and Reigh — known as Snooks — were seen that evening being dropped off at Grand Central Station, New York, in a different car. Boston police issued an arrest warrant for Mr Rockefeller on charges of custodial kidnapping and assault and battery.

Reigh moved to London with her mother, Sandra Boss, at the end of her parents’ ten-year marriage. Ms Boss, 41, is a partner with McKinsey & Co, a leading management consulting firm.

Police believe Mr Rockefeller may have planned to escape by sea in a 78ft catamaran called Serenity which he bought recently and moored somewhere in Long Island.

Mr Rockefeller — a mathematician — uses a variety of aliases including J. P. Clark Rockefeller, James Frederick, Clark Mill Rockefeller and Michael Brown, police said. He is a former director of the exclusive Algonquin Club in Boston, but resigned three months ago. He had met his daughter and the social worker at the club on Sunday.

Ms Boss is a Harvard graduate who has worked with the New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, and is on the board of the estate of the author Edith Wharton.

Police sources told the Boston Herald that the abduction was methodically prepared with the use of multiple vehicles, accomplices and the purchase of the yacht.

A woman who drove Mr Rockefeller and Reigh from Boston to New York told police that he had been planning the abduction for six months and asked her if she wanted to join them on a cruise to Bermuda.

Superintendent Bruce Holloway, of Boston police, said: “The manner in which the child was taken raises serious questions with us. It’s unnerving.”

Detectives believe that Mr Rockefeller had given friends different information about his plans — including travelling to Alaska, the Caribbean or Peru — in a deliberate attempt to confuse the police.

He is said to have lost custody of his daughter because of concerns that he might attempt an abduction. Ms Boss fought for visits with their daughter to be supervised by a social worker because of concerns about his identity.

It was reported yesterday that although police had found details of his birth they could not find a valid social security number. Police sources said he had told his wife that he was a member of the ultra-wealthy Rockefeller oil dynasty. But the Rockefeller Archive Centre denied this.

Mr Rockefeller was reported to have an estate in Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, a summer mansion in New Hampshire and a town house in Boston. He is also said to have a collection of abstract paintings including works by Mondrian and Rothko. He told friends that he worked as a physicist for an aerospace company and devised financial investment tools.

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