Two homicide detectives from Los Angeles were on their way to Boston last night to investigate possible links between a gruesome 1994 murder case and the international ‘mystery man’ known only as Clark Rockefeller.

Mr Rockefeller, 48, who is not thought to be part of the multibillionaire Rockefeller oil dynasty, became the subject of a global manhunt last month after allegedly abducting his 7-year-old daughter from the streets of Boston.

His estranged wife, Sandra Boss, is a high-powered financial consultant in London.

The murder case from 14 years ago, which remains unsolved, was opened when three plastic bags containing human bones were found by construction workers as they dug a hole for a swimming pool in the wealthy ‘old money’ town of San Marino. At the time of discovery, police said the bones might have belonged to a man named Jonathan Sohus, who disappeared along with his wife in 1985.

Unconfirmed reports have suggested that Mr Rockefeller's fingerprints have been linked to a driver’s licence application filed under a name that appears on a wanted list in connection with the San Marino case.

Mr Rockefeller — who is thought to have several other aliases — was arraigned in Boston Municipal Court on Tuesday on charges related to the July 27 disappearance of his daughter, Reigh Boss, also known as ‘Snooks’.

Boston authorities say that even with the help of the FBI they have struggled to establish his real identity, with no records for him existing before 1993. He has reportedly told investigators that he doesn’t remember where he is from, where his parents are, or even if he is an American citizen. “At this point he has provided essentially no biographical data about himself before 1993,” said David Deakin, the Boston assistant district attorney.

Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, confirmed last night that two homicide detectives were en route to Boston, but would say only that they were interested in talking to Mr Rockefeller “in connection with a missing person report back in the early 1990s”. Meanwhile, Mr Rockefeller's, lawyer, Stephen Hrones, denied that his client had any link to the San Marino case.

He added that Clark Rockefeller was his legal name.

According to the charges against him, Mr Rockefeller snatched his daughter from a Boston street on July 27 in an elaborately planned kidnapping in which he hired two people to drive them to New York. He was caught on Saturday in Baltimore, where he had bought a home and boat. Three hundred one-ounce gold coins and $12,000 in cash also were found in Mr Rockefeller's apartment following his arrest.

In court, Mr Rockefeller wore the same wrinkled Lacoste shirt and dark-framed glasses he was arrested in and looked down as the charges against him were read: felony parental kidnapping, assault and battery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Mr Hrones later told the judge his client—a former director of Boston's exclusive Algonquin Club—did not “kidnap” his daughter. “How could you kidnap your own daughter?” he asked. “He loves his daughter. Kidnapping doesn't apply, it was his own kid.”

A pre-trial hearing is set for September 3.

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