Rockefeller ex paid $800k for custody

BOSTON, Mass. (WPRI) - A key witness in the Clark Rockefeller kidnapping case took the stand for the prosecution Monday morning: the defendant's ex-wife, Sandra Boss.

Monday is the third day of testimony in the trial of Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, the man who calls himself Clark Rockefeller.

It's the first time we've heard from Boss since she uploaded a video message on Youtube back in July, pleading with the defendant to return their daughter.

Rockefeller is charged with kidnapping their 7-year-old daughter, Reigh.

In court, Boss described how the two first met at a costume party -- with the Hasbro board game "Clue" as the theme. Boss dressed as "Miss Scarlet" -- Rockefeller, as "Professor Plum."

Boss said Rockefeller was intelligent and polite. However, shortly after they were married, she says she saw a controlling and angrier side of him.

During the court proceedings, Boss did not look at her ex-husband except when she was asked to identify him by the prosecutors.

She repeatedly referred to him as "the defendant" -- as the judge has been doing -- and testified about hiring a private investigator to look into his past.

"The point of it was that the defendant was not the person he said he was, and that that was a cause for great concern," said Boss, "and then I asked if I could have full custody of Reigh at the time while it was sorted out."

Boss also testified that the defendant offered to give her full custody of their daughter, if she would pay him one million dollars cash. She negotiated the amount down to $800,000.

"We settled on eight hundred, and he also wanted two cars, a dress, and my engagement ring," said Boss, to which she agreed.

Boss said she and her new husband eventually agreed to allow supervised visits with their daughter. The alleged abduction happened during one of those visits.

Driver: "Go, go, go"

Earlier in the day, the court heard from Darryl Hopkins, the man who unknowingly acted as Rockefeller's getaway driver during the abduction. Hopkins said he thought he was helping father and daughter get away from an annoying, clingy family member. In reality, that person was a social worker assigned to supervise their visit.

"The [car] door opened, there's a clunk, then there's a crying girl in my backseat, then 'go, go, go!'" said Hopkins on the stand.

Rockefeller's lawyers claim he's mentally ill and should not be held criminally responsible for the kidnapping.

Jurors waylaid in subway

The start of testimony Monday morning was delayed by forty minutes. Two jurors were stuck on the "T," in a subway car held up by malfunctioning signals.

The jurors eventually got out of the train and walked to the courthouse.