BOSTON -- Boston kidnapping suspect Clark Rockefeller is the same man wanted for questioning in connection with a 1985 California missing persons case, the Los Angeles County sheriff's office and the man's attorney said Monday.

Sheriff Links Rockefeller To Calif. Missing Couple Case | Unedited Video: Attorney Talks About Rockefeller Developments

Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore told The Associated Press on Monday that investigators "positively identified" Christian Gerhartsreiter as the man being held in Boston and wanted for questioning in the disappearance of a young San Marino, Calif., couple more than 20 years ago.

On Monday, Rockefeller's attorney, Stephen Hrones, confirmed that his client used the alias "Christopher Chichester" while he lived in California in the 1980s.

"He was aspiring to be an actor out there, and he was trying to get into the acting business and he thought it was a more appropriate name," Hrones said.

Police said Christian Gerhartsreiter, Christopher Chichester and Clark Rockefeller are the same man.

At the time of Jonathan and Linda Sohuses disappearance in 1985, Gerhartsreiter, known then as Chichester, was a tenant of a property owned by the couple, but disappeared before authorities could question him, investigators said.

In 1994, crews digging a swimming pool on the property formerly owned by the Sohuses discovered human remains. The bones have not been positively identified as those of either Jonathan or Linda Sohus. Investigators have requested new forensic tests on those skeletal remains.

In addition to remembering using the Chichester alias, Hrones said Monday that his client did know the Sohuses. But Hrones denied that his client had anything to do with the couple's disappearance.

"The mother was there, he was still there, but (the Sohuses) left," Hrones said.

Last week, Rockefeller refused to speak with California investigators about the case.

Rockefeller does not appear to have a previous work history, Social Security number or driver's license. During hours of interrogation, he refused to give police any information about his identity, answering most questions by saying he doesn't remember, a police official said.

Last week, a man in a small town in Bavaria identified pictures of Rockefeller as his younger brother, Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, who went to the United States in the late 1970s as a teen and then lost contact with the family.

Rockefeller does not have any memory about living in Germany, Hrones said.

Boston police accuse Rockefeller of snatching his daughter from a city street on July 27 in an elaborately planned kidnapping in which he hired two people to drive them to New York.

He was caught Aug. 2 in Baltimore, where he had bought a home and boat.