Extra: How Walter Kirn met a "Rockefeller" | Forensic Files

I'm living in Montana the local Humane Society gets a call and uh it's from a Clark Rockefeller of New York who wants
to adopt a dog in the animal shelter that he's found out about over the internet and it's a crippled dog it's in
a wheelchair and uh the shelter people come to me and say Walter you went to Princeton we've got this Rockefeller uh
who wants to adopt an animal um maybe you could talk to him and I get on the phone with him and he reveals himself as
the craziest eccentric I've ever met he tells me that he has another dog that has um three course meals every night
and he faxes me a menu of the meals he tells me that uh his job is he's a freelance Central Banker he's like Allen
Green span for tiny countries that can't afford their own Allen greenpan he runs
the economy of Thailand off his personal computer he tells me now rather than putting you off that made him more
believable well here's a strange thing I I did go to Princeton I'd been exposed to these aristocratic blue blood types
all my life they had eccentricities they tended to be boastful and uh unbelievable in certain ways and he was
no more unbelievable than most of them but worse I'm a writer and curiosity killed the cat and when I talked to him
to make arrangements for this dog's delivery to New York I came up with the bright idea of driving it myself 2,000
miles from Montana just so I could meet him because I thought hey I'm a novelist
I've got to meet a character like this uh I don't I hardly know Walter Kar no I've met Walter Kar twice in my life
right but you spent considerable time with Walter Kar the first time I met him uh we spent about 15 minutes at the
airport and then the next day I took him out to dinner and I paid for that I had
to buy a plane ticket I had to drive a truck halfway across the country stay in motels it probably cost me $2,000 to
deliver that dog he gave me a check and at dinner and I refused to open it because I didn't want to lower the tone
of dinner you know anything so crash but then later I opened the check it was $500 you know $500 500 bucks not even on
his account the check was written on his wife's account did I ever say anything no gentlemen don't I mean he got me
to uh suppress my own instincts in favor of his version of things and after a while you know I was totally
in did you ever tell him who you really was he never he well he thought you were
Clark he thought you were Clark Rockefeller did you ever tell him oh no I'm not really I don't I didn't really
know him he's a perfect stranger I still don't really know Walter Kar very well at all he's a perfect stranger we talked
in the phone occasionally a couple of times maybe over 15 years perhaps uh 10 times something like that we traded
emails back and forth over over 15 years perhaps uh 20 30 emails he considered you a
friend did you consider him a friend not really we went and had dinner at a private club high in a skyscraper in
Midtown and you could see Rockefeller Center out the window all lit up and uh as we were finishing dinner Clark said
why don't we go down and run around in the basement of the of of the place and I said the place yeah Rock Center I said
how do we get into the basement he says oh I have the key I have the master key and uh he sort of reached in his pocket
and pulled it out I said there's a master key to Rockefeller Center oh yes of course you know and I knew in the
back of my mind that I think at that point the Japanese owned Rockefeller Center but whatever I mean I didn't
question it why is a stranger it's a total stranger it's like someone who delivered a dog to me it's
very nice of him but uh it's you know he's a total stranger but you with this total stranger you kind of put on this
image of Clark Rockefeller telling him you had a key you could take him to a private tour through the Rockefeller
Center you really played the Rockefeller card didn't you with him to what ends what do you think well I wonder do you
did you enjoy the idea of pulling the wool over the eyes of a good writer I think it's just dinner conversation you
run out of things to say you resort to something silly I don't know what do you mean well if dinner conversation kind of
slows down if dinner conversation gets kind of boring you resort to something that uh that livens up the conversation

Writer Walter Kirn tells "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty the story of how he met the man he knew as "Clark Rockefeller." Watch "aka Rockefeller" Saturday, Oct. 19 at 10 p.m. ET/PT ob CBNS. To watch full episodes of 48 Hours Mystery, CLICK http://cbsn.ws/1cai8zp

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Brief Summary

Walter Kar shares his bizarre experience with eccentric Clark Rockefeller while delivering a dog across the country.

Key points

The Eccentric Clark Rockefeller. Walter receives a call from Clark Rockefeller, an eccentric man wanting to adopt a dog.
A Costly Delivery. Walter drives 2,000 miles to deliver a dog, spending $2,000 in the process.
Dinner with a Stranger. Walter shares a dinner with Clark Rockefeller, who claims to have a master key to Rockefeller Center.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Curiosity killed the cat.

1:18WatchOct 18, 2013

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