Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

Nina Reiser, 31, Missing since September 3 when she dropped children at home of Hans Reiser

http://missingexploited.com/2006/09/15/nina-reiser-31-missing-since-september-3-when-she-dropped-children-at-home-of-hans-reiser/

Nina Reiser, 31, was last seen on September 3, 2006. Nina Reiser dropped her children off at the home of estranged husband, Hans Reiser. She has not been seen nor heard from since.

Police describe Nina “Nenasha” Reiser, 31, as a white woman standing 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 114 pounds, with brown eyes, black hair and a fair complexion. Reiser was last seen about 2 pm on Sept. 3, driving her 2001 Honda Odyssey with license plate 4UBB491. (CBS5)

Anyone with information about Nina Reiser please contact Oakland police at (510) 777-3333. Callers can also leave information on the Police Department’s tip line at (510) 637-0298.


Much more thru link.

Looks like another really bad divorse gone really bad.

Woman Missing; Husband's Home Searched
Police Seek Estranged Husband
 By Alan Wang
Sep. 14 - KGO - There are new suspicions about what happened to an East Bay woman missing for the past 11 days. Police spent Wednesday searching the upscale home of the woman's estranged husband -- the last place she was spotted alive. And now he's missing too.

It's a high-profile case, and five crime lab technicians conducted a detailed investigation into 31-year-old Nina "Nenasha" Reiser's disappearance. She was last seen on September 3 dropping off her two children at the home where her estranged husband lives with his mother in the Oakland hills.

Police say husband Hans Reiser initially cooperated with their investigation, but he stopped returning their calls -- and now he's gone.

Anthony Zografos, Nina Reiser's friend: "They're in the middle of a divorce, and divorce is never a pleasant situation."

 
Some neighbors call it contentious, but Anthony Zografos says he doesn't think that Nina Reiser felt threatened by her husband.

Anthony Zografos, Nina Reiser's friend: "I don't know. I don't know what to suspect."

Hans Reiser is a software developer and was considered a child prodigy. At the age of 15 he entered U.C. Berkeley. Later in life, he moved to Russia where he met Nina, a Russian doctor.

Jack Clauson, next-door neighbor: "These are gentle, intelligent, refined people not given to violence at all."

Next-door neighbor Jack Clausen says he's known Hans for 25 years and watched him grow up.

Jack Clauson, next-door neighbor: "I can't imagine he would ever hurt that beautiful woman. I know he loved her much."

But other neighbors say they saw him spraying water off of something in the driveway for half-an-hour shortly after Nina went missing. And they say his beat-up car disappeared shortly after Nina disappeared, and his mother rented a car so Hans could drive hers..

Police brought in cadaver dogs to search the property.

Jack Clauson, next-door neighbor: "They're not the kind of people who resort to violence to solve problems. So I think they're not going to find anything in there."

Police dogs did not find a body, but police are still searching diligently for clues connected to the missing woman, and the whereabouts of her estranged husband.

The children of Hans and Nina Reiser are currently in the custody of Child Protective Services.

Dispute Over Loan, Accusations Of Affair

According to filings in Alameda County Superior Court, a notice of settlement was filed on Hans Reiser's behalf Wednesday to resolve a lawsuit filed against him by Sean Sturgeon on Dec. 30, 2004, seeking $131,552 in damages.

The terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.

Sturgeon claimed that Reiser and his company, Namesys, Inc., which he ran out of his home, failed to pay back a loan.

In a response to the lawsuit that was filed on Feb. 15, 2005, Reiser, acting as his own attorney, said "under no theory of liability is defendant Reiser liable personally for repayment."

Reiser alleged that Sturgeon "had been having a secret affair with defendant's wife, Nina Reiser, at the time of the loan."

Reiser said Sturgeon "continues this illicit affair even during divorce proceedings currently in action" and that Sturgeon "even apparently is, in defiance of a court order, residing with defendant's wife and children."

Reiser also alleged, "It is well known and was well known to plaintiff (Sturgeon) that the majority of the allegedly loaned funds were spent exclusively by Nina Reiser."

Reiser said the fact that Sturgeon didn't name Nina Reiser as a defendant and named him as an individual "is clear evidence of his malicious intent to destroy defendant's marriage and leave the defendant to clean up the wreckage and pay the debts."

In a cross-complaint that Reiser filed against Sturgeon on Sept. 8, 2005, Reiser said Sturgeon acted as his financial agent from 1999 through 2002 and had access to and control over deposits, withdrawals and funds at the Patelco Credit Union.

Reiser said Sturgeon "worked with my wife Nina Reiser and eventually drugged her with ecstasy and seduced her."

Reiser alleged, "He then engaged in Bondage, Domination, Sadism and Masochism techniques and continued to redrug her repeatedly over time."

He said Sturgeon engaged in those techniques "in an effort to show that he was a better man than I and to convince my wife Nina to conspire with him to steal the Namesys Inc. company assets."

Reiser alleged that, "Sean has threatened to have me beaten up by some of his associates in illegal activities and that he would hurt me, my mother or my children if he did not get what he wanted."

He also accused Sturgeon of engaging in extortion by threatening to make calls to the Internal Revenue Service to report him and his mother.

In addition, Reiser alleged that Sturgeon wrote into a contract that Reiser must participate in "Death Yoga," which he said has the purpose of "slowing down one's heart to the point of death."

Sturgeon's attorney, Richard Meier, didn't return a phone call today seeking comment on the case.

Reiser's attorney, Gregory Silva, declined to comment.

In a Sept. 13, 2005, interview with the Web site KernelTrap.org, Reiser said he dropped out of junior high school after eighth grade but was accepted at the University of California, Berkeley at the age of 15.

In the interview, Reiser said, "Berkeley was a lot better than junior high school, but it still involved homework, which deep down in my heart I could never believe in."

According to a Dec. 29, 1999, article in InfoWorld, Reiser's company is called the Naming System Venture but is more commonly known by the abbreviation Namesys.

The company aims at creating a quicker and easier way to search file databases on Linux-based systems, according to the article.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=4558883&ft=print

Website & Billboards started for Missing Nina Reiser

(http://www.missingexploited.com/images/NinaReiserWeb_small.jpg)


http://missingexploited.com/2006/10/07/website-billboards-started-for-missing-nina-reiser/

Estranged Husband Arrested in Reiser Disappearance


http://www.ktvu.com/news/10042863/detail.html

What is up with this?  How can men possibly reason that it is better to kill the mother of one's children than to just finalize the divorce?  This is far, far too common, IMHO.

Nah, it's the womens fault for picking that type of guy in the first place. ;)

Jack Clauson, next-door neighbor: "These are gentle, intelligent, refined people not given to violence at all."

Next-door neighbor Jack Clausen says he's known Hans for 25 years and watched him grow up.

Jack Clauson, next-door neighbor: "I can't imagine he would ever hurt that beautiful woman. I know he loved her much."

Get a clue, Jack...

The highly educated are not immuned to violence and crimes of passion.

Ain't that the truth, sometimes the most successful/confident folks are the one's who think they can get away with things. Possibly because in most cases they already have gotten away with other things.

Please note, no body has been found, yet the husband is being charged with murder.  Aruba, watch and learn!

REISER CHILDREN MAY HAVE OVERHEARD FATAL FIGHT

http://www.ktvu.com/news/10059722/detail.html


Just compounds the tragedy for those kids.

One of Hans Reiser's defense attorneys is Daniel Horowitz.

Really?  Wow....That is very interesting...

How old are their children that overheard the fight?  I did not get a chance to read the story you posted.

That story screams of OJ Simpson.... very sad.

7 and 5, I believe.  Defense attorneys will have a field day picking that story apart but if true, those children will be traumatized.  Unbelievably sad for those kids.

LATEST SEARCH FOR NINA REISER IS UNSUCCESSFUL
12/04/06 4:40 PST

The Contra Costa County sheriff's search and rescue team searched for the body of 31-year-old Nina Reiser in a hilly area near Oakland on Saturday but wasn't able to find her, sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee said today.

Lee said about 50 members of the volunteer search and rescue team, under the supervision of sheriff's deputies, combed Pinehurst Road in the area of the small town of Canyon, which is in unincorporated Contra Costa County just below Oakland and the Alameda County line in the East Bay hills.

Lee said the search was "pretty challenging" because the area is lush and there's a lot of vegetation and trees.

Reiser, the mother of two small children, disappeared from Oakland Sept. 3 and hasn't been seen since.

Her husband, software developer Hans Reiser, 43, was charged with murdering her after Oakland police said they found biological and trace evidence suggesting that she is dead as well as blood evidence tying him to her death.

The Oakland Police Department conducted previous searches for Nina Reiser in Oakland.

Lee and Oakland police spokesman Roland Holmgren said they don't know of any additional searches that are planned at this time.

Hans Reiser, who's being held in custody without bail, pleaded not guilty to the murder charges at a hearing last week.

He's scheduled to have a preliminary hearing in Alameda County Superior Court on Dec. 11. The purpose of the hearing is to determine if there's enough evidence to order him to stand trial.

http://tinyurl.com/y5pqcj

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I agree Bleached, guilty as sin.  The defense is trying to smear the victim, saying she led a double life, had KGB ties, etc.  Its disgusting.  Just as with Natalee, it is not enough just to kill, but they have to conduct a smear campaign against the victim as well, as if every reputable vestige of that former living being must be undermined and violated.

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Same old song and dance my friend......someone elses fault, I am innocent, poor me, my kids are gone, the government has it wrong. Get over-it fella  you're headed for that penitentiary in the sky.
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Murder Suspect Selling Namesys

By Joshua Davis|
13:00 PM Dec, 21, 2006

DUBLIN, California -- Hans Reiser, the prominent Bay Area Linux programmer charged with murdering his wife, says he's seeking to sell off his open-source file system company, Namesys, to help pay mounting legal costs.

In the first interview since his arrest, Reiser spoke this week about the future of his company and his legal travails from within the walls of Santa Rita Jail, where he is being held without bail.

"I just keep thinking that I'm stuck in George Orwell's 1984," he said while shackled, dressed in a red, prison-issue jumpsuit, and locked in a cement room. "The government has taken away my kids, invaded my house, held me in solitary confinement and caused me all sorts of financial problems."

William DuBois, Reiser's attorney, says Reiser is running out of money to pay for his defense. "This is a unique opportunity for someone to buy the company for pennies on the dollar," DuBois said. "We welcome all vultures."

article continued.........  http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72342-0.html?tw=wn_technology_3

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This just keeps getting worse . . .

Reiser Murder Trial In Turmoil; Son Taken To Russia

http://www.ktvu.com/news/10764704/detail.html

OMG you are so right. My suggestion is let Mr reiser sit in jail until his son is able to leave therapy and travel back to the US for the trial.

Think I can understand GranMa's feelings in this situation.

Guess if the D.A. wants to question the kid he can go to Russia and get deposition.

Missing wife just tip of iceberg
Murder case takes twists and turns
By Kim Curtis
ASSOCIATED PRESS

OAKLAND - It began like many other missing persons cases -- posters of an attractive, smiling, young woman, rewards offered, friends and family pleading for her return.

Then it turned sinister. Suspicion quickly fell on the estranged husband, who was questioned, jailed and charged with murder. Sordid allegations of infidelity and ties to international organized crime followed.

The body of 31-year-old Nina Reiser was never recovered, and her husband's lawyer has suggested she's alive and living in her native Russia.

Hans Reiser, a 43-year-old Oakland software developer, is still being held without bail while a judge decides whether there's enough evidence to try him. A decision is expected next month, but without a body, it will be a tough job for prosecutors.

"You can prove the case, but it's a terrific challenge," said Michael McCann, the former Milwaukee district attorney who prosecuted the Jeffrey Dahmer case. He said he remembers about a half-dozen "no-body" homicides during his 38-year career. "A prosecutor's hope is that something will turn up."

Bloodstains were found in Hans Reiser's home and car. The passenger seat had been removed when police seized the Honda CRX, and the floorboard was saturated with water.

Also found in the car were a roll of trash bags, masking tape, absorbent towels and two books: "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets," by David Simon, about the Baltimore police homicide squad, and "Masterpieces of Murder," by Jonathan Goodman, about notorious murder cases. Police say the software developer bought the books five days after his wife's Sept. 3, 2006, disappearance. His lawyer said the books contain chapters on how police plant evidence and set up murder scenes.

The Reisers had been married about five years when she filed for divorce in 2004. A bitter custody battle ensued; she was granted a temporary restraining order against him later that year. But neither the no-contact order nor the divorce was ever finalized. She also took her husband back to court last year for allegedly not keeping up with child support.

After they separated, Nina Reiser dated a sadomasochist, according to testimony. And defense lawyer William Du Bois suggested she and her family had ties to a Russian spy agency and organized crime.

Then, there's the son. Seven-year-old Rory Reiser testified on Dec. 11, the first day of a preliminary hearing, that he didn't hear his mom and dad arguing the day she disappeared, contradicting his earlier statements to police.

Judge Julie Conger said she wanted to ask the boy more questions and ordered him to return to court Tuesday, after he and his 5-year-old sister spent the holidays in Russia with their maternal grandmother.

But the boy never returned to court, and Conger said he was still in St. Petersburg, where his grandmother has begun custody proceedings.

Du Bois said Nina Reiser inexplicably obtained Russian citizenship for her son two months before she disappeared. She did the same for her daughter two years ago.

"I think the clear implication is that she might have had something to do with this," Du Bois said outside court last week. "Maybe she was planning to take the kids to Russia and leave her husband here in jail."

Prosecutor Greg Dolge said he has "absolutely no information" that Nina Reiser is in Russia, and that investigators recovered both her U.S. and Russian passports.

McCann, the former prosecutor, said without a body and without a confession, Dolge faces a "vigorous challenge."

"It opens the door," he said. "It gives an argument you don't have in most murder cases -- is the person dead?"

Dolge said he has enough to prove the case with or without a body.

"I honestly wish that she were alive," Dolge said. "If I had any indication of that, this whole thing would stop. She's not alive. Hans killed her."

Reiser is due back in court on Feb. 23.

This case is beginning to sound like a made-for-TV-movie.  Of course the defense attorneys are going to suggest that she is still alive since they don't have a body.  But I would think the police must have substantial evidence to bring this to trial, given the difficulty of trying a case without a body. Still, I wonder if the case rested on the boy's testimony.  The evidence discussed in the above post seemed largely circumstantial, so I wonder if they have DNA evidence or if they have more than they are disclosing.  Weird case, this.

Mar 23, 2007 11:15 am US/Pacific
Reiser Pleads Not Gulity In Missing Wife's Murder

(BCN) OAKLAND Software developer Hans Reiser pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he murdered his wife Nina Reiser, who was last seen alive on Sept. 3.

Reiser, 43, didn't waive his right to a speedy trial, so Alameda County Superior Court Judge C. Don Clay scheduled his trial to begin on May 7.

Reiser remains in custody in the Alameda County Jail without bail.

Two weeks ago, at the end of a lengthy preliminary hearing, Judge Julie Conger ruled that there's sufficient evidence for Reiser to stand trial on charges that he murdered Nina Reiser, who was trained as a physician in her native Russia.

However, Conger said she was troubled by some aspects of the prosecution's case against Hans Reiser and suggested it's possible that someone else killed Nina Reiser and that he was an aider and abettor.

>>>>The Complete Article
http://cbs5.com/local/local_story_082141241.html

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http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2007/05/reiser

A former lover of the missing wife of Linux programmer and accused spouse killer Hans Reiser has confessed to killing eight people unrelated to the case, prosecutors informed the defense last week.

Sean Sturgeon, a one-time friend of Reiser's, had already been a focus of the defense team's efforts to shift suspicion off Reiser in the disappearance of his estranged wife, Nina Reiser. Sturgeon's alleged confession to a series of unrelated murders will likely complicate the trial, which is set to begin Monday.

"(Deputy District Attorney) Paul Hora indicated that the court was ordering him to divulge this information," defense attorney Richard Tamor said last Friday. "He also said that Sturgeon had confessed to a potential ninth murder, but that Sturgeon wasn't sure if the victim was fully dead when he left him."

"Sturgeon claims that the murders were in retaliation for his abuse as a child," said Ramon Reiser, Hans Reiser's father, who was briefed by the defense team over the weekend and spoke to Wired News on Sunday.

On Monday, Superior Court Judge Don Clay issued a gag order barring attorneys on both sides from discussing Sturgeon.

Prosecutor Hora declined to comment on the confession Thursday, or on any law enforcement investigation of Sturgeon, citing the gag order. "In fact, I can't even comment on the gag order because the order is sealed," Hora said.

Reached by phone Wednesday night, Sturgeon did not deny that he had made the confession.

Sturgeon's answers in the 40-minute interview were frequently evasive, and he declined to answer specific questions about the alleged killings. "I have offered to be judged for my crimes," he said at one point. "I take responsibility for what I have done."

Nonetheless, he vigorously denied killing Nina Reiser. "I've never been a threat to Nina Reiser," Sturgeon said. "I will take a lie-detector test. I will take whatever passes for truth serum these days." He also indicated that the evidence pointed to Hans Reiser's guilt. "I will not take credit for what another has done," he said. "Let Hans take a lie-detector test about Nina."

It's unclear when Sturgeon made the confession -- he would say only, "I have cooperated since day one." Asked  why he had confessed at all, he responded with this question: "In a murder case, if somebody has killed, who is a witness, is it relevant? Yes or no?"

When this reporter responded that it was relevant, Sturgeon said, "Then you have the answer to your question."

Sturgeon added that confessing was one of the most difficult decisions of his life. He also regrets being a source of distraction in the case, joking that he is not so much a red herring as a "red Sturgeon."

Nina Reiser was last seen Sept. 3 at the home Hans Reiser shared with his mother in the Montclair area of Oakland, California. Her van turned up five days later, abandoned on a quiet residential street two miles from Reiser's home. Though no body has been found, Reiser was arrested Oct. 10 after the Oakland Police Department found small drops of blood in his house and in his Honda CRX. DNA testing tied the blood to Nina Reiser.

According to testimony in preliminary hearings in the case, Nina Reiser had once dated Sturgeon, but broke off their relationship in January 2006 because she was unhappy with his lifestyle and taste for sadomasochism.

Wow, this news is BIG! Thanks for posting it here Bobo2. This new guy could be the creep, time will tell. How could it be possible for one poor woman to have two killers in her life. It very well might be the ex-lover instead of the husband. Wow.

Reading back over this thread I see that Sturgeon's name was mentioned in an article about her disappearance early on, although not as a suspect.  It seems a lawsuit between Hans Reiser and Sturgeon was settled days after she disappeared.  

Very weird, I wish Court TV was going to be covering this trial.

I too hope this trial is covered by CourtTV.

It would seem strange that the purchase of a book on murder three days AFTER the crime is considered to be incriminating. If the defendant felt he needed education on the matter wouldnt he buy the book three days BEFORE the crime?

Hans Reiser's alibi defense was recently rejected based solely on the testimony given by the son AFTER the grandparents had access to him. The original statements by the son were that his mother left immediately after dropping him at the home. If this version is the truth, Hans Reiser could not be guilty of anything other than buying a book without using a discount card. I'd sure like to hear more about that former boyfriend of missing Nina Reiser and his nine admitted homicide victims.

Linux Programmer, Hans Reiser, Facing Murder Trial -- UPDATE: Postponed
By David Kravets November 05, 2007 | 1:25:00 PMCategories: Crime   
 

OAKLAND, California -- Did Hans Reiser, the prominent Linux open source programmer, murder his wife, Nina Reiser?

Hans Reiser, 43, whose Namesys company was responsible for the widely-used open source Reiser3 and Reiser4 file systems, faces a murder trial here Monday that has all the elements of a soap opera -- divorce, deceit, confessions, children and even the foreign nation of Russia.

Reiser, who maintains his innocence, is accused of killing his estranged wife in Oakland in September, 2006, after she dropped off their two young children to stay with the computer programmer. The two were involved in a nasty divorce -- she had a restraining order out against him. She is accused of having an affair with one of his associates.

As first reported by Wired, that man, Sean Sturgeon, told the authorities that he was a serial killer, but did not kill Nina Reiser -- statements that aren't likely to go before the jury here. Sturgeon has not been arrested in connection to his confession.

Nina Reiser's minivan, full of groceries, turned up days after she dropped off the kids. No body has been found. But the authorities charged Reiser, saying they found traces of Nina's blood in Hans Reiser's small Honda CRX. The passenger seat of the vehicle was missing. Authorities also discovered Reiser had two books on murder investigations, and when he was arrested he had $9,000 cash and his passport.

The Oakland couple's two young children are living with their grandmother in Russia, where Hans Reiser met his wife in 1999 when he traveled in hopes of securing a bride from a marriage service. The defense speculates that Nina Reiser is perhaps alive, having fled to her home country.

Reiser's file system is the underlying method by which the computer organizes data on a hard drive. Jailed without bail, Reiser faces a 25-year-to-life sentence if convicted.

THREAT LEVEL will be providing frequent updates Monday from Alameda County Superior Court.

---

Update: The case prosecutor just emerged from a brief closed-door court session and told reporters that opening arguments have been postponed. The case is now scheduled to resume at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday).

Opening Statements In Reiser Trial Begin
Prosecutor Says Reiser Would Not Have Abandoned Children

POSTED: 12:33 pm PST November 6, 2007
UPDATED: 1:14 pm PST November 6, 2007


OAKLAND, Calif. -- Showing jurors photographs of Nina Reiser with her two children, a prosecutor described her today as "a mother who would never, ever abandon these kids."

In his opening statement in the trial of computer engineer and self-described "genius" Hans Reiser on charges that he murdered Nina Reiser, Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Paul Hora ridiculed conjecture by Hans Reiser's attorneys that she went into hiding after she disappeared Sept. 3, 2006, after dropping off their children at his home at 6979 Exeter Drive in Oakland's Montclair District.

Her body has never been found despite extensive searches in the heavily wooded Oakland hills and elsewhere.

Showing photos of Reiser with her children, Deputy District Attorney Paul Hora told the jury that Reiser was a mother first and foremost.

Hora said the jury will hear from lots of witnesses including Nina's mother, friends, kids' teachers and police officers and they all will all say she was a mother and she would have never would have abandoned her children.

Hora told jurors in the twice-delayed trial, "You'll know without a doubt that something terrible happened to her."

Pointing at 43-year-old Hans Reiser, Hora said Nina Reiser "was at this man's doorstep" when she was last seen alive.

Nina Reiser, who was trained as a gynecologist in her native Russia, and Hans Reiser married in 1999 but separated in May 2004.

They were undergoing contentious divorce proceedings at the time she disappeared, but the divorce wasn't finalized.

Nina Reiser was awarded both legal and physical custody of their children, Rory, 8, and Nio, 6, but Hans Reiser was allowed to have them one weeknight a week and every other weekend.

Although Nina Reiser's body hasn't been found, in October 2006 prosecutors charged Hans Reiser with killing her after Oakland police said they found biological and trace evidence suggesting that she is dead as well as blood evidence tying him to her death.He's being held in custody without bail.

The children were placed in foster care after Nina Reiser disappeared. They currently are living with Nina Reiser's mother in Russia.

Hora has declined to reveal if they will return for their father's trial. Reiser's lead attorney, William DuBois, will give his opening statement Wednesday.

I'd also like to hear more about her efforts to bleed his company dry and the Boyfriend-wife's joint efforts to bleed the company dry of operating revenue so as to convert it into a private profitmaking company rather than a free software company.

Has the prosecution showed just what time/geographic limitations there would be on corpse disposal by the husband? Some have made comments about skill being required to stash a corpse in such an urban area but I'm not sure of that.

The trouble with this trial is that he is such an obnoxious geek he will come across on the stand as the prosecution's best witness!

Son told cops Reisers had stormy relationship, mom 'lost in Oakland'
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, November 15, 2007


The son of computer programmer Hans Reiser told police three weeks after his mother disappeared that she was "lost in Oakland" and offered to help officers find her, according to a taped interview played for jurors Wednesday.

Nina Reiser's son couldn't provide specifics on what she did Sept. 3, 2006, the last day he saw her. But he said his parents had a tempestuous relationship and that his father had complained that she stole "thousands of bucks" from him.

"Your dad told you that?" a police investigator asked him.

"Yes. She wants more than my dad even has," the boy, who is now 8 years old, exclaimed during the police interview played for jurors Wednesday in his father's murder trial in Alameda County Superior Court.

The boy, whom The Chronicle is not naming because of his age, told authorities that "my dad makes her mad" and confided to a social worker that his father is "grumpy when he talks to her." His parents had a loud conversation on the day he last saw her, he said.

Reiser, 43, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he murdered his estranged wife. Nina Reiser's body hasn't been found, and the defense has suggested that she is alive and has been living in her native Russia with her son and 6-year-old daughter.

But the boy, who flew from St. Petersburg, Russia, with his maternal grandmother to testify, told jurors Tuesday in Oakland that he hasn't seen his mother since she disappeared.

In the police interview on Sept. 25, 2006, the boy said he believed she was "lost in Oakland." When an investigator asked him if she could be somewhere else, he replied, "Why would she be lost somewhere else when she said nothing about leaving the house?"

The boy added that it was possible that his mother was working on some kind of surprise for him.

"Maybe she didn't want to tell the future to me," he said. "I think she often does that, she didn't want to tell the future - something that, uh, that is exciting."

Police told the boy that if he wanted officers to help him find his mother, he would have to tell them any secrets. But he said he didn't have any. "There's no secret that I have about her," he said.

He said he would help police if he found "some little kind of clue, or I find some of her, one of her shoeprints." If there were shoeprints, he'd follow them to his mom, he said.

He then told police that he had a "little clue" for them: His mother has black hair and black eyes. She doesn't often wear dresses but favors skirts or pants, he said. Asked what his mother was wearing the day he last saw her, he said he didn't remember.

An investigator asked the boy if he wanted police to find his mother.

"Mm-hmm," he replied.

Defense attorney William Du Bois is expected to cross-examine the boy Thursday. After that, jurors will hear from Irina Sharanova, Nina Reiser's mother, said prosecutor Paul Hora.



 

Witness says Nina Reiser was a loving mother
 
By Kristin Bender, Staff Writer
 

OAKLAND _ A woman who volunteered with Nina Reiser at their children's pre-school took the stand in the Hans Reiser trial today, describing the missing Oakland woman as a loving mother who would not abandon her two children.

Marni Hunter said she met Nina Reiser in 2003 at the Grand Lake Montessori School in Oakland, where Nina's son Rory Reiser and Hunter's daughter attended school together. The two worked together to organize classroom parties and projects.

``Nina was a parent volunteer who volunteered readily in the classroom. Her name was constantly showing up on sign-up sheets,'' said Hunter on the stand in the seventh day of the trial.

Asked if Nina Reiser ever discussed plans to ``abandon her children,'' Hunter said ``no.''

``I really, truly believe that she was a fabulous mom -- the way her children would run down the hill (at the school). She had an infectious smile and she was a kind and loving person. I think her children loved her deeply,'' Hunter said.

Nina Reiser disappeared after dropping Rory and his sister Nio at Hans Reiser's home in Oakland's Montclair District on Sept. 3, 2006. Hans and Nina Reiser were undergoing a bitter divorce at the time of her disappearance. Her body has never been found, despite exhaustive searches in the Oakland hills.

Hans Reiser, 43, has been in custody on a murder charge since shortly after his estranged wife went missing. Hans Reiser's, attorney William DuBois, has made claims that Nina Reiser is living in her native Russia, where Rory, now 8, and his sister, Nio, now 6, have been living with Nina's mother, Irina Sharanova, since December.

During cross examination of Hunter this morning, DuBois aimed to debunk Hunter's claims that Nina Reiser was a dedicated mother by raising questions about her alleged mindset about her children and alleged extramarital activities.

``Did you ever discuss the maladies she believed Rory had?'' DuBois asked Hunter.

``No,'' the woman replied.

``Did you ever discuss the disabilities she believed Rory had?''

``No,'' Hunter said.

``Did you ever discuss her attempts to find male companions on the Craigslist (Web site)?" ``No,'' she said. Hunter said her relationship with Nina Reiser was not a social one and discussions were centered only on the children and classroom activities.

Today was the start of third week of the trial, which could run through February.

Also on the stand this morning was family law attorney Shelley Gordon, who was representing Nina Reiser in her divorce. Gordon said the divorce case was both emotionally and technically difficult.

``It went from bad to worse,'' Gordon said. ``It was adversarial, it was very hostile and it just dragged on at a snail's pace.'' The couple shared joint legal custody of the children but primary physical custody remained with Nina Reiser. Hans Reiser had the children every other weekend and one weeknight, she said.

Gordon said a fight over who would get to keep a family mini-van, child support payments and what type of video games and movies the children were allowed to play and view were all points of contention between the couple. DuBois is expected to cross examine Gordon this afternoon. 

Inside Bay Area (California)
November 26, 2007
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:706666127&start=1

Judge admonishes Hans Reiser's attorney
By Kristin BenderBay Area News Group
Article Launched: 11/27/2007 07:35:21 PM PST



The drama in the Hans Reiser murder trial courtroom in Oakland seemed to captivate the attention of the jury and the small group of court-watchers more than the actual dry case testimony itself on Tuesday.

Three weeks into the nationally watched trial that could run through February and include dozens of witnesses, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman had to several times admonish William DuBois, the defense attorney representing Hans Reiser, for insulting and challenging a prosecution witness after she answered his questions in a manner that didn't seem to suit him.

During cross-examination of Shelley Gordon, Nina Reiser's divorce attorney, DuBois several times snidely said, "thank you for sharing," and "do you remember my question?" after Gordon answered questions about Hans Reiser's financial standing, non-payment of child support, and the reportedly contentious nature of the couple's divorce.

Questioning Gordon, DuBois hinted that Nina Reiser's "estate" could stand to inherit Namesys, the computer software company Hans Reiser founded, if he is found guilty of murdering her.

"If Hans Reiser is found guilty of her demise, her estate would get everything?" DuBois asked Gordon.

When he continued his line of questioning by asking her if she knew the value of Nina Reiser's so-called "estate," should it include part of the value of Namesys, Gordon said, "It is my impression that the value is zero. Hans repeatedly said his
company was worth nothing. So my opinion is that it is not worth anything," Gordon said.
"You don't really know what the value is of his dot-com company do you?" DuBois snapped at Gordon.

When Gordon said she did not know, DuBois said, "Thank you for sharing."

The jury of five women and seven men and the four alternate jurors stopped their note taking and were focused on DuBois during the discourse.

At one point Tuesday, Goodman advised DuBois to "stifle himself" and "be respectful of the witness."

"Bill, you are one of the best trial lawyers I know and you know how to control a witness but you are not doing anything to control this witness," Goodman said after the jury had left the room for a lunch break.

Prosecutor Paul Hora said DuBois was challenging Gordon on how she formed her opinions about Hans Reiser's financial ability to pay child support and how he was handling the divorce. He also accused DuBois of not allowing her to finish her statements on the stand.

For his part, DuBois said Gordon speaks in run-on sentences and a "stream of consciousness" manner that he doesn't like.

Nina Reiser, 31, has been missing since Labor Day weekend 2006 and Hans Reiser is being tried for her murder in Alameda County Superior Court. Hans and Nina Reiser were undergoing a bitter divorce at the time of her disappearance.

Gordon was Nina Reiser's divorce lawyer for two years and testified on Monday that Hans Reiser was accused of being in contempt of court for failure to pay more than $50,000 in back child support during the time they were separated. The couple have two children, Rory, now 8, and Nio, now 6, together.

Because of Hans Reiser's failure to pay child support, a contempt of court trial had been scheduled for October 2006. That trial never took place because Nina Reiser went missing about a month before.

Gordon testified that Hans Reiser racked up the large child support bill after failure to pay a court-ordered $5,400 monthly child support payment for 10 months. That amount was later reduced substantially, but it was not paid either, she said.

During cross-examination of Gordon Tuesday, DuBois probed her about how she came up with the $5,400-a month amount. Gordon said Nina Reiser told her that her husband's income was roughly $20,000 monthly.

"He was getting $16,000 or $17,000 a month from Digeo," Gordon said. "I spoke with the Digeo people." Hans Reiser, at times, worked as a contractor for Digeo, a Washington-based technology company.

Nina Reiser disappeared after dropping her son Rory and his sister Nio at Hans Reiser's home in Oakland's Montclair District on Sept. 3, 2006. She has never been seen since and her body has never been found, despite exhaustive searches in the Oakland hills.

Hans Reiser has been in custody on a murder charge since shortly after his estranged wife went missing. The children have been living in Russia with Nina Reiser's mother, Irina Sharanova, since last December. The defense contends that Nina Reiser is also living there.



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This case is awful, sad, and fascinating, all at the same time.

My heart goes out to those two children.

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The San Francisco Chronicle (California)
 
January 16, 2008 Wednesday
 
Surprise video shows Reiser shopping;
OAKLAND;
Berkeley Bowl tape catches her on day she disappeared
 

New surveillance camera footage of Nina Reiser shopping with her children on the day she disappeared surfaced Tuesday at her husband's murder trial.

Oakland police obtained the footage from the Berkeley Bowl grocery store less than two weeks after Reiser disappeared Sept. 3, 2006, but a video technician who was instructed to view it had reported to officers that Reiser wasn't shown.

In fact, the video shown to jurors in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland clearly depicts the 31-year-old Reiser shopping with her son and daughter. The images were taken shortly before she dropped the children off with her estranged husband, Hans Reiser, at his Oakland hills home.

The faces of the three are clearly visible, which is in sharp contrast to a video shown to jurors Monday that shows only glimpses of the three in fleeting images taken outside the store on Oregon Street in south Berkeley.

The prosecution believes the evidence from the store shows that Nina Reiser, whose passports were found inside her home, had no plans to leave the country and never left her husband's home alive - and that it was Hans Reiser who later parked her Honda Odyssey minivan on an Oakland hills street with her rotting groceries strewn about.

Before jurors were brought in Tuesday morning, Hans Reiser, 44, appeared to gaze intently at the surprise footage as prosecutor Paul Hora prepared it for viewing. The computer programmer has pleaded not guilty to charges that he murdered his wife, whose body hasn't been found, and his attorney has suggested that Nina Reiser could be hiding in her native Russia.

One shot in the new footage shows Nina Reiser in a white sundress. Her daughter, then 5, and then-6-year-old son are seen walking around in the checkout aisle until Reiser hoists them into her shopping cart.

The footage was shown during prosecution questioning of police Officer Shan Johnson. On cross-examination, defense attorney William Du Bois didn't delve much into the new footage, but did elicit revelations from Johnson that fruit from a cherry or plum tree had been stuck on the tires of Nina Reiser's minivan when it was found abandoned on Fernwood Drive in the Oakland hills after she vanished.

A leaf like that from a cherry tree was found on the floorboard of a Honda Civic used by Hans Reiser, Johnson said, citing a plant expert consulted by police. The fruit can be found growing on Fernwood and not near Hans Reiser's home on Exeter Drive higher up in the hills, Johnson testified.

That may suggest that the two cars were both on Fernwood at some point, the officer said. Johnson acknowledged that the source of the leaf could not be confirmed and that no leaves had been found in Nina Reiser's minivan.

Also Tuesday, Officer Eugene Guerrero testified about Hans Reiser's behavior as police followed him Sept. 18, 2006, more than two weeks after his wife vanished.

Guerrero, who was among a dozen officers who followed Reiser by car and plane, testified that a friend had dropped Reiser near San Pablo and Ashby avenues in Berkeley after the two had dinner. Reiser spent 32 minutes walking, stopping on street corners and looking around "in all directions," apparently for anyone following him, Guerrero said.

Reiser then got into his Honda CRX - which police had been searching for - and parked it on Monterey Boulevard along Highway 13 in Oakland, the officer said. Four times, Reiser walked away from the car before returning and opening and closing the trunk, Guerrero said.

Seat missing when Reiser car seized, 2 weeks after disappearance

Thursday, January 17, 2008
(01-16) 18:21 PST Oakland - -- The front passenger seat of computer programmer Hans Reiser's car was missing when Oakland police seized it more than two weeks after his estranged wife disappeared, officers who secretly tracked him testified Wednesday.

The prosecution believes Reiser killed his wife amid an acrimonious divorce and used his Honda CRX to move her body, which hasn't been found since she disappeared on Sept. 3, 2006, after dropping off their children at his home in the Oakland hills. The defense has countered that Reiser removed the seat to make the car more comfortable to sleep in.

Officer Larry Robertson testified that he was surveilling Reiser on Sept. 18, 2006, when Reiser parked the Honda on Monterey Boulevard off Highway 13 in Oakland and walked away. The vehicle didn't have its front passenger seat, and it was later towed, Officer Jim Saleda said.

Reiser, 44, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he murdered his wife. The defense has suggested that Nina Reiser is setting up her husband and could be hiding in her native Russia.

After Reiser parked the Honda, he jogged and walked briskly up Shepherd Canyon Road in the hills before police lost sight of him, Saleda testified.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/17/BAFTUGKC4.DTL

Tearful testimony from missing woman's mother

Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Nina Reiser's mother wept on the stand at her son-in-law's murder trial Monday as she described how her only daughter had been devoted to her children and in love with her husband.

Irina Sharanova, the prosecution's final witness in the 3-month-old trial, cried throughout her testimony in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland. She did not make eye contact with Hans Reiser, the 44-year-old computer programmer charged with killing her daughter, whose body has never been found.

>>>>the complete article

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/12/BA3FV0A8U.DTL

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Inside Bay Area (California)
 
February 21, 2008 Thursday 
Prosecutor questions if Hans Reiser has personality disorder
 
By Chris Metinko, Staff Writer
 

The prosecution in Hans Reiser's murder trial questioned a psychiatrist this morning on whether the defendant in the case shows characteristics of narcissistic personality disorder.

Hans Reiser is accused of killing his wife Nina, who was last seen alive on Sept. 3, 2006. The couple was undergoing a bitter divorce at the time of her disappearance. Despite exhaustive searches of the Oakland Hillsand other areas, Nina Reiser's body has never been found.

Beverly Parr, a Southern California psychiatrist, took the stand for the second day Thursday for more cross-examination by the prosecution. The defense offered Parr not as an expert witness on mental disorders, but as someone who has known Hans Reiser since he was a child.

However, on Wednesday the defense questioned Parr on if Hans Reiser could suffer from Asperger's disorder, a specific type of developmental disorder involving problems in development of social skills.

Parr said based on her knowledge of Hans Reiser and after talking toanother friend who knew the computer software engineer, she said he seemed to have some symptoms of the disorder. She said she hadnever examined Reiser and was not offering a diagnosis.

On cross-examination Thursday, prosecutor Paul Hora questioned Parr if Reiser may suffer from narcissistic personality disorder instead. Hora read a description of the disorder from the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition.

Some of the characteristics of the disorder include an inflated sense of self, a belief that one is special and unique, arrogance and lack of sympathy toward others.

After several indirect answers to whether Reiser may suffer from narcissistic personality disorder, Parr said, "I haven'texamined him, so I hesitate to say because I'm not going to diagnose Hans, but I truly have never considered Hans a narcissistic personality."
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:748453444&start=13
~~~~~~~~~

Sound familiar???

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Reiser attacks his wife's character

 March 7, 2008
(03-07) 04:00 PDT Oakland -- Nina Reiser was a manipulative woman who "worked" people, put up a false front in public and cared more about becoming a doctor than being a good mother, her husband testified in his murder trial Thursday.

Hans Reiser, 44, attacked his estranged wife's character and wept as he described how his children had been taken away from him after she disappeared in 2006.

In his third day on the stand in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland, Reiser offered several lessons he had learned during his time with his wife, saying that all in all, "It's a lot cheaper to hire a housekeeper."

The prosecution has suggested that the anger Reiser has shown toward his 31-year-old wife led him to kill her. Reiser conceded on the stand Thursday that he could be patronizing and egotistical. But he has denied he killed Nina Reiser, and his lawyers have argued that he could be socially inept without being a murderer.

Nina Reiser hasn't been seen since Sept. 3, 2006, when she dropped off her children at her estranged husband's Oakland hills home, and her body hasn't been found.

Much of Thursday's testimony dealt with Reiser's version of why the couple's marriage dissolved. Nina Reiser filed for divorce in 2004, and proceedings were still active when she disappeared.

Defense attorney William Du Bois held up a framed picture of Nina Reiser with her son when he was a baby. "Is that the public image that Nina projected?" Du Bois asked.

"That was the image that she learned was wanted from her, and she responded to that," Reiser said. "She was actually more interested in being respected as a doctor than as a mother."

>>>>the complete article
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/07/BA9FVET67.DTL

(http://imgsrv.kcbs.com/image/DbGraphic/200803/889708.jpg)

Reiser Denies Involvement in Wife's Disappearance

 17 March 2008
OAKLAND, Calif. (KCBS/AP)  -- Software programmer Hans Reiser testified Monday he had nothing to do with his estranged wife's disappearance.

Reiser, 44, said he has tried to figure out what may have happened to Nina Reiser, who hasn't been seen since dropping the couple's two children off at Reiser's house on Sept. 3, 2006.

Before leaving the house, Reiser said he talked to his wife for about an hour, discussing their children and their divorce, and said he ``put a lot of pressure'' on Nina Reiser, including accusing her of embezzlement and perjury.

Nina Reiser's body has not been found and the defense has suggested she could still be alive and living in her native Russia.

But prosecutors say she was not the sort of person who would abandon her children. They say DNA and other evidence points to Hans Reiser. Among other things, Reiser's car was found with the passenger seat missing and the floorboard soaked with water.

>>>>the complete article
http://www.kcbs.com/Reiser-Denies-Involvement-in-Wife-s-Disappearance/1839367

Reiser Quizzed Again In Missing Wife Case

April 1, 2008
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Prosecutors in the Hans Reiser murder trial are back to questioning the software programmer about his behavior around the time his estranged wife was reported missing.

After a weeklong hiatus, Reiser returned to the stand Tuesday in Alameda County Superior Court. He's charged with killing Nina Reiser, who was last seen dropping her children off at his house around Labor Day weekend 2006.

Prosecutor Paul Hora asked Reiser about why Nina's blood was found at his home. He explained that she had cut her hand while cooking and also had a nosebleed, but couldn't recall exactly when either incident happened.

 Prosecutors allege Reiser killed his wife amid a nasty custody dispute, though her body has never been found.

The defense has suggested that Nina Reiser may still be alive.

http://www.nbc11.com/newsarchive/15767484/detail.html

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Defense: Reiser a victim of 'screw job' by his missing wife

April 17, 2008
Hans Reiser is the victim of a "screw job" perpetrated by his wife and "shading" of circumstantial evidence by prosecutors who insist he killed her even though her body hasn't been found, his attorney told jurors Thursday.

Reiser is being railroaded both by Nina Reiser, who married him so she could immigrate to the United States from her native Russia, and a prosecutor who has no real evidence, defense attorney William Du Bois said in the second day of his closing argument in Alameda County Superior Court.

 As he did Wednesday, Du Bois compared his client to the odd-looking duck-billed platypus to emphasize his belief that even though Reiser, 44, can come across as strange and obnoxious, that doesn't mean he murdered his wife.

"I was trying to think recently how a platypus could even evolve," Du Bois said. "It must have been a genetic mistake. That's why it reminded me of ..." Du Bois' voice trailed off as he turned his head and gave a disdainful look at his client, prompting laughter in Judge Larry Goodman's Oakland courtroom.

>>>>the complete article
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/17/BABV107A7C.DTL

http://www.ktvu.com/news/15959753/detail.html
Reiser Fate In Hands Of Jury

POSTED: 1:36 pm PDT April 22, 2008
UPDATED: 1:47 pm PDT April 22, 2008


OAKLAND, Calif. -- After months of testimony, including 10 days of Hans Reiser appearing in his own defense on the witness stand, one of the Bay Area's most-watched murder cases since the trial of Scott Peterson was set to be handed off to jurors Tuesday.

Following a morning in which prosecutor Paul Hora attempted to punch holes in defense attorney William Du Bois' closing statements, Alameda Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman was set after the lunch break to instruct the 12-member jury on their four choices of a verdict to the charges that Hans Reiser murdered his estranged wife, Nina, in September 2006.

The panel has the option of not guilty; first-degree murder carrying a 25-to-life sentence; second-degree murder which carries a 15-to-life term or voluntary manslaughter which carries a maximum 11-year term.

During his rebuttal Tuesday, Hora dismissed the defense contention that Nina Reiser was alive and hiding in Russia or Eastern Europe.

"We know Nina's life ended on Sept. 3, 2006…Nina would have never left her kids up for grabs like that…If you look at all the circumstances in her life, it's crystal clear," Hora told the packed courtroom as he stood near large easels with two poster boards on them listing evidence against Hans Reiser.

The only real drama of the morning took place late in the rebuttal when Reiser again had another loud outburst in the courtroom.

With Hora debunking Reiser's explanation for removing and disposing of a seat of his CRX -- the defendant has claimed he did so because of lingering injuries from breaking his ankles while working out at a gym in France -- Reiser became angered.

He yelled out -- "Want me to show you the scars?"

Goodman told Reiser to be quiet and Hora continued on.

Hora wrapped up his lengthy rebuttal by telling the jury there was just one choice in their deliberations -- "This was murder. I ask that you find him guilty of first-degree murder."

In the third day of his closing argument in the marathon murder trial, Du Bois on Monday told jurors that Nina, who was born and educated in Russia, "has contacts around the world" and "has lived most of her life in Europe."

Nina's mother and son both testified that they haven't had any contact with Nina since she disappeared and prosecutor Paul Hora put on the witness stand many witnesses who testified that Nina would never leave her two children.

But Du Bois said, "I submit that the mantra that she would never leave her children does not apply" because they wound up living with Nina's mother in St. Petersburg, Russia, so at least they're in the care of her family.

Hora told jurors in his closing argument last week that proving that Nina is dead is one of his three essential tasks in Hans Reiser's trial, along with proving that Hans killed her and that it was murder.

Nina Reiser, who was 31 when she disappeared after dropping off her children at Hans' house in the Oakland hills, met Hans in Russia, where she was trained as a physician and where he often spent time doing business for his computer file system company.

They married in 1999, but she filed for divorce and separated from him in 2004. Although Nina was awarded legal custody of their children, Hans had visitation rights.

Nina's body has never been found, but Hora says that circumstantial evidence as well as blood and DNA evidence proves that Hans killed her.

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<snip>

But prosecutors argued the circumstantial evidence against Reiser was strong: the two were involved in a bitter custody dispute, traces of her blood were found in his home and car and witnesses testified she would never have left her children.

Also, prosecutor Paul Hora said that after Nina Reiser disappeared, Reiser threw away the passenger seat of his car, hosed down the floorboards and started withdrawing large amounts of cash.

When Reiser was arrested in October 2006, he was carrying his passport and thousands of dollars.

Du Bois portrayed Reiser as eccentric, but nonviolent, and said there were innocent explanations for his behavior.

Reiser testified his wife left his house alive and he had nothing to do with her disappearance. He said he threw away the car seat to make the car more comfortable for sleeping in and washed the car floor because it was dirty.

Reiser said he drew out the cash to pay programmers at his company and was in the habit of carrying his passport as a frequent traveler.

Hora also said Reiser hated his estranged wife, and saw her as "the destroyer."

"She destroyed his marriage. She had an affair. He — although it was never proved — thinks she embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from him," Hora said during the trial.

Hora showed jurors a video of Nina Reiser at her son's 6th birthday party, ending with a freeze-frame of the mother kissing her son's cheek. He also played jurors a tape of an interview with Rory outside of court in which the prosecutor asked the boy if he knew where his mother was.

Rory said he didn't, and that made him feel sad.

"What did you like best about her?" Hora asked.

"Everything," said the boy.

        :smt010 :smt010

Hans Reiser Offers To Lead Cops to Nina's Body
June 06, 2008 | 5:31:27

Hans Reiser, the Linux programmer facing a mandatory 25-to life term for killing his wife, might disclose the location of Nina Reiser's body in exchange for a reduced term, Alameda County District Attorney Thomas Orloff told Threat Level on Friday.

"There's been some overtures," he said. "But everything is in its preliminary stage."

Another source familiar with the proposal, speaking on condition of anonymity because no deal has been struck, said Reiser, the prosecution and Alameda County Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman would have to sign off on the proposed deal. Under the plan, Reiser's cooperation could reduce his April conviction from first-degree murder to second degree. A second-degree conviction in California carries a mandatory 15-to-life sentence.

"The only real leverage he has is if he can provide a body," the source said. "He really doesn't have any options left. Even if he won a retrial somehow, he'd likely be convicted."

Reiser, 44, was convicted by an Alameda County Superior Court jury of killing his wife, who was last seen at his Oakland hills house on Sept. 3, 2006. She dropped off the divorcing couple's two kids to stay with their father for part of the Labor Day weekend.

During his 11 appearances on the witness stand, the defendant claimed his 31-year-old wife abandoned the estranged couple's two young children and moved back to Russia.

The couple met there in 1998, when he was overseas hiring programmers for his Namesys software company that produced the ReiserFS filesystem. He testified that, before she vanished, he accused her of bilking the company out of tens of thousands of dollars.

The deal, as it stands in its early stages, would be off if an autopsy of the body somehow demonstrated that it was first-degree, premeditated murder with, for example, "two bullet holes to the back of the head."

The source also cautioned that it remains to be seen whether Reiser would follow through with the proposal.

Reiser remains jailed without bail. His sentencing is scheduled for July 9.

"There are ongoing discussions," the source said.

Reiser stands a greater chance of seeing the light of day under a second-degree conviction. He would be eligible for parole in 15 years and would stand a better chance at receiving it if he disclosed a body.

Under California law, the governor possesses the power to veto a parole board's decision. Denying culpability is a strong mark against winning parole.

Before trial began in November, Reiser declined a deal with prosecutors in which he would have received an 11-year term in exchange to pleading guilty to manslaughter and disclosing the location of Nina Reiser's body.

On a side note, for Reiser to disclose the body might bring some element of closure to his two children, a boy now 8 and a girl 6. They live with Nina's parents in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The boy, in letters to his father last year, asked his dad why he "hid" his mother.

http://www.propeller.com/viewstory/2008/06/07/hans-reiser-offers-to-lead-cops-to-ninas-body/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.wired.com%2F27bstroke6%2F2008%2F06%2Fhans-reiser-off.html&frame=true

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I know it matters not but I always knew it was the husband.

I know what you mean Peaches.....At least now, her family has closure.  May this POS rot in hell!!

Reiser: 'I took the life of a human being'

Last Modified: Saturday, August 30, 2008 at 8:44 a.m.

OAKLAND -- Oakland software programmer Hans Reiser apologized to his two children on Friday for murdering their mother after a judge accepted a plea deal and reduced his first-degree murder conviction.
Reiser, 44, was convicted in April of first-degree murder even though his estranged wife's body had not been found. During the trial, he maintained his innocence, and his defense attorney suggested that Nina Reiser could have run away to her native Russia.

After his conviction, Reiser reached a plea deal with prosecutors and agreed to lead authorities to the Oakland Hills site where he had buried his wife's body in exchange for lessening the murder charge to second degree.

On Friday, Alameda County Judge Larry Goodman reduced his conviction, and then Reiser spoke to the courtroom filled to capacity with the his former neighbors, reporters, Nina Reiser's friends and members of the jury who convicted him.

Everyone leaned in to hear Reiser -- dressed in red, state-issued garb -- as he quietly apologized to his two children and the public.

"I'm very sorry for terrible harm I've caused my children," said Reiser. "I wish to humbly apologize to society for my crime. I know human life is sacred, and I took the life of a human being."

The reduced charge still carries a potential life sentence, but Reiser will now be eligible for parole after 15 years, compared to 25 years for first-degree murder.

As part of the deal, Reiser also provided details of how his 31-year-old Russian-born wife was killed in September 2006.

In a statement submitted to court, Reiser said he became enraged during an argument with his estranged wife over the custody and care of the children.

Though the document is not currently being made public, prosecutors and Reiser's defense attorney said in the 30-page confession Reiser chronicles how he punched Nina Reiser in the face and then strangled her while their children played downstairs at his Oakland home.

He then put her body in a duffel bag and stored it in his car for two days while he dug a hole in a ravine in the Oakland hills.

After two nights of digging, he buried the body in the dirt, according to prosecutors and his defense attorney.

In court Friday, Reiser said he had started a trust fund for his two children, who now live with their grandmother in Russia.

http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080830/NEWS/808300421