Nina Reiser, 31, Missing since September 3 (BODY FOUND)

[A's Fever]

This just keeps getting worse . . .

Reiser Murder Trial In Turmoil; Son Taken To Russia

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

[bleachedblack]

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.

[Carnut]

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.

[bleachedblack]

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.

[A's Fever]

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.

[bleachedblack]

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

[bleachedblack]

BLOCKED WEBSITE

[Bobo2]

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.

[bleachedblack]

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.

[Bobo2]

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.

[FoolsGold]

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.

[MumInOhio]

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).

[MumInOhio]

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.

[FoolsGold]

I'd sure like to hear more about that former boyfriend of missing Nina Reiser and his nine admitted homicide victims.

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!

[MumInOhio]

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.



 

[Nut44x4]

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

[MumInOhio]

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.



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[pdh3]

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

My heart goes out to those two children.

[bleachedblack]

BLOCKED WEBSITE

[Nut44x4]

http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:729275287&start=4

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.