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

[bleachedblack]

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

[bleachedblack]

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

[bleachedblack]

Reiser trial: Missing woman applied to Russian marriage agency

 02/14/2008 01:45:19 PM PST

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8262228

[Nut44x4]

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???

[Nut44x4]

Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, California)
 
March 5, 2008 Wednesday 
 
Defense focuses on Hans Reiser's wife's affair with his friend
 

Mar. 5--Hans Reiser's attorneys attempted to paint his estranged wife as less than a perfect mother Wednesday when he took the stand for the second day in his murder trial.

The couple was undergoing a bitter divorce when Reiser's wife, Nina, disappeared. Despite exhaustive searches of the Oakland hills and other areas, her body was not found. Hans Reiser has pleaded not guilty to the murder. The defense claims Nina may not be dead at all, but rather hiding in her native Russia.

Under direct questioning by his attorney, William DuBois, Reiser told the court how his marriage began to fall apart when his wife, Nina, visited him while in Russia in 2002 and told him she had had an affair with his best friend Sean Sturgeon.

Reiser said he discovered Sturgeon had been living with Nina while he was away in Russia running his software company.

The couple was undergoing a bitter divorce at the time of her disappearance. Despite exhaustive searches of the Oakland hills and other areas, Nina Reiser's body has never been found. Hans Reiser has pleaded not guilty to the murder. The defense claims Nina may not be dead at all, but rather hiding in her native Russia.

DuBois attempted to ask Reiser several questions about Sturgeon and his relationship with his estranged wife, prompting prosecutor Paul Hora to object several times as to its relevancy. Judge Larry Goodman sustained the objections and after he dismissed the jury for lunch the attorneys discussed the relevancy of

the relationship.

DuBois said he was trying to show Nina Reiser may not have been the perfect mother everyone has said she was, since she let Sturgeon _ who the defense claims was into drugs and had sadomasochism tendencies _ lived in the same house with her two children.

"This flies in the face of what the prosecution was trying to show for two-and-a-half months," DuBois argued to the court.

Hora, however, said her relationship to Sturgeon has nothing to do with whether her estranged husband killed her.

"What she did in her adult life ... doesn't mean she didn't love and would abandon her children," Hora said. "I never said Nina was a perfect person."

Goodman agreed with the prosecutor, and told the defense it could not continue with that line of questioning.

Before the Sturgeon matter came up near noon, Reiser testified he still cares about Nina, but was never deeply in love with her. He said the marriage was more a matter of convenience and two were incompatible because he's a messy person.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:755380177&start=5

[bleachedblack]

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

[bleachedblack]

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

[bleachedblack]

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

[bleachedblack]

Accused killer Reiser recalls last talk with missing wife

04/02/2008
OAKLAND, Calif.—The software programmer accused of killing his estranged wife is spending his ninth day on the stand recalling the last conversation the couple had and the first time he was told she was missing.

Hans Reiser told the Alameda County Superior Court on Wednesday that he and his wife, Nina, had a calm conversation that turned serious at times with talk of their divorce settlement and his desire to seek joint legal custody of their two children.

Reiser is on trial for the murder of his wife, who was last seen dropping their two children off at his house in the Oakland Hills on Sept. 3, 2006. Her body has never been found.

The defense has suggested that Nina Reiser may still be alive and living in her native Russia.

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_8784519

[bleachedblack]

Ship this creep to Joliet and stick him in the same cell with Stebic...bet they would have lots to talk about for many many years to come. 

[bleachedblack]

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

[kissyface]

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.

[bleachedblack]

Jury still deliberating in Reiser murder trial

04/23/2008
After a nearly six-month trial, the jury in the Hans Reiser murder trial met for its first full day of deliberations Wednesday.

>>>>the complete article
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9029184

[bleachedblack]

Hans Reiser found guilty of first-degree murder in wife's death

04/28/2008
Hans Reiser was found guilty today of first-degree murder.

A moment of suspense filled the courtroom as each juror was shown the verdict form and asked if it represented their ruling. It wasn't until after all 12 jurors saw the paper did the judge declare the verdict out loud.

The verdict ends a trial that lasted more than six months, in which the prosecution presented a mountain of circumstantial evidence against the 44-year-old computer engineer while the defense pointed to a lack of direct evidence that linked their client with a murder that has never produced a body. The story of Hans and Nina Reiser began in 1998 when Reiser was visiting Russia to hire computer engineers for his burgeoning file system software company. Reiser also went to marriage agencies, seeking a potential wife.

It was in Russia that Reiser met Nina Sharanova, his future wife and mother of their two children.

The defendant was open about the emotional distance between the two. Reiser testified he saw Nina - a physician in Russia - very little after they first met in 1998, but he brought her to the United States anyway. She became pregnant with their first child, Rory, a month after arriving. The couple also had a daughter.

However, the marriage soon fell apart and Nina separated from Hans and filed for divorce in 2004. She won legal custody of their children; Hans had visitation rights.

 Over the next two years, the two fought a divorce battle, mainly over ownership of the
company, Namesys, which Reiser had started, and child custody issues.

It was under the visitation and custody rights that Nina left the children at Reiser's home on Sept. 3, 2006 - the last time anyone would know of her whereabouts.

http://origin.mercurynews.com/business/ci_9085951

[Bearlyhere]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080429/ap_on_hi_te/missing_mother

<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.

       

[Nut44x4]

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

[klaasend]

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_9811730?nclick_check=1

Body found in Oakland Hills is Nina Reiser
Bay Area News Group
Article Launched: 07/07/2008 06:25:10 PM PDT


Software programmer Hans Reiser on Monday led authorities to the body of his missing wife off a hiking trail in the Oakland hills not far from his home, sources confirmed.

Authorities declined to make any official comment on the discovery of the body, which was believed to have been in some sort of a bag and possibly buried.

Reiser, accompanied by his attorney William Du Bois, led Oakland Police and Alameda County District Attorney's officials to the body early Monday afternoon.

The body was down a steep hillside that runs next to a hiking trail in the 8200 block of Skyline Boulevard. That location is just a few miles from where Reiser lived.

Just before 6 p.m. prosecutor Paul Hora arrived on the scene and was taken to the gravesite.

Reiser was convicted in the death of his estranged wife in April and is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday. He faces 25 years to life in prison.

Nina Reiser was last seen Sept. 3, 2006. Her last known whereabouts were at her husband's home in the Oakland hills, as she dropped off the couple's two children for a visit Labor Day weekend. During the trial, the prosecution presented a mountain of circumstantial evidence against Reiser, while the defense pointed to a lack of direct evidence that linked their client to a slaying in which no body has been found.

Reiser took the witness stand for 11 days during the trial. He gave long, rambling answers to sometimes simple questions and seemed almost never to be at ease. He had several outbursts in court, often ending in strong reprimands from the judge.

[Peaches]

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

[MsVada]

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!!

[Nut44x4]

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