GUILTY CA - Nina Reiser, 31, Oakland, 3 September 2006

[LinasK]

POSTED: 8:30 am PDT October 12, 2006
UPDATED: 5:33 pm PDT October 12, 2006


OAKLAND -- Hours before the estranged husband of Nina Reiser was to be arraigned for her murder, Oakland detective revealed some of the circumstantial evidence that led to an arrest in the case.

According to the Oakland Tribune and KTVU sources, police found splatters of the missing Oakland doctor's blood inside Hans Reiser's home and car. They also discovered several books on police investigations purchased by the Montclair man after the Sept.3 disappearance of Nina Reiser.

The case against Hans Reiser, 41, has been based on circumstantial physical evidence and statements made by his wife's friends and family, said Officer Roland Holmgren, a spokesman for Oakland police.

Homicide detectives have said they think Nina Reiser's body is somewhere in the San Francisco Bay area and that locating it would help strengthen their case.

Hans Reiser, who was arrested earlier this week on suspicion of murder, is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday.His attorney, William Du Bois, maintained that authorities have no hard evidence pointing to his client committing homicide.

"There is no pool of blood in any location," Du Bois told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Nina Reiser, a 31-year-old Russian immigrant who was trained as a doctor, was last seen dropping off the couple's 7-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter at her husband's home in the Oakland hills on Sept 3. Her Honda minivan was found six days later with her purse and groceries still inside.

Police said the Reisers were embroiled in an acrimonious divorce and child custody fight after separating in May 2004.

On Wednesday, the missing mother's family and friends took out billboard ads with the hope of still finding her alive. more at link:http://www.ktvu.com/news/10059722/detail.html

 

[Sabal]

H don't know how to combine threads but I had posted this initially on 9/17


http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43295&highlight=Nina+Reiser

 

[LinasK]

Attorneys for Hans Reiser say case against client is flimsy
By Harry Harris and Jason Dearen STAFF WRITERS
Article Last Updated:10/12/2006 07:13:12 PM PDT



OAKLAND — Nina Reiser's children were in the house when police believe her husband killed her, according to a probable cause statement filed by investigators Thursday.

Hans Reiser, 42, also told his two children not to say anything to police if they were asked about him, according to the statement.

Police arrested Reiser on Tuesday after confirming tests on DNA extracted from splattered blood in the living room of his Montclair house and in his car could not exclude it as his estranged wife's. Handcuffed and wearing a red jail-house jump suit, Hans Reiser was arraigned in court Thursday on a murder charge. He delayed entering a plea so his defense attorneys can review evidence.


His attorneys, William H. Du Bois and Daniel Horowitz, said the case against their client is flimsy at best, and will not hold up under scrutiny in court.

While police believe Nina Reiser is dead, they have not found her

body. Prosecutors charged Reiser with murder even though no body has been found, a rare legal occurrence. The Reisers' two children, a girl, 5, and a boy, 7, were taken into protective custody and interviewed by police in their mother's disappearance.

Nina Reiser, 31, dropped off the children at her estranged husband's house about 2 p.m. Sept. 3, after picking up groceries at the Berkeley Bowl market. Police later reviewed surveillance footage showing that Nina Reiser and her two children left Berkeley Bowl about 1:55 p.m., beforeheading to her husband's house.



Police said the youngsters were downstairs playing video games at Hans Reiser's Montclair house Sept. 3, and heard their parents arguing.

"One of the children indicated that Hans Reiser and Nina Reiser were possibly involved in an argument," wrote police missing persons Officer Ryan Gill.

"The child indicated that his parents were talking at a `medium' volume and that they were using `not nice words,' " Gill wrote. The son later told an investigator he had gone upstairs when his mother and father were in the living room. The child said his father told him to go back downstairs and not to come back up, according to the statement.



Nina Reiser has not been seen since. Two days later, on Sept. 5, she failed to pick up the children from school, and concerned friends notified police.

On. Sept. 9, Nina Reiser's tan mini van was found on the 1500 block of Fernwood Drive in Montclair. It was locked, and groceries were "strewn about the vehicle."

"Nina Reiser's cell phone remained in the vehicle, and had been dismantled (battery removed and phone flipped open)," according to the statement.

Also inside the van were personal checks, receipts and more than $100 in cash. The evidence recovered in the vehicle did not indicate to investigators that robbery was the intended motive.

Search and rescue dogs scoured the area around the van, but did not come up with any scent trails. That led investigators to conclude Nina Reiser had not been to the location where her van was found. Witnesses in the neighborhood told police the van was parked there Sept. 5.

Attempts to interview Hans Reiser immediately after his wife's disappearance were unsuccessful. "When the officer attempted to gather information for his preliminary investigation, Hans Reiser became uncooperative and advised the officer to contact his lawyer," Gill wrote in the statement.

Police also interviewed Hans Reiser's mother, Beverly Palmer, who refused to provide a formal statement. Palmer was not at home Sept. 3, and told investigators she was attending the "Burning Man" festival in Nevada. Palmer, who refused to comment after her son's court hearing Thursday, did not allow investigators inside her home when first asked, the report states.



Nina and Hans Reiser met in Russia in 1999, later married and lived together until about April 2004, when Nina kicked her husband out, police said. That's when Hans Reiser moved into his mother's Montclair house. Nina Reiser filed for divorce in 2004, and eventually won custody of the children.



Investigators said that during the course of their separation, Hans Reiser physically assaulted his wife and threatened to cause her bodily harm "for the rest of her life."

On the weekend Nina Reiser disappeared, the couple had argued about the weekend custody of their children. Nina Reiser had agreed to split the weekend days with her husband. Though Hans Reiser was granted visitation of his children, he was only allowed to pick them up under police supervision at the Oakland police department. Officers who observed the exchanges said they were concerned for Nina Reiser's safety at times, and one officer recommended she consider buying a firearm to protect herself.



In the days after the disappearance, police said they began following Hans Reiser, and he began trying to lose them by driving at varying speeds, turning down quiet residential streets, and making abrupt stops.

Police finally recovered the 1988 Honda CRX that Reiser drove near the Montclair Golf Course on Monterey Boulevard on Sept. 19, and noticed it was missing the right front passenger seat. The seat is still missing.

Inside the car investigators found a roll of large, black trash bags — with some bags missing — a socket wrench, masking tape, a map of Manteca and an atlas of Northern California.

Investigators also found two books in the car, "Homicide, A Year on the Killing Streets" by David Simon, and "Masterpieces of Murder" by Jonathan Goodman. The books were purchased Sept. 8 — five days after Nina Reiser went missing — from Barnes & Noble in Berkeley. Both volumes provide detailed accounts of homicide investigations.

Forensics investigators found a 1-by-3-inch blood stain on a sleeping bag "stuff sack" in the car. The stain was tested and Nina Reiser could not be excluded as the source, the statement said.

In addition, investigators found evidence they believe shows the car was cleaned — including water residue under the rug and a siphon pump.

They found a traffic ticket Hans Reiser received Sept. 12 from a Redwood City police officer, who later remembered him being "very nervous." He told Oakland police the front seat was "definitely in place and he would have remembered if it was missing." When police on Sept. 28 briefly detained Hans Reiser to obtain a DNA sample, he had about $8,900 in cash, his passport and receipts, including one for the siphon pump. more at link:http://www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_4484255

 

[scandi]

Why would he need the syphon pump? To suck up water from washing the inside of the car? OH yea, and probably in his house too. Dumbo of a guy, as though that will stop luminol from discovering blood!

Scandi

 

[LinasK]

Doesn't this guy's actions strike you like those of Scott Peterson???

Bet she's buried/disposed of in Manteca...

 

[scandi]

Hi Lynask,

I no nothing about Manteca, It sounds like a bay. Why do you think Manteca is impiortant, or why would he put her there. Is it close to the forest, or where her car was found?

Scandi

 

[Penelope631]

Manteca is between Tracy and Modesto.

 

[Jacobi]

Doesn't this guy's actions strike you like those of Scott Peterson???

I was thinking exactly the same thing...

Hans exhibits consciousness of guilt, see below:-

- (odd behaviour) his driving as he was being followed & ditching his own car at the golf course
- the passport and cash
- the purchasing of the books on police cases and police procedure (also take not of when he bought those books)
- not showing up at the custody hearing after police searched his house
- not phoning Nina to find out where she is (perhaps because he already knew her fate)
- not replying to the boyfriend's emails

etc, etc...

 

[Jacobi]

Shackled!

"Both children repeatedly told police that their mother is a "liar and that she lies to the courts," although neither could recall a specific incidence of her lying except times their father told them she had lied."


Insidebayarea article

1. Beverly Palmer, Reiser's mother, was not at home Sept. 3.

2. Palmer did not allow investigators inside her home when first asked.

3. Though Hans Reiser was granted visitation of his children, he was only allowed to pick them up under police supervision at the Oakland police department. -- but then why did Nina just drop them off at his house? Weird.

4. Du Bois (Reiser's attorney) complained about the police department's leaks of information to the media, and said there is much more to the story, especially concerning Nina Reiser's background. Du Bois claimed she had an "incredible extramarital life". -- intriguing

More at insidebayarea

5. (Police say) Kids were playing video games at Hans Reiser's Montclair house Sept. 3, and heard their parents arguing.

6. The groceries were "strewn about the vehicle." --suggesting the car was driven and taking corners at some speed

7. Nina was granted a temporary restraining order against Hans in December 2004 after she reported that he had pushed her and was abusive to her. A year later, she agreed not to seek a permanent order. -- to me it seems like the whole domestic abuse issue is being blown out of proportion

 

[LinasK]

Hi Lynask,

I no nothing about Manteca, It sounds like a bay. Why do you think Manteca is impiortant, or why would he put her there. Is it close to the forest, or where her car was found?

Scandi

Because he had a map of Manteca in the car. Manteca is way inland, nowhere near the Oakland/Montclair Hills area where he lived. He lived in a very wealthy, and heavily wooded area in the hills of Oakland. Very richy chichy area.

 

[Jacobi]

Because he had a map of Manteca in the car. Manteca is way inland, nowhere near the Oakland/Montclair Hills area where he lived. He lived in a very wealthy, and heavily wooded area in the hills of Oakland. Very richy chichy area.

I feel the maps are a red herring. If the police were really putting much stock in them they wouldn't be focusing their search efforts to Redwood Park in the Oakland hills.

 

[LinasK]

POSTED: 5:27 pm PDT October 13, 2006
UPDATED: 5:46 pm PDT October 13, 2006



OAKLAND, Calif. -- The arrest of Hans Reiser in connection with the murder of his estranged wife is having a ripple effect on the technology world.

Reiser is the developer of one of the most advanced software file systems in the world, ReiserFS.

Because Reiser is the backbone of Namesys, the software's parent company, many wonder what his arrest will mean for the software's future. Already, one major client has announced it is phasing out ReiserFS for the Linux operating system.



"Since so much hinges on him and with his own future in doubt, it makes it difficult to make a monetary bet on the technology," said technology analyst Rob Enderlee. more at link:http://www.nbc11.com/technology/10074186/detail.html

​

 

[i.b.nora]

In the same vein:

Posted Oct 13, 2006
Novell will switch from ReiserFS to ext3

From the Coincidence? dept.:
"In September, Jeff Mahoney from the SUSE Labs sent out an email to the opensuse-factory mailing list analyzing several issues with the ReiserFS filesystem. In the message he proposed changing SUSE over to another filesystem. The responses must have been positive, as Novell today confirmed it will be changing SUSE's default filesystem in the next version from ReiserFS 3 to ext3."
"Mahoney in his email identifies several technical problems, as well as problems related to maintenance. The problem grew out of proportion ever since Hans Reiser, the main developer of the file system, relegated ReiserFS v3 to maintenance mode and would vehemently resist any proposals for change except for bug fixes."

It would be interesting to know when in September the initial email was sent out.

 

[LinasK]

The problem grew out of proportion ever since Hans Reiser would vehemently resist any proposals for change except for bug fixes."

I wonder if this was evidence of his other side of his personality, wanting to control and resist change, and if he foreshadowed the downfall of his filesystem, then maybe he felt he had nothing to lose in murdering his wife??? Just a theory.

 

[i.b.nora]

"According to sources close to the investigation, Reiser had to pay $8,000 in alimony a month to Nina Reiser."

That's a hefty sum, seems to me.

 

[i.b.nora]

I wonder if this was evidence of his other side of his personality, wanting to control and resist change, and if he foreshadowed the downfall of his filesystem, then maybe he felt he had nothing to lose in murdering his wife??? Just a theory.

I don't get a warm fuzzy feeling about this dude at all. I think there is one side to his personality; cold, dark, definitely controlling, probably a psychopath, and has a weird relationship with his mother (imo). I wonder if he saw the Black Dahlia film?

 

[LinasK]

I don't get a warm fuzzy feeling about this dude at all. I think there is one side to his personality; cold, dark, definitely controlling, probably a psychopath, and has a weird relationship with his mother (imo). I wonder if he saw the Black Dahlia film?

I didn't mean to imply that he had a warm, fuzzy side to him, probably just a public persona and a private one which was darker than anything he revealed in his work environment, but perhaps the dark controlling side was starting to surface at work?

 

[scandi]

I know she had custody of the children, but I do't get a warm fuzzy feeling about her either, although I am sorry she is dead. She was involved with a S&M guy who was not a nice person, and she should have had better sense than to be involved with a guy like this when she had small children. I know it is easy to cast stones.

Just an old fogie here!

 

[Jacobi]

I don't get a warm fuzzy feeling about this dude at all. I think there is one side to his personality; cold, dark, definitely controlling, probably a psychopath, and has a weird relationship with his mother (imo). I wonder if he saw the Black Dahlia film?

Why would you call his relationship with his mother weird? From what I read he was forced to move in with her after he was kicked out of his house by Nina.

There's a little audio interview online with Hans Reiser and in it he seems very calm and to-the-point, but accomodating. As for him being controlling, he's just protective of his baby (ReiserFS) because that's his legacy to the world. And he's completely right to resist any more features to be added to the project so that the focus can be completely on erradicating the bugs. Don't forget Reiser 4 (the next version) is the one he's banking on for the future.

 

[LinasK]

POSTED: 8:49 pm PDT October 16, 2006


OAKLAND -- Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff admitted Monday that, "it's not the norm" to prosecute someone on murder charges in a case where a body hasn't been found, but he said such cases do happen.

Orloff commented on so-called "no-body homicides" in the wake of his office's decision last week to charge 42-year-old software developer Hans Reiser with murder for the death of his wife Nina Reiser even though her body hasn't been found.Orloff said in homicides where bodies aren't found, prosecutors must rely on circumstantial evidence, prove to the jury that someone is dead and that the defendant was responsible.

Oakland police said last week that they have biological and trace evidence suggesting that Nina Reiser is dead and they have blood evidence tying Hans Reiser to her death.

Orloff said if Nina Reiser's body is found it probably "would improve the chances" of getting a conviction against Hans Reiser but he thinks his office would still have a strong case against him even if the body is never found.

Dan Horowitz, one of two attorneys representing Hans Reiser, said, "it's very rare" to have someone charged with murder when the body of the alleged victim hasn't been found.He said, "The burden is on the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt in this case" that Nina Reiser was killed and that Hans Reiser was responsible.

Assistant District Attorney Jon Goodfellow Monday recalled prosecuting Peter McFetridge in 1988 on charges of murdering his girlfriend in August of 1985 even though her body hadn't been found.

Goodfellow said the girlfriend had kicked McFetridge out of the house the day before she disappeared.

He said there was blood on the carpet of the home the couple shared on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland and there were bullet holes on the floor and wall that he believed came from a rifle that McFetridge owned.

Goodfellow said he also introduced a statement by McFetridge's mother that McFetridge had admitted to her that he had shot his girlfriend.

In a dramatic development in the trial, McFetridge, who was represented by veteran defense lawyer Tony Serra, claimed that he shot his girlfriend in self-defense and revealed that he had buried her 3 feet under their house.

His trial was halted for nearly two weeks while authorities dug up her body.

Goodfellow said the girlfriend's body had five bullet wounds, which he said destroyed McFetridge's contention that he had shot her in self-defense.

McFetridge, who died in state prison last year, was convicted of second-degree murder.

However, Goodfellow said he thinks McFetridge would have been convicted of first-degree murder if his girlfriend's body hadn't been found.

He said because the body was found, McFetridge was able to give jurors "a plausible story" that the shooting occurred during a heat of the moment boyfriend-girlfriend argument.

"His story was that there had been a confrontation," Goodfellow said. more at link:http://www.ktvu.com/news/10091604/detail.html