OAKLAND, California -- Week five of the Hans Reiser murder trial zeroed in on the strange behavior witnesses said the Linux programmer exhibited immediately following his wife's disappearance.
In four days of testimony, witnesses said that Reiser, the 43-year-old developer of open-source file systems, appeared nervous and was seen washing his driveway while wearing thick clothes on a hot summer night two days after his wife, Nina Reiser, disappeared.
That testimony, and statements from others who said Nina Reiser had just accepted a new job and would never voluntarily leave her children, made for some of the trial's most powerful -- and yet puzzling -- circumstantial evidence, as prosecutors worked to refute the husband's defense.
The husband says he did not kill his wife, who was divorcing him. The 31-year-old woman vanished to Russia, where the couple met, leaving behind her two young children, now 6 and 8, Reiser claims.
Like all murder cases where there is no body, prosecutors are trying to focus jurors on the defendant's behavior following the alleged victim's disappearance. Nina Reiser was last seen on Sept. 3, 2006, when she brought her two children to her husband's house in the Oakland hills. Prosecutors are also projecting a pristine image of the mother, putting on a daily dose of witnesses portraying the woman in glowing terms -- as a mother who they say would never abandon her kids.
That, in a nutshell, is the Murder Trial of Hans Reiser. Expect the introduction of forensic evidence in a few weeks, but don't expect any evidence directly linking the husband as a killer: The case against the husband is founded solely on circumstantial evidence.
Viewed individually, each piece of the muddled puzzle means nothing. The evidence, if believed and viewed collectively, is beginning to tell a tale.
On Wednesday, jurors were left wondering why the husband was hosing his driveway at around 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. on a warm night, two days after his wife went missing, according to the testimony of neighbor Jack Stabb. Stabb said he had never seen Hans Reiser work around the house. "I could see he was dressed for winter ... a hunting jacket or something. I thought, Jesus," Stabb testified.
Stabb said his vision was obstructed by some bamboo, and could not tell whether the defendant was scrubbing the compartment of his tiny Honda CRX, which was discovered soaked on the inside. Its passenger seat was missing -- a sleeping bag cover inside was stained with trace amounts of Nina Reiser's blood.
Prosecutor Paul Hora eliciting testimony from day care worker Natalie Potter, who is telling jurors Hans Reiser unexpectedly showed up at his children's day care after his wife went missing.
Illustration: Norman QuebedeauStabb testified that Reiser's driveway was still covered with pine needles the following morning.
The defendant, before being jailed without bail, lived in the Oakland hills adjacent to thousands of acres of open space. The testimony might have left jurors wondering whether the defendant was cleaning up after dumping a body, or washing mud off the CRX. Or was he just cleaning the driveway? Prosecutor Paul Hora claims the woman never left the house alive.
The late-night hosing and other behavior by the defendant, according to defense attorney William DuBois, will be explained in the coming weeks when the defense gets its turn to put on witnesses. The defendant wants to testify, and his attorney opposes it.
"We will put all of the pieces of the puzzle together," DuBois said.
Also on Wednesday, which was the most perplexing day so far, the 12 jurors and four alternates in Alameda County Superior Court were left wondering why the husband showed up at his children's school on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2006, the first day of school following the Labor Day weekend. Two days before, Nina Reiser went missing.
At the Oakland elementary school, the defendant demanded a meeting to discuss a school policy. He said he was not there to pick up the kids, testified Natalie Potter, an official at the school.
"When he came in, he was very nervous-like," Potter testified.
Hans Reiser watches his attorney, William DuBois, cross-examine Ellen Doren, who was Nina Reiser's best friend.
Illustration: Norman QuebedeauEllen Doren, who testified she was best friends with Nina Reiser, picked up the children that day because the mother never showed up. Doren testified that Nina Reiser's children "were her life."
When Nina Reiser failed to meet Doren for dinner the evening of Sept. 3, 2006, Doren said: "I kept waiting for her. She wasn't there. I kept calling her."
But the defense didn't just lie down this week or any other. Over and over again, Reiser's lawyer injected doubt about Nina Reiser in a bid to get jurors to wonder whether she just might have left her children -- that there was a secret side to her.
Toward that end, DuBois on Wednesday grilled Doren, suggesting that even she did not know her best friend that well.
"Did Nina ever tell you that she looked on the net for men to have sexual relationships with?" DuBois asked, referring to saved searches found on the missing woman's computer.
"No."
"Are you aware Nina looked online to find men to have sex with?" DuBois asked again. "If she was, she didn't discuss it with you."
"Right," Doren replied.
DuBois also raised suspicion about Nina Reiser after prosecutor Paul Hora elicited glowing testimony about her from a social services agency employee who testified the agency hired her to work with Russian immigrants. Nina Reiser never reported on Sept. 7 to give fingerprints.
"You told her that you were going to be submitting her fingerprints to see if she had any type of record?" DuBois asked Mary Jo Williams, a director for Bay Area Community Resources, the agency that hired Nina Reiser.
"Yes."
"And she never showed up for the fingerprints, right?"
"Yes."
Nina Reiser did supply fingerprints for her U.S. citizenship application.
Testimony resumes Monday. Wired's THREAT LEVEL blog is providing gavel-to-gavel coverage.
See Also:
- Video of Hans Reiser's Kids Moves Jurors at Linux Programmer's ...
- Hans Reiser's Mom Tells Jurors One Thing, Police Another -- Update
- Hans Reiser Portrayed as 'Stressed' Before Nina Vanished -- Update 2
- Police Officer to Nina Reiser: 'Get Yourself a Gun' -- Update
- Reiser's Mom Defending Son on Her Second Day of Testimony -- Update
- Linux Programmer, Hans Reiser, Facing Murder Trial -- UPDATE ...
- Reiser Murder Trial Theme Emerging: Wife Was a Good Mom, Bad Mom ...
