Hans Reiser

Hans Thomas Reiser was born in Oakland, California to Ramon and Beverly (née Kleiber) Reiser and grew up in the same city. He dropped out of junior high school when he was 13 because of his disdain for what he considered an overly rigid, conventional schooling system, and for constantly being ridiculed and bullied by his peers. Reiser stated in interviews that, at the age of 15, he was accepted into the University of California, Berkeley. Reiser attended the university off and on until he received a BS in computer science in 1992 at age 28.

Marriage

In 1998, while working in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Reiser arranged to meet a Russian woman he selected from a mail-order bride catalog. To communicate with the woman, Reiser hired an interpreter, Nina Sharanova (Russian: Нина Шаранова). Five months later, he married Nina. Nina was a Russian-born and trained obstetrician and gynecologist. They had two children.

Hans's father, Ramon, became suspicious of his new daughter-in-law when she took the title of CFO at Namesys at that time. Ramon was trained in military interviewing techniques and claimed that Nina lied to him when he confronted her about the fast-shrinking reserves of Namesys.

The Reisers separated in May 2004. Nina filed for divorce three months later, citing irreconcilable differences and alleging that their children "hardly know their father" because he was out of the country on business for most of the year, according to court records. She was granted sole legal custody of the children and shared physical custody with her husband. The divorce was not finalized when she disappeared.

Nina obtained a temporary restraining order against Hans in December 2004 after he pushed her at the height of the divorce proceedings. She dropped the temporary restraining order in late 2005 because the heat of the divorce had chilled over time. In exchange, Hans agreed to be bound by a one-year civil restraining order which prohibited him from "contacting, harassing or disturbing the peace" of Nina. In May, Nina alleged in court filings that her husband had failed to pay 50 percent medical expenses and childcare expenses as ordered by a judge and was in arrears for more than $12,000.

Murder investigation

Later that month, Oakland police briefly detained Hans Reiser, served him with a search warrant on his person, and obtained a DNA sample. On October 10, 2006, following the second search of his home, Oakland police and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigators removed a number of items. HSI had been investigating Reiser for money laundering. Police arrested Reiser for the murder of Nina and charged him.

On October 11, 2006, law enforcement officials said that blood spatter had been found in Reiser's house and car. Forensic testing could neither confirm nor rule out Nina as the source of the blood. Daniel Horowitz, a high-profile defense attorney, joined the defense team and dropped the case on November 28, citing Reiser's inability to pay for his services.

Namesys's employees said that Reiser felt that the police would suspect him from the start. Reiser was arraigned on Thursday, October 12, where he delayed entering a plea until his next court appearance on November 28. He was held without bail. On November 28, Reiser entered a not-guilty plea and invoked his right to a speedy trial, forcing the state to schedule a preliminary hearing for December 11.

On December 2, at the request of the Oakland police, search-and-rescue teams combed an area less than three miles (5 km) from Hans Reiser's house, but no new major findings were announced.