Дело для Райзера обстоит хуже, чем могло показаться по первым публикациям.

Children apparently home when missing mom slain, police say
By Harry Harris and Jason Dearen, STAFF WRITERS

OAKLAND - Nina Reiser's two children were in the house on the day police believe 
her husband killed her, according to a probable cause statement filed by Oakland 
police Thursday morning.

Police arrested Hans Reiser, 42, Tuesday after discovering splattered blood in the 
living room of his Montclair home and in his car. Forensic tests on the blood 
cannot exclude Nina Reiser, 31, as its donor, according to police.

Reiser will be arraigned on a murder charge this afternoon in Alameda County 
Superior Court. While police believe Nina Reiser is dead, her whereabouts is still 
unknown.

The Reiser's two children, a girl, 5, and a boy, 7, were taken into protective 
custody and interviewed by police in the days after their mother's disappearance.

Nina Reiser dropped her kids off at her estranged husband's home on Sept. 3, after 
picking up groceries at the Berkeley Bowl market. The statement said that 
authorities believe the kids were downstairs playing video games at Hans Reiser's 
Montclair home on Sept. 3, and that the kids heard their parents arguing.

``One of the children indicated that Hans Reiser and Nina Reiser were possibly 
involved in an argument,'' wrote Missing Persons Investigator Ryan Gill.

``The child indicated that his parents were talking at a `medium' volume and that 
they were using `not nice words.''' Gill wrote. One of the children later told an 
investigator that he had gone upstairs and that his mom and dad were in the living 
room.
The child said that Hans Reiser told him to go back downstairs and not to come back
 upstairs, not even to the kitchen area, according to the statement.

Nina Reiser was supposed to drop her off kids and had plans that Sept. 3 evening to
 meet a friend for dinner. She never showed. Nina and Hans Reiser 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 home. Nina Reiser filed for divorce 
in 2004, and eventually won custody of their kids.

Investigators also learned that during the course of the separation that Hans 
Reiser had physically assaulted Nina Reiser and has made verbal threats of causing 
her bodily harm ``for the rest of her life.''

On the weekend she disappeared, the couple had argued about the weekend custody of 
their children. Nina Reiser had agreed to split the weekend days with her husband.

The two kids were taken to school on Tuesday, Sept. 5. She never picked them up. 
Concerned friends and Nina Reiser's boyfriend notified police.

``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 probable cause statement.

Police also interviewed Hans Reiser's mother, Beverly Palmer, who refused to 
provide a formal statement. Palmer was not at home on Sept. 3, and she told 
investigators that she was attending Burning Man in Nevada.

Palmer did not allow investigators inside her home when first asked, the report 
states.

On. Sept. 9 Nina Reiser's tan minivan was located in the 1500 block of Fernwood 
Drive, a short distance from Hans Reiser's home. It was unoccupied and locked, and 
grocery bags were inside.

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

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.

Police later reviewed surveillance footage showing that Nina Reiser and her two 
children left Berkeley Bowl at about 1:55 p.m., before heading to her husband's 
house.

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

Police recovered the 1988 Honda CRX that Reiser drove in Berkeley, and noticed it 
was missing the right, front passenger seat. The seat has still not been found, 
police said.

Inside the car investigators also found a roll of large black trash bags and a 
socket wrench.

Hans Reiser purchased two books ``Homicide'' by David Simon and ``Masterpieces of 
Murder'' by Jonathan Goodman on Sept. 8 from Barnes & Noble in Berkeley.

Also inside the car forensics investigators found a blood stain on a sleeping bag 
stuff sack which measured one inch by three inches. The stain was tested and Nina 
Reiser could not be excluded as its donor. In addition, investigators found 
evidence they believe shows the car was cleaned _ including water residue under the
 rug.

When police on Sept. 28 detained Hans Reiser briefly to obtain a DNA sample Reiser 
had about $8,900 in cash, his passport, and receipts, including one for a siphon 
pump found in his car.

Police said the last purchase they've been able to track by Nina Reiser is from the
 Berkeley Bowl on Sept. 3. Her last phone call was made to Hans Reiser's house.

Reiser's attorney, William H. Du Bois, said he will not comment about any evidence 
until he is given a chance to review it.

``We're going to roll up our sleeves, examine the evidence carefully and get busy 
defending him on a case I think pushes the very limits of the doctrine of 
circumstantial evidence ... in a murder case'' where there is no body, Du Bois 
said.

Я-то сначала понял так, что она оставила детей и уехала, а оказывается – они ещё некоторое время были в доме вместе и ругались.
Если найдуться свидетельства, что незадолго до исчезновения пассажирское кресло было на месте и было в порядке, то дела у Райзера будут довольно паршивые.

Паспорт и кэш конкретно у Райзера как раз нифига не улика – он постоянно ездил в Россию и возил кэш для покупок и зарплат своим сотрудникам. Привык, типа.
Книга, купленная после исчезновения, тоже слабовата в качестве улики.