A former lover of the missing wife of Linux programmer and accused spouse killer Hans Reiser has confessed to killing eight people unrelated to the case, prosecutors informed the defense last week.

Sean Sturgeon, a one-time friend of Reiser’s, had already been a focus of the defense team’s efforts to shift suspicion off Reiser in the disappearance of his estranged wife, Nina Reiser. Sturgeon’s alleged confession to a series of

unrelated murders will likely complicate the trial, which is set to begin Monday.

“(Deputy District Attorney) Paul Hora indicated that the court was ordering him to divulge this information,” defense attorney Richard Tamor said last Friday. “He also said that Sturgeon had confessed to a potential ninth murder, but that Sturgeon wasn’t sure if the victim was fully dead when he left him.”

Article