Jurors heard testimony that the front passenger seat was missing and the car contained books on murder with a receipt showing they had been purchased soon after Nina Reiser's disappearance. Linux developer Reiser, 44, is accused of killing Nina Reiser, who remains missing and whose body has not been found.

Reiser's lawyer's questioning indicated that the defendant modified the Honda CRX and took the front seat out so he could sleep in it.

Judge Larry Goodman called for a recess to accommodate the upcoming holidays. The trial is scheduled to resume in Oakland, Calif., on Jan. 14. Prosecutors will likely spend several more weeks presenting their case before the defense makes its arguments.

The 6-week-old murder trial has periodically focused on the family's home life, with prosecutors and Reiser's defense attorney painting vastly different pictures of Nina Reiser.

According to court testimony, the couple met on a Web site advertising Russian brides. At the time she replied to the ad, Nina Reiser practiced obstetrics and gynecology in Russia.

The couple's first in-person meeting was at a cafe in Russia. Hans Reiser told a reporter he donned a cowboy hat for the meeting, which he described as "magical." He also said he and his wife conceived their first child that night and they married when she was five months pregnant.

Seven years later, the marriage had fallen apart. Nina Reiser filed for divorce.

Hans Reiser seemed increasingly frustrated and stressed over financial problems, according to witness testimony during the trial. Reiser developed ReiserFS, the default file system on SUSE Linux/openSUSE, Slackware, Xandros, Yoper, Linspir, and Kurumin Linux. He claimed his wife had stolen money from him, and he lobbied local government officials to change the family court system, while owing money for child support. He told a couple at a children's birthday party that his wife and children were a financial burden. The couple contacted police after learning the woman was missing.

The mother of two, barely over 5 feet tall, had requested an order of protection against Reiser, a black-belt judo student, saying that he had shoved her and threatened to make her hurt for the rest of her life, according to media reports.

Court testimony revealed that Nina Reiser just took a new job and planned to meet with her best friend for dinner on Sept. 3, 2006. The friends had spoken that morning, and Nina Reiser complained that she and her husband had been arguing about the children again.

Surveillance cameras taped the 31-year-old mother at a grocery store around 2 p.m. She dropped her children off at her husband's home and vanished. Nina Reiser never showed for dinner, and her friend began calling repeatedly at 6:30 p.m. When Nina Reiser failed to pick up her children from school the next day, the friend called police. The best friend testified that Nina Reiser was always punctual and reliable. Nina Reiser has not been seen since.