We thought the Montclarion saga was over.  Hans Reiser has been officially locked up 15-plus years, for the murder of his estranged wife Nina.

Well the saga continues for the Reiser kids, who now live with their maternal grandmother in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Last week, a pro-bono suit was filed, which attempts to extract financial support for Rory and Niorline.  The wrongful death suit, filed on their behalf, is hardly a reach.

While this suit was reported by the Oakland Tribune and SF Chronicle today, I wanted to record the sorry tale of the Reiser children here.  It’s the least we can do to honor this local Montclarion mom, who was strangled to death by her husband – while their kids were around.

Older son Rory was quite clear-headed at the trial, even testifying that he saw his father carrying a black bag down the stairs.  This bag was Nina’s burial shroud, unearthed when Hans led cops to her hillside grave this summer.

The suit clearly states that both children “were in the house when the Defendant murdered Nina, which has resulted in severe emotional distress and psychological damage.”  No kidding.

At his sentencing hearing last week, Hans insisted the kids did not witness the crime and “never even knew what happened.”  He expressed remorse and actually seemed sad for them.  This delusional, alternate universe of Hans Reiser continues to make me sick.

As part of his sympathy campaign, Reiser also set up a token trust fund which will accept donations for his kids.  Around Montclair, the scuttlebutt says to ignore this request because funds won’t ever make it to the offspring.

Here’s hoping the kids’ lawyers prevail instead, and they receive some compensation for their radically altered and irrevocably harmed lives.   It can’t be an easy life over in Russia, instead of Montclair.