Linux programmer Hans Reiser has been found guilty of the first-degree murder of his estranged Russian-born wife Nina, who went missing after dropping their two small children with their father on Labor Day weekend 2006.

Reiser, who’s been in jail since October of 2006, is now looking at a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

First-degree murder assumes the killing was premeditated.

Tape of the reading of the verdict shows Reiser trying to absorb the decision, suggesting he may have been surprised.

Nina’s body has never been found and the circumstantial case against the Reiser FS filesystem creator was based largely on his own incriminating behavior after her disappearance and his own 11-days worth of bizarre, rambling and incredible testimony during the five-and-a-half-month trial.

The police found minute traces of blood at his home and a blood stain on a sleeping bag in his car. By the time the hidden little Honda CRX was found Reiser had junked the passenger seat and hosed down the interior leaving an inch of water on the floor.

The cops also found two books on murder investigations that Reiser, who was carrying thousands of dollars and his passport when he was arrested, had just bought in the car.

His little son testified that Reiser removed what the boy assumed was Nina’s covered body from the house.

The jury started deliberating last Tuesday afternoon and stopped for a long weekend Thursday, resuming today. Sentencing will follow.

Reiser, who proved a handful for both his lawyer and the judge to control, claimed that Nina had abandoned her children and was alive and living in Russia.

They had been involved in a bitter custody battle over the children and Reiser accused her in court of having had an affair with his best friend and embezzling money from his company.

His lawyer, who says he will appeal, tried to explain Reiser’s behavior with what was called the “Geek Defense,” basically chalking it up to eccentricity and abnormality, comparing him to a platypus.

The children are in Russia with Nina’s mother.