LEBANON - An Internet search for the words "Ryan Widmer" and "murder" yields about 16,000 results on Google.com.

A website started by Ryan Widmer supporters - freeryanwidmer.com - has logged about 68,000 visitors - some from as far away as Germany, Japan and China.

At a November conference in Las Vegas, a pair of lawyers - one from Florida, the other from California - approached Cincinnati lawyer Mark Krumbein, asking him about "the bathtub case."

And attorney Mike Allen, who has been providing commentary about the case for several news outlets, says: "Public interest in this case has reached a fever pitch. I literally can't walk down the street or go to the grocery store without being asked about it."

He says he has never seen such a phenomenon in his 37 years in the criminal justice system.

"People have Facebooked, Twittered and tweeted about this case more than any other case in the history of this area," said Allen, former Hamilton County prosecutor. "It just adds to the immense amount of pre-trial publicity generated."

These examples show that, because of traditional news media, new media and old-fashioned word-of-mouth, many people in Greater Cincinnati and beyond are aware of the Warren County man who faces trial for a third time in the 2008 bathtub-drowning of his wife.