The entertainment world was rocked on Sunday when comedy great Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead at their home in the upscale Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood. The horrific event turned even more shocking when it became clear that the main suspect was the couple’s 32-year-old son, Nick.
Nick Reiner was formerly charged with murder on Dec. 16. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, or potentially the death penalty (though Gov. Gavin Newsom currently has a moratorium on executions in the state).
The following day, Nick’s siblings, Jake and Romy, broke their silence in a statement: “Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day. The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience. They weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends.”
They continued: “We are grateful for the outpouring of condolences, kindness, and support we have received not only from family and friends but people from all walks of life. We now ask for respect and privacy, for speculation to be tempered with compassion and humanity, and for our parents to be remembered for the incredible lives they lived and the love they gave.”
As the criminal case gets underway, and more details about the alleged crime emerge, here is everything we know (and don’t know) so far about this staggering Hollywood tragedy.
The Scene of the Crime
Reiner and Singer were found dead Sunday afternoon, Dec. 14. Paramedics were called to the home at around 3:30 p.m., and officers were dispatched after firefighters discovered a death.
In an interview with The New York Times, a person close to the Reiner family (who requested anonymity) said the bodies were discovered after a message therapist showed up at the house for a scheduled appointment, but was unable to enter. The massage therapist called the couple’s daughter, Romy Reiner, who came by with a roommate. Romy entered the house, found her father’s dead body, and ran back outside, at which point her roommate called 911.
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It was only after paramedics arrived that Romy learned that her mother was dead, as well. At this point, the source said, Romy informed authorities that her brother, Nick, was living in a guest house on the property, but she did not suggest that he might be a suspect or involved in any way. At the time, Nick was not on the property.
The Suspect
Investigators descended on the Reiner home Sunday night, and there was plenty of chaos and confusion as detectives revealed they were still waiting for a warrant to properly search the house. At the time, too, Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton said police were “not seeking anyone as a suspect or as a person of interest.” But already, sources were telling Rolling Stone and other outlets that Nick was believed to have been involved in the homicides.
Nick was the couple’s second of three children, born after his brother Jake and before his younger sister, Romy. While not much is known about Nick’s childhood, it is known that he had a complicated relationship with his parents and had long battled drug addiction, including cocaine and heroin. He first went to rehab at 15 and spent much of his teenage years rotating in and out of facilities. In between rehab stints, he was often homeless.
“If I wanted to do it my way and not go to the programs they were suggesting, then I had to be homeless,” Nick told People in 2016, adding: “I was homeless in Maine. I was homeless in New Jersey. I was homeless in Texas. I spent nights on the street. I spent weeks on the street. It was not fun.”
After Nick got clean at 19, his parents spoke about the challenges he faced in rehab and acknowledged their own shortsightedness regarding the efficacy of these programs for their son. “When Nick would tell us that it wasn’t working for him, we wouldn’t listen,” Rob told The Los Angeles Times in 2015. “We were desperate, and because the people had diplomas on their wall, we listened to them when we should have been listening to our son.”
Michele added, “We were so influenced by these people. They would tell us he’s a liar, that he was trying to manipulate us. And we believed them.”
Nick went on to co-write a semi-autobiographical film called Being Charlie, which Rob Reiner directed. The film, which was released in 2016, centered around the relationship between a troubled son and his famous father. In the same L.A. Times interview in 2015, Nick admitted he wasn’t sure he wanted to make the film, while Rob said, “It was very, very hard going through it the first time, with these painful and difficult highs and lows. And then making the movie dredged it all up again.”
Conan O’Brien’s Party
On Saturday night, Dec. 13, the Reiners attended a holiday party at Conan O’Brien’s house. Though only the couple were invited, sources told Rolling Stone that the Reiners asked if they could bring Nick out of concern for him and to “keep an eye on him.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Reiners were reluctant to leave Nick at home unsupervised, and they had been concerned about his recent behavior, which was described as extreme and stressful.
Reports on what exactly happened at the party vary somewhat, but all paint a similar, and unnerving, picture. Sources told Rolling Stone that Nick exhibited “antisocial behavior,” such as staring at people. Other outlets, like THR and The Wall Street Journal, claimed that Nick was wandering around the party asking people if they were famous. He reportedly interrupted the comedian Bill Hader while he was speaking with someone else; after Hader told Nick he was having a private conversation, Nick allegedly glared at him for a long time, per The WSJ.
Not long after, there were reports that Rob and Nick got into a fight over Nick’s behavior. Rob and Michele reportedly apologized to O’Brien and left the party, though it’s still unclear if Nick left with them.
The person close to the Reiners, who spoke with the Times, did not dispute these accounts, but did downplay the reported intensity of the interaction between Rob and Nick. The source also took issue with the suggestion that Rob and Michele would have left the party early, noting that the Reiners had grown used to Nick’s behavior over the years.
After the Party
Questions still linger about what exactly happened afterward. The L.A. County D.A.’s office would eventually claim that Nick fatally stabbed his parents in the early hours of Dec. 14. A coroner for the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office eventually confirmed the couple died Sunday from “multiple sharp force injuries.”
According to several reports, Nick checked into the Pierside Santa Monica hotel at some point on Sunday, though it’s not clear when he arrived at the hotel. And by the time police tracked him there, Nick was gone. Employees at the hotel told the L.A. Times that police were still investigating the hotel, and the possible role it may have played in the alleged crime, as recently as Tuesday.
The Arrest
Nick was taken into custody Sunday night, Dec. 14, hours after his parents’ bodies were found. He was booked just after 5 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 15. A manhunt led by the LAPD’s Gang and Narcotics Division, along with a U.S. Marshals task force, tracked Nick to Exposition Park, near the University of Southern California, which is about 15 miles from the Reiner’s home.
It’s still unclear how exactly how authorities found Nick, but local ABC affiliate KABC obtained footage that appeared to show Nick at a gas station convenience store before his arrest. The station also showed video of a swarm of police vehicles descending on Nick outside the convenience store.
Possible Motive, Lingering Questions, and What’s Next
Neither prosecutors nor investigators have spoken yet on a possible motive for the alleged crime. There’s also been much speculation about Nick’s recent mental health and the tension between him and his parents in the lead-up to the alleged crime. While some reporting around the O’Brien party suggested the Reiners were growing increasingly concerned with Nick’s behavior, the person who spoke with the Times said nothing had happened in recent weeks to suggest Nick was capable of such an attack.
Just three months ago, Rob Reiner seemed upbeat about Nick in an interview with NPR. While speaking, reflecting on their film, Being Charlie, Reiner said, “He’s been great … hasn’t been doing drugs for over six years. He’s in a really good place.”
Nick is officially facing two counts of first-degree murder, as well as a special allegation that he used a dangerous and deadly weapon, a knife. Reiner is being held in a downtown Los Angeles jail without bail.
An arraignment was originally expected to take place Dec. 16, but Nick’s attorney, Alan Jackson, told reporters that he was not medically cleared to appear in court. On Dec. 17, Nick did appear in court, seated in a plexiglass-enclosed pen and wearing a padded blue suicide-prevention gown with a shackle around his waist. Jackson asked to postpone his plea until Jan. 7, and when the judge asked if Nick agreed to waive his right to a speedy arraignment, he replied, “Yes, your honor.”
Outside the courthouse, Jackson told reporters: “This is a devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family. We all recognize that. Our hearts go out to the entire Reiner family. There are very, very complex and serious issues that are associated with this case. They need to be thoroughly but very carefully dealt with and examined and looked at and analyzed.”
From Rolling Stone US
