The murder of Michele and Rob Reiner: A tale of horrific days in Hollywood

The Reiners were, as Tolstoy might say, one of those happy families that all look alike, just one like all the others. But they carried a burden that made them unhappy in their own way. Rob and Michele’s middle son, Nick, had many problems: addiction, mental health issues. At 32, he still lived with his parents. They were worried and had discussed it with their closest friends: the Obamas, the Crystals. But they probably never imagined that it would be Nick who would end their lives.

Hollywood is still reeling from the shock. All of Los Angeles is shaken by the story of a couple who, besides being famous and beloved members of the community, were simply their next-door neighbors. The murders of director Rob Reiner (78) and his wife, Michele Reiner (68), whose bodies were found fatally stabbed on Sunday afternoon, have deeply impacted the city. And even more so with the revelation that their middle son, Nick, is suspected of taking their lives. On Tuesday, the District Attorney’s office announced, in a predictably packed press conference, that it will file charges of first-degree murder, with special circumstances and the aggravating factor of using a knife. These charges could carry a sentence of life in prison or even the death penalty. Even Police Chief Jim McDonnell appeared distraught, stating that the case was “shocking and deeply personal.”

The reports pointed very quickly, perhaps too quickly, to Nick as the alleged killer. On Sunday, minutes before 7:00 p.m., the media began reporting that there were two bodies in the Reiner home. Their ages matched those of the homeowners. This wasn’t confirmed until almost an hour later. But soon after, not just tabloids, but reputable media outlets like People magazine pointed to the culprit: before 8:00 p.m., they were already reporting that Nick was the perpetrator.

The police, on the other hand, were much more deliberate. Cautiously, but also withholding certain information, the deputy chief constable held a press conference on Sunday at 9:00 p.m. They did not reveal how, or thanks to what call, they had found the bodies. To the press’s questions about Nick, they only said that “many family members” were being questioned. They stated that they had also spoken with neighbors as part of the investigation. “There is no one in custody and no suspects have been identified,” LAPD Deputy Chief Alan S. Hamilton said outside the family home on Chadbourne Avenue. “We are not looking for anyone.” Fifteen minutes later, Nick Reiner was arrested.

The search took about six hours to complete. The events began much earlier. The investigation and autopsy will provide more information, but everything seems to indicate that a fight on Saturday night was a turning point. Rob, Michele and Nick attended a Christmas party hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien in L.A. There, several guests witnessed Nick behaving strangely and erratically (“Nick was freaking everyone out, acting crazy, kept asking people if they were famous,” one attendee told People), and a heated, public argument erupted between father and son. Things escalated to such a degree that the couple decided to leave the party.

There is a time jump after that. The next thing that is known— based on information from the local media, not from police sources, who have offered little explanation so far— is that later that night, Nick Reiner checked into a Santa Monica hotel. He arrived around 4:00 a.m. and asked for a room, just for one night. Eyewitnesses say he was “very agitated.” He left without checking out, and workers discovered a lot of blood in the shower and stains on the bed.

Again, there’s another gap. It’s unknown where Nick was or who he was with that morning. But it has emerged that around 3:30 in the afternoon, emergency services received a call, apparently from inside the house. It was later learned that the call was made by the couple’s daughter, Romy, 28, who lives nearby. She went to her parents’ house and discovered their lifeless bodies. She also alerted another couple close to the family: Billy Crystal and his wife Janice, who have been married for 55 years and have been friends with the Reiners for almost as long. They went to the house and saw the bodies of their friends. There were no signs of forced entry on the doors or windows. From that point on, the police began searching for Nick.

It took them about five and a half hours to find him. The city’s police department joined forces with the elite U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, which searches for fugitives at both the local and federal levels, and he was finally apprehended by the LAPD’s Gang and Narcotics Division.

He was arrested more than 15 miles from the hotel (and roughly the same distance from his home), in the city center, near the University of Southern California (USC) and the Expo Park, the site of the 2028 Olympic Games. The police unit even posted photos on Instagram—now deleted—showing the man being arrested, thanking the U.S. Marshals for their assistance. Nick was taken into custody at 5:04 a.m. on Monday and is being held at a correctional facility in the city called Twin Towers. It is unknown when he will appear in court because, according to his lawyer, Alan Jackson, who has represented Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, he has not received medical clearance, a standard and necessary procedure.

Judges, forensic experts, and investigators will try to unravel what happened that night, but also what caused Nick Reiner to kill his parents. He had many problems, but his relationship with his family was strong. He shared the 1,000-square-meter house his parents owned in the affluent Brentwood neighborhood. He went with them to parties and events; just as he was with them at O’Brien’s party, he attended the premiere of the latest installment of the mockumentary rock series Spinal Tap, along with his siblings, Romy and Jack, and his sister-in-law, Maria, in September in Hollywood.

“They were such a tight-knit family. They did everything together,” a source close to People magazine said recently. Yet “they could never reach stability with Nick. They tried everything — giving him space, keeping him close — but his struggles are so deep. It’s just a parent’s worst nightmare.” Nick Reiner’s drug problems began in his early teens, and at 15 he entered rehab. He stayed there until he was 19, going in and out about 20 times. He lived on the streets, traveling all over the country, from Texas to Maine. Around 2015, at age 22, he appeared to have recovered: he got off the streets, wrote what would later become the screenplay for Being Charlie with his father, moved back in with his parents, and was focused. As he said in a 2016 interview, “There was a lot of dark years there.” But the addictions never went away. In 2018, for example, he recounted on the Dopey podcast how the previous year, high on cocaine and methamphetamines, he had wrecked his parents’ guest house.

Their children were the Reiners’ greatest pride. They often had dinner together, watched basketball games at home, and entertained friends. But they were also their greatest worry. The director recounted in several talks and interviews that their relationship with Nick was always complex, that they never quite understood what was best for him, and that they blindly followed all the experts. “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,” the director of The Princess Bride told the Los Angeles Times in 2015.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama recounted on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday that the two couples were longtime friends and were supposed to have gotten together that same night. “Rob and Michele are some of the most decent, courageous people you ever wanna know. [...] They cared about their family, they cared about this country, they cared about fairness and equity.”

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition