Nick Reiner To Be Charged With Murder Of His Mom and Dad
Nick Reiner, the 32-year-old son of actor-director Rob Reiner and producer-photographer Michele Singer Reiner, will be charged Tuesday with the Sunday murder of his parents.
Reiner will face at least two counts of first-degree murder, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Tuesday.
Reiner’s attorney said he was not medically cleared Tuesday to be transported to the courthouse from the jail, where he is currently being held without bail, and that it is “day to day” on when he will appear in court but hopes it will happen Wednesday.
LEADUP TO THE ATTACK
Reiner, who was living on and off at his parents home, reportedly made guests uncomfortable at a holiday party hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien just hours before his parents were killed. It was his sister who found their parents’ bodies Sunday.
According to people familiar with the event, Nick was disruptive and had an argument with his father.
Reiner has been in and out of addiction treatment since age 15. At the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, reporter Steven Zeitchik had dinner with Rob, Michele, and Nick about the movie “Being Charlie” – a semi-autobiographical look at addiction that Rob and Nick worked on together.
At that point, Nick, then age 22, had been to rehab 18 times and the parents said he was then sober– but Zeitchik writes that the dynamic “didn’t feel fine” nor “resolved.” Weeks later, Nick admitted on a podcast that he still drank and smoked weed, but stopped meth and heroin.
“It felt like the festival had arrived and a lot of what hadn’t been resolved had been hurriedly shoved in the closet,” Zeitchik wrote.
PLANS WITH THE OBAMAS
Former First Lady Michelle Obama and her husband, former President Barack Obama, had plans to visit Rob and Michele at their Los Angeles home on the day they were murdered, she shared on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ on Monday.
Obama told Kimmel that her family and the Reiners were close friends for many years and called the couple “some of the most decent, courageous people you ever want to know.”
She also added that the Reiners were “not crazed or deranged” — a reference to President Trump’s Truth Social post, in which he effectively blamed Rob’s liberal activism and politics for his death.
Some conservative voices like Megyn Kelly and Republican lawmakers spoke out against Trump’s comments too.
The Reiners were longtime Democratic activists and fundraisers. Rob Reiner campaigned for causes like same-sex marriage and children’s rights in his home state of California. Michele worked as a children’s advocate and helped produce an ad in support of Obama’s 2012 re-election.