Son arrested over killing of Rob and Michele Reiner
Nick, the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, has been booked for the murder of his parents
What happened
Nick Reiner, the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, was arrested Monday as a suspect in the murder of his parents. Rob and Michele Reiner were found dead with stab wounds in their Los Angeles home on Sunday.
The Los Angeles Police Department said its initial investigation found that Nick Reiner “was responsible for their deaths,” and he was “booked for murder and remains in custody with no bail.”
Who said what
Police “focused almost immediately” on Nick Reiner, The New York Times said, “in part because” of his openly discussed “struggles with drug abuse and bouts of homelessness” beginning at age 15. He and his father had “explored their difficult relationship” and Nick’s struggles with drugs in a “semi-autobiographical 2016 film, ‘Being Charlie,’” The Associated Press said.
Police have not disclosed a potential motive. President Donald Trump’s post claiming Reiner was murdered because his “TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME” had “driven people CRAZY” drew widespread condemnation, including from “conservative influencers” and his own “MAGA base,” The Washington Post said. Nick Reiner and his father were seen arguing at a holiday party at Conan O’Brien’s house on Saturday night, witnesses told CNN. They “got into a shouting match,” with “Rob Reiner telling his son that his behavior was inappropriate,” the Times said, citing attendees. “Several people commented” that Nick Reiner “looked anxious and uncomfortable in a way that deeply unsettled them.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What next?
The LAPD said it would turn over the double-homicide case to prosecutors today. It will be “up to the DA’s office to charge” Reiner with “specific counts” by Wednesday night, said CNN.
-
US offers Ukraine NATO-like security pact, with caveatsSpeed Read The Trump administration has offered Ukraine security guarantees similar to those it would receive from NATO
-
Trump wants to build out AI with a new ‘Tech Force’The Explainer The administration is looking to add roughly 1,000 jobs
-
The Alps start the countdown to ‘peak glacier extinction’IN THE SPOTLIGHT Central Europe is losing ice faster than anywhere else on Earth. Global warming puts this already bad situation at risk of becoming even worse.
-
Rob Reiner, wife dead in ‘apparent homicide’speed read The Reiners, found in their Los Angeles home, ‘had injuries consistent with being stabbed’
-
The 5 best narco movies of all timethe week recommends Cartels from hell and the greasy underside of the international drug trade
-
Jay Kelly: ‘deeply mischievous’ Hollywood satire starring George ClooneyThe Week Recommends Noah Baumbach’s smartly scripted Hollywood satire is packed with industry in-jokes
-
The 8 greatest heist movies of all timethe week recommends True stories, social commentary and pure escapism highlight these great robbery movies
-
5 of the best kid-friendly scary moviesThe Week Recommends Hardcore horror is for grown-ups only, but light scares can be startling fun for the whole family
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Hooray for Brollywood: the UK’s film industry is booming – for nowIn The Spotlight US production giants are flocking to film in British studios but Trump tariffs could threaten end of golden era
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
