Rob Reiner (second from left) poses with his wife Michele and children Jake Reiner, Romy Reiner and Nick Reiner at the 41st Annual Chaplin Award Gala in 2014. Photo: AP
It was supposed to be a weekend of celebration for Rob and Michele Reiner.
They attended Conan O’Brien’s Christmas party Saturday (Dec 13) and planned to meet Barack and Michelle Obama on Sunday night.
But that gathering with the 44th president and former first lady never happened.
The Reiners were found dead in their Brentwood home Sunday afternoon, and their son Nick was arrested on suspicion of murder.
More details are emerging about that fateful weekend, but a full accounting of what transpired has yet to be revealed.
Nick Reiner had a long history of substance abuse problems and gave numerous interviews about his attempts at rehab and stints of homelessness.
He said he was in recovery at age 22, when he and his father produced a film based on his struggles, but at age 24 said in a podcast interview that he had since relapsed and was using methamphetamine.
Reiner was living in the guesthouse on his parents’ property, according to family friends. The family had become increasingly concerned about his mental health and had expressed those concerns in recent weeks.
On Saturday night, Nick and his parents were at the same holiday event.
That night, the 32-year-old got into a fight with his parents at the party at O’Brien’s house, the Reiners’ friends told the Los Angeles Times. People at the party remarked that Nick was acting strangely at the event, they said.
It remains unclear when the Reiners were killed. Michelle Obama revealed that she and Barack Obama planned to meet with the Reiners that Sunday evening.
“We were supposed to be seeing them that night,” she told Jimmy Kimmel on his show Monday. “Rob and Michele Reiner are some of the most decent, courageous people you ever want to know.”
An aerial view of director Rob Reiner's home on Dec 16, 2025 in Brentwood, California. Photo: AFP
L.A. Police Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton said that the initial 911 call came at around 3.40pm Sunday from inside the home, which is in the 200 block of Chadbourne Avenue. There were no signs of forced entry, and Nick Reiner was not at the property when officers arrived, according to law enforcement sources not authorised to speak publicly about details of the case.
The couple had wounds consistent with being stabbed, the sources said.
The medical examiner is determining the time of death for Rob and Michele Reiner, but investigators are pursuing Nick Reiner’s whereabouts in the hours after the confrontation at the O’Brien party.
The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating whether Nick Reiner stayed at a Santa Monica motel on Sunday morning.
The Reiners’ youngest child, 28-year-old Romy, found her parents dead inside the home on Sunday afternoon, according to the family friends, who did not want to be identified because of the nature of the crime.
Actor Billy Crystal, Rob’s longtime friend and collaborator, was one of the first people the family reached out to after learning of the couple’s death and he visited the house on Sunday.
By that evening, the deaths at the Hollywood legend’s home were getting global attention.
It remains unclear when police began to focus on Nick Reiner and how they were able to determine his location.
Flowers are left at US actor and director Rob Reiner's Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, California, on December 15, 2025. Reiner's son was charged with murder, police said on December 15, after his father and mother were found dead the previous day in their Los Angeles home. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP)
Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Gang and Narcotics Division, along with a US Marshals task force that typically searches for fugitives, tracked Nick down in South LA on Sunday evening, according to a law enforcement source and Reiner’s booking record.
He was found near the University of Southern California, around 15 miles (24km) from the scene of the stabbing, the source said.
Nick Reiner was taken into custody around 9.15pm Sunday and booked on suspicion of murder at 5.04am Monday, the source said.
He was formally charged on Tuesday with first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of his parents. – Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service
