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Nick Reiner, son of the prolific actor-director Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Singer Reiner, was taken into custody following the deaths of his parents at their home in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Los Angeles Police Department officers discovered bodies inside the home, later identified as Rob and Michele. Their death has been ruled a homicide.
Rob Reiner played Mike Stivic in TV sitcom All in the Family before transitioning to directing films, including The Princess Bride and This is Spinal Tap. He met Michele, a photographer, on the set of When Harry Met Sally…, which he directed.
Here’s what we know about Nick Reiner and his alleged connection the deaths of his parents.
Who is Nick Reiner?
Nick, 32, is one of three kids Rob and Michele had together, including his older brother, Jake Reiner, 34, and younger sister, Romy Reiner, 27.
Since he was a teenager, Nick has struggled with drug addiction and experienced homelessness at times as a result. He told People magazine in 2016 that he was sent to a rehab facility for the first time when he was 15 years old, and he eventually had at least 17 stays in facilities over the years.
Homelessness followed when he refused to go back to rehab, Nick said.
“When I was out there, I could’ve died. It’s all luck. You roll the dice and you hope you make it,” Nick told People.
Father, son worked together on a film
Nick and Rob Reiner worked together on a film called Being Charlie, which came out in 2016, with Nick writing and Rob directing it.
The film tells the story of a rebellious, drug-addicted teenage son of an actor-turned-politician father. The film follows the son as he leaves a rehab facility and hitchhikes home to Los Angeles before ending up in rehab again, where he falls in love with a fellow addict.
The movie won the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Voice Award for best film in 2016.
While it’s not an autobiography, both Rob and Nick said it was inspired by Nick’s real-life struggle with addiction.
Rob told the media at the time that the film was “by far the most personal thing that I’ve ever done,” and that filming the movie brought him closer to his son.
“It definitely brought us closer together,” Rob said in an interview. “It was intense, it was difficult at times, but it was also the most satisfying creative experience I’ve ever had.”
In the same interview, Nick said he and his father “didn’t bond a lot” when he was a kid, but working on a film with him in a domain his father knew so well helped him understand him better.
When the film came out, Nick was 22. He told People Magazine then that he’d been living back in Los Angeles for some time and had been trying to stay clean after his last stint in rehab at age 19.
He also said he was working on another film project then, though he hadn’t yet nailed down specific goals or jobs in the film industry. Being Charlie is Nick’s only film credit, according to IMDB.
At a more recent public outing, Nick was photographed alongside his siblings and parents at the Sept. 9 Los Angeles premiere of Reiner’s most recent film, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. Pictures showed Nick with a shaved head and a beard.
How is he connected to the deaths?
In a statement Monday afternoon, the Los Angeles Police Department said its investigation into the death of his parents on Sunday night revealed Nick was “responsible for their deaths.” Police said he was arrested around 9:15 p.m. local time on Sunday night and remains in custody without bail.
Jim McDonnell, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, confirmed Monday that Nick Reiner is in custody and was ‘booked for murder and is being held on $4 million bail’ in connection with the killings of celebrated director Rob Reiner and his producer wife, Michele. The police chief did not mention any connection between the victims and the accused, but media reports have said the suspect in custody is the Reiners’ son.
While the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department said earlier Monday that Nick had been “booked for murder,” it wasn’t initially clear what specific charges he faced.
Police said they would present their case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office on Tuesday.
Representatives for Reiner’s family did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press, and it wasn’t immediately clear if Nick Reiner had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
