Rob Reiner’s Son Nick Arrested for Murder After Parents’ Deaths

Rob Reiner and wife Michele Singer Reiner‘s son Nick Reiner has been arrested on a murder charge after the couple were stabbed to death at their home in Brentwood, California, Us Weekly can confirm.

The Los Angeles Police Department Parker City Jail told Us on Monday, December 15, that Nick, 32, is currently in custody and is being held without bail. There is no other information on his court date as of publication.

The LAPD originally confirmed on Sunday, December 14, that Rob, 78, and Michele, 68, were found dead “from apparent stab wounds.”

Deputy Chief Alan S. Hamilton said during a press conference that the LAPD “is currently conducting an ongoing homicide investigation into the two deaths at Rob Reiner’s Brentwood home” but “avoided classifying the investigation” as a murder. He also noted that the LAPD “has not identified a suspect at this time.”

In the hours after news broke about Rob and Michele’s deaths, multiple outlets noted that Nick was a person of interest in the case and was being questioned by detectives for an alleged role in the couple’s deaths. (Rob and Michele also shared kids Jake, 34, and Romy, 28, in addition to the director’s daughter Tracy, 61, with ex Penny Marshall.)

A source subsequently told Us Weekly that there was speculation about a family member’s role in Rob and Michele’s deaths.

The couple’s complicated relationship with son Nick was previously explored in a movie Rob worked with on his son: Being Charlie. Nick’s past struggles with addiction and homelessness inspired the 2015 film, which Rob directed.. Nick cowrote the script with a friend from rehab named Matt Elisofon. Cary Elwes played the father figure and Nick Robinson portrayed the son.

“When Nick would tell us that it wasn’t working for him, we wouldn’t listen,” Rob recalled in an interview with the L.A. Times in 2015 about offering his son an apology after their ups and downs. “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.”

Michele, who was also at the event, added during the joint interview, “We were so influenced by these people. They would tell us he’s a liar, that he was trying to manipulate us. And we believed them.”

The Hollywood Reporter noted that Nick didn’t say much at the dinner honoring his film. He did mention that he chose to get clean because he was “sick of it.”

“I come from a nice family. I’m not supposed to be out there on the streets and in homeless shelters doing all these f*****-up things,” he explained about the autobiographical project.

In a post-screening Q&A, Rob noted that the family “didn’t set out for it to be cathartic or for it to be therapeutic, but it turned out to be that.” When asked by an attendee about their relationship now, Nick did not respond. Rob, meanwhile, said “there were disagreements” and “at times it was really rough” working on the film together while addressing the real-life issues that inspired Being Charlie.

“Sometimes it would get overwhelming for me,” Nick admitted at the time. “I really wasn’t sure I wanted to do this.”

Rob went on to say that his relationship with Nick had changed for the better, adding, “To be honest, by the time we got to the point of making the movie … our relationship had gotten so much closer.”