Nick Reiner has been arrested following the death of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, according to Los Angeles jail records.
Nick, 32, was taken into custody Sunday night, the records show. The records accuse him of “gang activity” – a felony – but do not elaborate, and they indicated that his bail was set at $4m.
A Los Angeles police department (LAPD) spokesperson on Monday said the agency couldn’t immediately provide further details about Nick’s arrest and what specifically he was suspected of doing.
Nick was brought in for questioning shortly after the Los Angeles fire department responded to a call for medical aid to the couple’s house in Brentwood at 3.30pm local time. On arrival, they found a man, 78, and a woman, 68, dead, which were later confirmed to be Rob and Michele. It is understood their daughter, Romy, who lives opposite, discovered them.
The LAPD later confirmed detectives from the robbery homicide division were investigating the deaths as an “apparent homicide”. Both TMZ and People reported that the two had suffered wounds consistent with a knife attack.
Law enforcement sources told the LA Times that a family member was being interviewed in connection with the deaths. This followed a press conference on Sunday night, at which LAPD chief detective Alan Hamilton said the investigation was ongoing and that “at this time, the LAPD is not seeking anyone as a suspect or as a person of interest”.
A spokesperson for the Reiner family confirmed their deaths on Sunday evening.
“It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner,” the family spokesperson said in a statement to media. “We are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time.”
Nick is a screenwriter who previously collaborated with his father on Being Charlie (2015), based on his own experiences of addiction and homelessness. He first began treatment for drug addiction as an adolescent and has said that he had been in rehab more than 17 times by the time he was 22.
Being Charlie tells the story of an 18-year-old man who resents what he believes to be the over-harsh response of his parents (including a father who is a movie star running for Congress) over his addiction, including compulsory stints in rehab.
Promoting the film, Rob Reiner said that much of the film was based in autobiography.
“When Nick would tell us that it wasn’t working for him, we wouldn’t listen,” he told the LA Times. “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.”
His wife added: “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.”
Nick added that he “got sick of” being an addict. “I come from a nice family. I’m not supposed to be out there on the streets and in homeless shelters doing all these … things.”
In 2016, he told People he had “been home for a really long time, and I’ve sort of gotten acclimated back to being in LA and being around my family”.
The deaths occurred on the first day of Hanukah. Michele’s sister is a rabbi, and their mother had lost most of her family in the Holocaust.
The couple met on the set of When Harry Met Sally in 1989. They were introduced by mutual friend Barry Sonnenfeld; their nascent relationship inspired Reiner to urge Nora Ephron to rewrite the ending of the film, so Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal’s characters end up together.
Michele was a photographer whose work included the portrait of Donald Trump that ran on the cover of his book The Art of the Deal. Reiner was later an outspoken critic of the president.
Speaking to the Guardian last year, Reiner appeared to make reference to two of his children, Jake and Romy, when discussing the difficulties of being the offspring of a famous industry player.
“My son is 32 and my daughter’s 26. They both want careers, they’re both talented. Should I lean into it? Should I back away from it? They’re confused. I said, once they find their own path, it won’t matter.”
Rob Reiner was also the adoptive father of actor Tracy Reiner, the daughter of his first wife, the actor and director Penny Marshall who died in 2018.
