On Saturday night, 24 hours before their lifeless bodies were found stabbed and with their throats slit, as reported by a police source to Afp, Rob and Michele attended a Christmas party at Conan O'Brien's house accompanied by their middle son, Nick Reiner, 32, the main suspect of the crime for which the prosecution is considering seeking the death penalty.
That might have been where it all began.
A witness told The Wall Street Journal how Nick's behavior immediately disturbed everyone present. The young man, with a long history of battling addiction that his father even brought to the big screen in the film Being Charlie, puzzled actor Bill Hader with a series of nonsensical questions right after his father introduced them: "What's your name? What's your last name? Are you famous?".
According to the same source, that scene repeated with several guests, and the tension with his parents escalated until Nick was kicked out of the party. It would be the last time Rob and Michele Reiner were seen alive.
On Sunday afternoon, Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Singer Reiner, 70, were found dead in their $13.5 million Brentwood mansion. According to Daily Mail, their youngest daughter, Romy, 27, who lives across the street, discovered the scene upon entering the house after the masseuse they had hired had been ringing the doorbell with no response. Emergency services arrived at the residence around 3:30 p.m., but could not save their lives. That same night, the police arrested Nick, accused of the double murder. His younger sister immediately pointed to him as a possible perpetrator because, she said, he is "dangerous."
Normal Life with Their Alleged Killer
In the days leading up to the death of Rob and Michele Reiner, everything seemed to be going well. After a lifetime of battling their son's issues, Nick seemed to have finally found some stability and was participating in family life somewhat normally. Cinematographer Barry Markowitz, a close friend of the family, told The Wall Street Journal how he spent a few days at the Reiners' home three weeks ago and saw Nick playing tennis and his parents treating him "like an adult."
It hadn't always been like that. In an interview with The New Yorker in 2016, after the release of the film written by his own son detailing the struggles of an addict, Rob Reiner spoke in great detail about the difficulties of living with someone with mental issues. He even stated that the family mantra during Nick's adolescence was: "We have to try to keep him alive until 25." Nick himself confessed in the same pages that that phrase always made him uncomfortable.
A Failed Dinner with the Obamas
Despite everything, the Reiners did not let the situation consume their lives. Michele continued producing, and Rob remained active in public and political life. The director was a central figure in American progressive activism since the late '90s, promoted public policies in California, and actively participated in the fight for LGBTQ rights. He was also a major donor and advocate for the Democratic Party.
Hence their closeness to the Obamas. The former first lady confirmed on Monday on Jimmy Kimmel Live that they were supposed to have dinner with the couple on the same day of their death. "We were supposed to see them that night, last night," a tearful Michelle told the host, in a conversation where she also responded to Trump's social media claims attributing Rob Reiner's murder to the director's "furious anti-Trumpism," calling him "deranged." "Unlike others, Rob and Michele Reiner are some of the most decent and courageous people I have ever met. They are not deranged or crazy," Obama responded live on television.
Shock quickly spread throughout Hollywood. According to the Daily Mail, Larry David and Billy Crystal rushed to the house where the crimes occurred as soon as they heard. Tracy Reiner, the director's adopted daughter, told NBC News that she had seen her father the day before and he was "in shock." "I come from the best family in the world," she said, devastated.