What we know about Nick Reiner, son arrested in murder of director Rob Reiner

Famed Hollywood filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife, producer Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead Sunday in their home in Brentwood, California.

Their son Nick Reiner, 32, was arrested Sunday in Los Angeles and is being held on suspicion of murder. Police said the couple were victims of a homicide and prosecutors are currently reviewing the case, evaluating whether to file charges against them.

Rob Reiner, known for directing films such as This is Spinal Tap and When Harry Met Sally, had two sons and a daughter with his wife of 36 years.

Here’s what we know about Nick Reiner, their youngest son, and the investigation so far.

The couple’s youngest child, their daughter Romy, found their bodies in their home in Brentwood, a celebrity enclave full of mansions, shops and restaurants west of Los Angeles, multiple sources confirmed to the BBC’s US media partner CBS News.

The Reiners had suffered multiple stab wounds, CBS News reported. The cause of their death has not been officially released.

Two sources also told CBS News that Rob and Nick Reiner got into a brief but loud argument at a party the night before.

Nick Reiner is currently in custody after being arrested Sunday, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department records.

He was “arrested for murder,” Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said Monday.

In a statement released Monday, police said that after their initial investigation into the homicide at the Reiners’ home, it was “further revealed” that Nick Reiner “was responsible for their deaths.”

Theories about a possible motive have bounced around social media, with President Donald Trump linking the death of the late director — an outspoken Democrat — to Trump Derangement Syndrome, sparking bipartisan condemnation. The president coined the phrase to describe his most persistent and vocal critics.

However, no suspected motive for the killings has been revealed.

Nick Reiner was located and arrested Sunday evening, police said. He was booked on murder charges and remains in custody without bail. LA Country Sheriff’s jail records previously showed he was being held with bail set at $4 million (£3 million).

The case has been submitted to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which will decide whether to file charges, police said.

According to CBS News, Nick Reiner is represented by famed defense attorney Alan Jackson, who represented disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein in his Los Angeles rape case.

Nick Reiner was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday, but Jackson told CBS his client would not appear because he had not been “medically cleared” to do so.

A spokesperson for Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman told the BBC on Tuesday that he “was medically absent.”

The spokesperson confirmed that prosecutors were reviewing the case and evaluating the charges.

The family openly discussed Nick Reiner’s long struggles with drug addiction and hard drug addiction before the release of his 2015 semi-autobiographical film, Being Charlie. Father and son teamed up to write and direct the film about a teenage drug addict and his difficult road to recovery.

The Princess Bride director and his wife said they felt hopeless during their son’s struggles, but when he told them a rehabilitation program wasn’t working, they didn’t always listen or take the word of the professionals treating their son. He attended rehabilitation centers for years and was homeless as a teenager.

“We were so influenced by these people. They were telling us that he’s a liar, that he was trying to manipulate us. And we believed them,” Michele Reiner told the Los Angeles Times in 2015.

Rob Reiner added: “We listened to them when we should have listened to our son.”

The film appears to have brought healing to the family.

Rob Reiner said that by the time they started shooting the film, their relationship “became so much closer.”

Likewise, Nick Reiner told Variety at the time that their relationship grew during the process. Although he enjoyed working with his father on the film, he added that he wanted to be independent and complete his own projects.

Rob Reiner was previously married to filmmaker Penny Marshall and adopted her daughter, Tracy Reiner, 61.

He met Michele Singer on the set of When Harry Met Sally, and a few years later they had their first son, Jake.

In a 1998 interview with the BBC just before the birth of his daughter Romy, he reflected on parenting, saying that his approach to raising children was changing and that through his experiences with his sons – Jake was six and Nick four – he was “learning to be a parent”.

That same year, Reiner helped pass an initiative to use cigarette tax revenue for a prenatal and early childhood support program called California First Five.

“I hope what I’m doing is trying to improve the social fabric by investing in children early on,” Reiner said, “so that we get a reduction in crime, teen pregnancy, drug addiction and child abuse.”