Following the murder of Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife, producer Michele Singer Reiner, their son has been arrested in connection with the incident.
Online tribune reports that Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife, producer Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead Sunday afternoon in their home in Brentwood, United States.
Their son, Nick Reiner, 32, was arrested on suspicion of murdering the couple and charged by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division.
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Authorities have not revealed a motive and the case is expected to be presented to prosecutors on Tuesday.
When was Nick Reiner arrested?
Nick Reiner was located and arrested Sunday night, police said. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department records show he remains in custody.
Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell said Monday that Nick Reiner was “booked for murder.” In a statement the same day, police said that following their initial homicide investigation, it was “further revealed” that Nick Reiner “was responsible for their deaths.”
Authorities said the case will be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday, when prosecutors will decide whether to file formal charges. Sheriff’s records previously listed bail at $4 million, although police later said he remains in custody without bail.
Speculation and motive
Investigators have not revealed any suspected motive for the murders.
Speculation surrounding the case has spread on social media, including comments from President Donald Trump, who linked the murder of the Democratic filmmaker to what he called Trump Derangement Syndrome. The comments drew bipartisan condemnation.
However, the police have not linked the case to any political motive.
Reiner had talked about his son’s struggles.
Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner had spoken publicly about Nick Reiner’s long struggle with substance abuse in the years before his death.
Before the release of the semi-autobiographical 2015 film Being Charlie, father and son worked together on a story about a drug-addicted teenager and his road to recovery.
The couple said at the time that they felt hopeless during Nick Reiner’s struggles and often relied on the advice of professionals when he told them that treatment programs were not working. Nick Reiner was in and out of rehab centers for years and experienced homelessness as a teenager.
“We were so influenced by these people. They told us he was 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 filmmaker later said that the project helped repair their relationship, noting that by the time production began, their bond “had become much closer.”
Nick Reiner also told Variety that their relationship improved during the process, although he said he wanted to pursue his own work independently.
Reiner had four children.
Rob Reiner, known for directing This Is Spinal Tap and When Harry Met Sally, had four children. He was previously married to filmmaker Penny Marshall and adopted their daughter, Tracy Reiner, 61.
He later married Michele Singer Reiner after meeting her on the set of When Harry Met Sally. The couple had three children together: Jake, Nick and Romy.
In a 1998 interview with the BBC shortly before Romy’s birth, Reiner reflected on fatherhood and said he was “learning how to be a father” by raising his sons, Jake and Nick.
That same year, she helped pass a California initiative that directed cigarette tax revenue to prenatal and early childhood support through the California First Five program.
“I hope that what I’m doing is trying to improve the fabric of society by making an early investment in children,” Reiner said, “so that we have a reduction in crime, teen pregnancy, drug abuse and child abuse.”
(CBS and BBC News)