Rob Reiner killing: Nick Reiner’s elusive movements across L.A. come into focus

A picture is beginning to emerge about Nick Reiner’s movements before and after his parents were killed.

Hollywood legend Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead in their Brentwood home Sunday afternoon.

Nick Reiner, 32, was charged Tuesday with their murders. But authorities offered few details, including when or how the couple died, how investigators came to focus on Nick Reiner as a suspect and what a motive for the crime could be.

But a rough timeline is beginning to taking shape:

A Santa Monica hotel

A source familiar with the investigation told The Times that Nick Reiner was at the Pierside Santa Monica hotel Sunday.

That was hours after Nick and his parents got into some type of argument at a Saturday holiday party at talk show host Conan O’Brien’s home, according to several family friends.

Rob Reiner, left, and son Nick Reiner discuss their film “Being Charlie” at AOL Studios in New York on May 4.

(Adela Loconte / WireImage via Getty Images)

A hotel staff member told The Times police had been actively investigating at the hotel since Sunday and were still there on Tuesday afternoon. The management of the hotel did not respond to requests for comment. The worker spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to comment.

Authorities also declined to comment on the hotel and what role, if any, it plays in the case.

It is unclear when Nick Reiner checked in and when he left The Pierside Santa Monica, which sits a few blocks from the beach, with rooms that start at $220 a night.

When police got to the hotel, Nick Reiner was gone.

Law enforcement near the home of Rob Reiner on Sunday night following news of the killings.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

An arrest near USC

Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Gang and Narcotics Division, along with a U.S. Marshals task force that typically searches for fugitives, tracked Nick Reiner down in South L.A. on Sunday night, according to L.A. Police Chief Jim McDonnell. The arrest was without incident, the chief said.

Reiner was found near USC, around 15 miles from the scene of the stabbings, McDonnell said. He declined to provide details on how the suspect was found and apprehended.

Reiner was taken into custody around 9:15 p.m. Sunday and booked on suspicion of murder at 5:04 a.m. Monday.

KABC-TV obtained video purportedly showing video of Nick Reiner at a convenience store in South L.A. shortly before he was arrested.

A bouquet of roses and a candle sit outside the Brentwood home Rob Reiner

(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

Unanswered questions

Prosecutors filed two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances against Nick Reiner on Tuesday afternoon. He also faces a special allegation that he used a deadly weapon, a knife, in the crime, L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said during a news conference Tuesday.

Still, officials have not offered a narrative about what happened.

One key question is when the Reiners were killed. Prosecutors have alleged Nick Reiner stabbed his parents in “approximately the early morning hours” on Sunday, according to a news release. But a specific time has not been disclosed.

“We don’t have that kind of specificity yet,” L.A. Police Chief Jim McDonnell said of the timeline of the couple’s deaths. “We’re waiting on the coroner to be able to try and determine as best they can at this point.”

On Sunday afternoon, a massage therapist showed up at the Reiner home for a weekly session with the couple. When there was no answer at the gate, the therapist called their daughter, Romy Reiner, who arrived at the home and discovered her father’s body, according to a source close to the Reiner family who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Reiners’ bodies were found in their bedroom in their Brentwood home, LAPD Assistant Chief Dominic Choi said at the department’s weekly commission meeting.

Pieces of a puzzle

With no official time of death, it’s unclear whether Nick Reiner checked in at the Santa Monica hotel before or after his parents were killed.

Nick Reiner was living in a guesthouse on his parents’ property and his mother had become increasingly concerned about his mental health in recent weeks, a family friend said.

Authorities on Tuesday also declined to offer a possible motive for the killings.

Nick Reiner had a long history of substance abuse problems and gave numerous interviews about his attempts at rehab and stints of homelessness. He said he was in recovery at age 22, when he and his father produced a film based on his struggles, but at age 24 said in a podcast interview that he had since relapsed.

With prosecutors alleging a special circumstance — that Nick Reiner committed multiple homicides — he could face a death sentence or life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted at trial. Prosecutors have not made a decision on whether to seek capital punishment.

That review process can take months, and Hochman has yet to seek death in any case since restoring the office’s pursuit of capital verdicts last year.