CA - Murder victims Identified as Rob Reiner and wife Michele - LA Dec 14 2025

[Chimera]

It's kind of funny to read :
"Nick Reiner has no criminal history..."

Seriously? He's been a drug addict for 15 years. He bought and used drugs hundreds of times. We know of at least two times where he totally demolished everything in his parent's guest house, maliciously, costing them thousands of dollars each time.

The ONLY reason he has no 'criminal history' is that his parents protected him from that outcome. It's not because he never committed any crimes.

ITA !!!!

 

[Chimera]

Nicks' hiding/concealing the murder weapon and clothing points to a thinking, planning mindset.
They're going to have an uphill road with full-blown insanity, imo.
Any knives missing from the house ?
Maybe if possible find out where he went and check trash cans.
I know, it's a long shot.
Sick, and so heinous.
Still boggles the mind how anyone can do this to their mom and dad.
Omo.

 

[otto]

Nicks' hiding/concealing the murder weapon and clothing points to a thinking, planning mindset.
They're going to have an uphill road with full-blown insanity, imo.
Any knives missing from the house ?
Maybe if possible find out where he went and check trash cans.
I know, it's a long shot.
Sick, and so heinous.
Still boggles the mind how anyone can do this to their mom and dad.
Omo.

I don't think he snapped. I think he was angry because his parents wanted him to straighten out, and he didn't feel like it.

I think there's no question that Nick has mental health problems, but he has had access to professionals, with family support, to address those problems for 17 years. The choice to murder his parents was not triggered by something that happened shortly before the murders. His choice to fight a healthy lifestyle was made again and again for 17 years.

He was repeatedly warned that his drug abuse and lifestyle choices would result in death. He knew that this would happen eventually, but he did nothing to change this predicted outcome.

Take away the drugs, let him think about strategies that he learned over the past 17 years to cope with his anger. Start fresh with a new diagnosis for the cause of his anger.

 

[femto]

An addict child needs therapy, guidance and help parents are not able to provide on their own. Getting sober does not mean just stopping the drug intake, it means doing tremendous mental work to change the thinking patterns and to assume the responsibility for ones own choices and decisions. Someone who is not a sober addict or mental health specialist has no idea how to do that.
Also, getting off drugs results often in depression and suicide ideation, so it's better done under eye of a specialist and it is easier to make these first steps towards sobriety in a place where the drug of choice is not easily accesible.

So no, I do not think Rob and Michele made mistake by sending Nick to the rehab centers. What was their mistake, IMO, was the lack of consequence, as it seems they took him out of these places at his whim. But alas, it seems they had very unhealthy habit of enabling and appeasing Nick way before he got addicted.

Here's the thing - rehab doesn't help you with that. For any type of addiction you need the person himself to realize from within himself that he is in the wrong and he's damaging himself and those around him with his actions. If you try to 'force' the issue, you're not really helping him or yourself. This is why in these types of situations the person almost always relapses. As far as the second part in your post, the mistake here was that when they sent him on these rehab trips, Nick wasn't even mentally developed yes. This isn't a grown up person we're talking about, this was a kid still learning about life and. And they send him to the other side of the country for months on end.
<modsnip: Opinion stated as fact>

I'm not sure no one wakes up one morning and decides to kill their parents--- I am past trying to understand an evil action like slitting your parents' throats--- That such an act resided in this person, perhaps for years, only he didn't act on it prior to this time. A person can be mentally ill and EVIL. I think he was jealous of his father, feeling he could never live up to what his father was- and resentment built up over years and years. His parents did everything they thought would help him-- they didn't know he was unreachable--- I am not ready to believe all of his actions that day were due to drugs. He was very angry at his father- so why did he kill his mother? I guess he hated her too---

I don't think he was jealous. From listening to Nick, I think he just resented his parents. At one point in the Dopey podcast one of the hosts says 'i'm sorry not to offend you but i'm not all that familiar with your father' and Nick says 'I would have been offended if you were' obviously in a jokey but also a half-serious manner. We can infer being sent to the camps as one of the reasons, but we hardly know what their personal lives were.
<modsnip: Opinion stated as fact>

 

[Sundog]

BBM above Everyone is different, I'm no expert. GREAT POINT, THANK YOU

Even those of us who have walked in similar shoes as the Reiners did with their son, only walked in similar shoes not their shoes. Can I second guess everything they did ? Sure, but why? It doesn't make sense of anything that happened nor help anyone else.

Imo it's a search for logic that does not exist. Mental health is individual not one size fits all.

Even experts disagree on treatments and methods but every where I look posters on all forums seem to have all the answers - if only they had done this or that- My sense is it's given everybody a soapbox to air their views on mental health, addiction, etc but that most that is posted is presumptuous and is pretty insulting and disrespectful to the victims, Michelle and Rob and their family

From where I sit they loved their children, they made choices for their children and they did their absolute best.
Rob and Michelle's family hired Alan Jackson and it seems they are in sync ( family and lawyer) to proceed with a defense that the parents would have wanted. I am totally on board with whatever that defense is as I stand in support of the victims of this tragedy.

Just my opinion of course

Well said.

 

[ilovewings]

Nicks' hiding/concealing the murder weapon and clothing points to a thinking, planning mindset.
They're going to have an uphill road with full-blown insanity, imo.
Any knives missing from the house ?
Maybe if possible find out where he went and check trash cans.
I know, it's a long shot.
Sick, and so heinous.
Still boggles the mind how anyone can do this to their mom and dad.
Omo.

Totally agree about a thinking-planning mindset!!!

 

[SaraSmile]

Nicks' hiding/concealing the murder weapon and clothing points to a thinking, planning mindset.
They're going to have an uphill road with full-blown insanity, imo.
Any knives missing from the house ?
Maybe if possible find out where he went and check trash cans.
I know, it's a long shot.
Sick, and so heinous.
Still boggles the mind how anyone can do this to their mom and

Well said

You are so right. I appreciate the reminder that we are victim friendly here. I fell into talking about boundaries, enabling too much myself, Sorry.
Compassion, understanding and support are needed for the remaining family!

 

[SaraSmile]

I don't think he snapped. I think he was angry because his parents wanted him to straighten out, and he didn't feel like it.

I think there's no question that Nick has mental health problems, but he has had access to professionals, with family support, to address those problems for 17 years. The choice to murder his parents was not triggered by something that happened shortly before the murders. His choice to fight a healthy lifestyle was made again and again for 17 years.

He was repeatedly warned that his drug abuse and lifestyle choices would result in death. He knew that this would happen eventually, but he did nothing to change this predicted outcome.

Take away the drugs, let him think about strategies that he learned over the past 17 years to cope with his anger. Start fresh with a new diagnosis for the cause of his

I agree, he had been resentful and mad at parents for 17 years for trying to control him, get him sober. He was so addicted, the drugs were calling louder than common decency, anymore.

Like he said in the dopey interview, he just wanted to “smoke pot/drink, live at home, back to a normal life ”. It was Never going to happen in his present state.

As we know, in this case, an active addict will Not stop at pot and alcohol, they want harder stuff, and will indulge. Which led to out of his mind psychosis. MOO

 

[Lalalacasbah]

BBM above Everyone is different, I'm no expert. GREAT POINT, THANK YOU

Even those of us who have walked in similar shoes as the Reiners did with their son, only walked in similar shoes not their shoes. Can I second guess everything they did ? Sure, but why? It doesn't make sense of anything that happened nor help anyone else.

Imo it's a search for logic that does not exist. Mental health is individual not one size fits all.

Even experts disagree on treatments and methods but every where I look posters on all forums seem to have all the answers - if only they had done this or that- My sense is it's given everybody a soapbox to air their views on mental health, addiction, etc but that most that is posted is presumptuous and is pretty insulting and disrespectful to the victims, Michelle and Rob and their family

From where I sit they loved their children, they made choices for their children and they did their absolute best.
Rob and Michelle's family hired Alan Jackson and it seems they are in sync ( family and lawyer) to proceed with a defense that the parents would have wanted. I am totally on board with whatever that defense is as I stand in support of the victims of this tragedy.

Just my opinion of course

My comment is no disrespect or blaming on victims whatsoever about 'spa like rehabs'. It has been stated many times the love, effort the Reiners put into their son. I feel for them.

I know the trials and tribulations of mental health from some life experiences and some old friends who went through addictions, recovery and 12 step programs. 100% - it is not one size fits all.

My beef about 'spa like rehabs' is more an observation about Hollywood/snake oil type gurus/organizations and how I think some places can take advantage of families going through this.

With a hefty price tag and luxurious environments and if they are not maybe as serious or long term as let's say a 12 step program I have to wonder their actual intent if it's just a assembly line type thing of getting people in and out for a month.

It almost sounds like a place to babysit problematic celebs/people with lots of money. I get a month away from pressures to 'reset' in a relaxing atmostphere might help someone suffering exhaustion or stress but for deeper issues - I'm shocked some of these places claim to help

This might've been a bit of an easy way out for NR to look like he 'was trying'. Maybe when things went wrong, NR said he'd go to a month long rehab. It's sad when it just doesn't seem like a long enough commitment. I think NR possibly took this route for granted too.

I can't think of anyone with serious issues mental health or addiction issues recovering in a one month turn around time. But again, I am not expert only speaking from some observations and what's been published about these things. MOO JMO

*ETA: for the record, NONE of my posts on this thread ever said anything negative about the parents nor the siblings/family. My cynical or critical comments have been about NR and NR only (well and the lawyers) and my cynical comments about these type rehabs/organizations/businesses.

 

[Hexe]

Here's the thing - rehab doesn't help you with that. For any type of addiction you need the person himself to realize from within himself that he is in the wrong and he's damaging himself and those around him with his actions. If you try to 'force' the issue, you're not really helping him or yourself. This is why in these types of situations the person almost always relapses.

If an addict does not want to be helped no rehab and no therapy will help. At home or away, all the same.

As far as the second part in your post, the mistake here was that when they sent him on these rehab trips, Nick wasn't even mentally developed yes. This isn't a grown up person we're talking about, this was a kid still learning about life and. And they send him to the other side of the country for months on end. <modsnip: Opinion stated as fact>

Kid or not, he was an addict. And an addict does not care about being close to anyone. An addict wants enablers, and, first of foremost the drug of choice. And every single addict gets resentfum of an enabler that does not want to enable their addiction anymore.

There's another thing, the family is often a toxic place full of toxic patterns that made the kid to seek relief in drugs in the first place, or enable the addiction. On Nick case it was the second issue, it seems his family had seemingly a habit of tiptoeing around his issues and enabling his bad behaviour. Getting removed from these patterns, from the toxic environment can help the kid to reexamine themselves and see that things can be different.

So, I am truly curious, what would you like the Reiners to do with Nick?

 

[Luna20]

Paywalled. It alludes to Rob needing validation from his father Carl.

Rob Reiner's need for 'validation' saw him slaughtered in bed

Rob and Michele Reiner's shocking deaths have drawn renewed attention to the film director's own complicated relationship with his late father Carl Reiner.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[LinasK]

Thanks for the article, some nuggets in there (BBM below)... So when he entered the hotel no visible blood. My guesses to throw into the mix or if anyone else has ideas!:

- He washed up: washed hands, face at guest/parents house before leaving. I'm sure he'd have blood on his face after the viciousness of the crime
- He changed clothes: he thought about changing clothes after the crime at guest house where his clothes were? Or was there a change of clothes in the backpack?
- He hdidn't change clothes, but hid the clothes he was wearing: Either he had a long trench jacket to cover bloody clothes so not noticeable in the hotel

"But witnesses noted that Nick had no visible blood on him when he walked in"

Or black clothing which camoflaged blood to the naked eye.

 

[femto]

If an addict does not want to be helped no rehab and no therapy will help. At home or away, all the same.

Yes, but the point here is that he was never even given a chance to realize it for himself. His formulative years were spent hanging out with hardcore junkies far away from his family or friends who could have kept him grounded and stable. We're not talking about an adult man here but a kid. For all his wealth he never had any stability in his life. By the time he concedes and 'quits' the drugs he's completely disconnected from his family and former life with no actual ambition in life. All he knew was the drugs. Is it a surprise he was unable to adapt and grew worse because of it?

Kid or not, he was an addict. And an addict does not care about being close to anyone. An addict wants enablers, and, first of foremost the drug of choice. And every single addict gets resentfum of an enabler that does not want to enable their addiction anymore.

There's another thing, the family is often a toxic place full of toxic patterns that made the kid to seek relief in drugs in the first place, or enable the addiction. On Nick case it was the second issue, it seems his family had seemingly a habit of tiptoeing around his issues and enabling his bad behaviour. Getting removed from these patterns, from the toxic environment can help the kid to reexamine themselves and see that things can be different.

So, I am truly curious, what would you like the Reiners to do with Nick?

But the kid part is important to provide a context. A kid is still developing mentally and the environment he lives in has a lot to do with who he eventually shapes up to be. There's a vast difference between a 30 years old going through a rehab and a 15 years old. Much more life experience, better coping mechanisms, better understanding of yourself and the world around you, more emotional and physical durability, etc. A kid is just a kid - they just want to have fun. They are not fully developed, no understanding of the world, no adequate social skills to maneuver through difficult times alone. Nick says himself that he only started abusing heroin and other hard drugs after he was told by his bunkmate how cool it felt in rehab. Before that he was mostly on painkillers and pot. Do you see how having a 15 years old in an environment full of hardcore drug addicts far away from his family might not be the best place for him to be? And I've already explained my suggestions on what they should have done in a previous post of mine.

 

[SaraSmile]

If an addict does not want to be helped no rehab and no therapy will help. At home or away, all the same.



Kid or not, he was an addict. And an addict does not care about being close to anyone. An addict wants enablers, and, first of foremost the drug of choice. And every single addict gets resentfum of an enabler that does not want to enable their addiction anymore.

There's another thing, the family is often a toxic place full of toxic patterns that made the kid to seek relief in drugs in the first place, or enable the addiction. On Nick case it was the second issue, it seems his family had seemingly a habit of tiptoeing around his issues and enabling his bad behaviour. Getting removed from these patterns, from the toxic environment can help the kid to reexamine themselves and see that things can be different.

So, I am truly curious, what would you like the Reiners to do with Nick?

The Reiner children have hired AJ, they must want Nick’s psychosis, insanity to mitigate the murder charge. Nick to stay in jail until trial or plea, no bond. ( I doubt the Reiners want or expect bond).

Next step, AJ to try for insanity/ psychosis at the time of the murders. Mental health schizophrenia, fueled by drug addiction. Since AJ is so convincing, maybe he will pull it off, he thinks he knows how to accomplish this. Maybe Atascadero at first, then with judge approval, AJ trick, move Nick to an LA facility so family can visit more easily.

I personally hope Nick accepts a plea, life in an institution. I prefer a prison sentence, I think Reiners want a Mental Hospital. Either way, I think all agree, permanently in an institution.

 

[su5ie]

BBM above Everyone is different, I'm no expert. GREAT POINT, THANK YOU

Even those of us who have walked in similar shoes as the Reiners did with their son, only walked in similar shoes not their shoes. Can I second guess everything they did ? Sure, but why? It doesn't make sense of anything that happened nor help anyone else.

Imo it's a search for logic that does not exist. Mental health is individual not one size fits all.

Even experts disagree on treatments and methods but every where I look posters on all forums seem to have all the answers - if only they had done this or that- My sense is it's given everybody a soapbox to air their views on mental health, addiction, etc but that most that is posted is presumptuous and is pretty insulting and disrespectful to the victims, Michelle and Rob and their family

From where I sit they loved their children, they made choices for their children and they did their absolute best.
Rob and Michelle's family hired Alan Jackson and it seems they are in sync ( family and lawyer) to proceed with a defense that the parents would have wanted. I am totally on board with whatever that defense is as I stand in support of the victims of this tragedy.

Just my opinion of course

While your post makes excellent points re the individuality of addiction and family dynamics.

There is studies that identify the contributing factors of those prone to addiction and the behaviours within the family circle that contribute to enabling an addict to behave as they do and for so long .

While it is not up to us to judge the victims parenting skills, we can come to a conclusion that the parenting methods did not work for varying reasons . Sometimes you have to cut the cord imo

It is also ironic you judge others for standing on their soapboxes while you pontificate from the pulpit

By talking about what led to the specific set of circumstances that led to such a horrific crime may help others understand where mistakes are made .

RR himself spoke about these mistakes in interviews so was open to discussion re mental health, parenting and addiction. If we don't discuss it ,things won't change and we will have a repeat of this deeply traumatising incident for another family .

There is no doubt Rob and Michele did their utmost to be the best parents they knew how to be and what they may have wanted for their son in addiction and mental health issues may not be what they wanted if they witnessed him murdering another so that is an assumption that they would have NGBRI as there preferred defence strategy as unfortunately they are not here as you state to assert nor defend

Healthy discussion and respectful debate of uncomfortable subjects is a good thing ,by shedding light into shadows brings opportunity for healing and betterment.

Edited to add . Trying to attain to a model of parenting where one tries to be the perfect parent and do everything right by your child can have its draw backs . We see this in the helicopter parenting analogy . The constant need to prevent your child from having anything other than a perfect childhood . The child become dependent, insecure and has no confidence in their abilities because they never had the opportunity to find their pathway in life or learn responsibility or life skills . What it definitely ensures is you will always keep that child dependent on you .

And that builds resentment and as the metaphoric dance continues into adulthood and micro managing all their mistakes the child now an adult is not a healthy functioning human being but a dysfunctional adult incapable of independent living making rebellious choices in the hope that with the next mistake they will finally reach a point that someone will recognise a plea for help and guidance imo

 

[LinasK]

The Reiner children have hired AJ, they must want Nick’s psychosis, insanity to mitigate the murder charge. Nick to stay in jail until trial or plea, no bond. ( I doubt the Reiners want or expect bond).

Next step, AJ to try for insanity/ psychosis at the time of the murders. Mental health schizophrenia, fueled by drug addiction. Since AJ is so convincing, maybe he will pull it off, he thinks he knows how to accomplish this. Maybe Atascadero at first, then with judge approval, AJ trick, move Nick to an LA facility so family can visit more easily.

I personally hope Nick accepts a plea, life in an institution. I prefer a prison sentence, I think Reiners want a Mental Hospital. Either way, I think all agree, permanently in an institution.

I can't see his sister or brother wanting to visit him.

 

[JDG]

Yes, but the point here is that he was never even given a chance to realize it for himself. His formulative years were spent hanging out with hardcore junkies far away from his family or friends who could have kept him grounded and stable. We're not talking about an adult man here but a kid. For all his wealth he never had any stability in his life. By the time he concedes and 'quits' the drugs he's completely disconnected from his family and former life with no actual ambition in life. All he knew was the drugs. Is it a surprise he was unable to adapt and grew worse because of it?

But the kid part is important to provide a context. A kid is still developing mentally and the environment he lives in has a lot to do with who he eventually shapes up to be. There's a vast difference between a 30 years old going through a rehab and a 15 years old. Much more life experience, better coping mechanisms, better understanding of yourself and the world around you, more emotional and physical durability, etc. A kid is just a kid - they just want to have fun. They are not fully developed, no understanding of the world, no adequate social skills to maneuver through difficult times alone. Nick says himself that he only started abusing heroin and other hard drugs after he was told by his bunkmate how cool it felt in rehab. Before that he was mostly on painkillers and pot. Do you see how having a 15 years old in an environment full of hardcore drug addicts far away from his family might not be the best place for him to be? And I've already explained my suggestions on what they should have done in a previous post of mine.

Being mentally ill, he doesn’t think or act like a ‘regular’ person.

You cannot expect the same or similar benchmarks.

Nick has not been ‘a kid’ for a very long time.

That was half a lifetime ago for him.

 

[SaraSmile]

While your post makes excellent points re the individuality of addiction and family dynamics.

There is studies that identify the contributing factors of those prone to addiction and the behaviours within the family circle that contribute to enabling an addict to behave as they do and for so long .

While it is not up to us to judge the victims parenting skills, we can come to a conclusion that the parenting methods did not work for varying reasons . Sometimes you have to cut the cord imo

It is also ironic you judge others for standing on their soapboxes while you pontificate from the pulpit of righteousness

By talking about what led to the specific set of circumstances that led to such a horrific crime may help others understand where mistakes are made .

RR himself spoke about these mistakes in interviews so was open to discussion re mental health, parenting and addiction. If we don't discuss it ,things won't change and we will have a repeat of this deeply traumatising incident for another family .

There is no doubt Rob and Michele did their utmost to be the best parents they knew how to be and what they may have wanted for their son in addiction and mental health issues may not be what they wanted if they witnessed him murdering another so that is an assumption that they would have NGBRI as there preferred defence strategy as unfortunately they are not here as you state to assert nor defend

Healthy discussion and respectful debate of uncomfortable subjects is a good thing ,by shedding light into shadows brings opportunity for healing and betterment.

Yes, I agree, the point of discussing the parenting, is to help other families avoid this kind of horrible outcome.

Not to disparage the Reiner Parents, who are sadly the main victims, in all this.

 

[su5ie]

Being mentally ill, he doesn’t think or act like a ‘regular’ person.

You cannot expect the same or similar benchmarks.

Nick has not been ‘a kid’ for a very long time.

That was half a life ago for him.

No , but for Nick the drugs may have been something that was within his boundary of control

For example a woman is in a controlling ,abusive relationship, she doesn't feel she can assert control over her bully . So she begins to control her food intake , this is destructive but it allows her to feel in control of a part of herself when everything else is in the control of another

 

[Hexe]

His formulative years were spent hanging out with hardcore junkies far away from his family or friends who could have kept him grounded and stable.

First and foremost he would have to have family and friends able to keep him grounded and stable. His family was enabling him and appeasing way before he got addicted. As for friends, considering his explosive temper I doubt he had any. Anyway, even if there was someone he could call a friend that person would be most probably a teenager, just like Nick. Teenagers struggle to keep themselves grounded, let alone other teens with severe mental issues and addiction to boot. Last but not least, addicts drive their friends away, leaving only enablers.