New details have emerged about the deaths of film director Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Singer Reiner, whose bodies were discovered at their home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, on Sunday.
A report in the New York Times, quoting a “person close to the family” who remained anonymous, says that a massage therapist arriving for an appointment first raised the alarm after not being able to gain access for an appointment on Sunday. The therapist contacted their daughter Romy Reiner, who lives nearby, who entered the house and found Rob Reiner’s body. The Times said that Romy “fled the house in anguish” without realising that her mother’s body was also inside, and that her roommate, who had accompanied her, called 911. Emergency responders then discovered Michele Singer Reiner’s body.
Authorities have charged the couple’s son Nick Reiner, 32, with two counts of first-degree murder, and the use of a dangerous weapon, a knife. He is currently in custody without bail.
The person quoted by the Times also disputed several details that had previously been reported. He said that Romy had told emergency responders that Nick lived in a guesthouse on the property but did not name him as a potential suspect at that time.
The source also disputed widely reported suggestions that Rob and Michele Singer Reiner had been particularly “apprehensive” over Nick’s behaviour in recent weeks, saying the family were “accustomed to working through [Nick’s] problems together”. This also includes reports of Nick’s “erratic” conduct at a party hosted by Conan O’Brien, held the night before the Reiners’ bodies were found. The source said that while he was not in a position to say whether Rob had “rebuked” his son for disruptive behaviour at the party, suggestions the pair had a “heated argument” were not correct.
LAPD chief Jim McDonnell said on Tuesday that the coroner had yet to determine whether the Reiners died late on Saturday, or on Sunday. Media reports suggested that the state of their bodies indicated they had been dead for some hours.
Nick Reiner was arrested at about 9.30pm on Sunday in the Exposition Park neighbourhood, about 15 miles away. He was due to appear in court on Tuesday for an arraignment hearing, but his lawyer Alan Jackson said that he had not received medical clearance and would not appear in court until Wednesday at the earliest.
