The Killing of Rob Reiner: Nick Reiner’s mysterious movements throughout LA come into focus

A picture is starting 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 home in Brentwood on Sunday afternoon.

Nick Reiner, 32, was charged Tuesday with their murders. But authorities have provided few details, including when and how the couple died, how investigators landed on Nick Reiner as a suspect and what the motive for the crime might have been.

But a rough timeline is starting to take shape:

Santa Monica Hotel

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

That was hours after Nick and his parents got into an argument at a Saturday holiday party at Conan O’Brien’s house, according to several family friends.

An employee of the hotel told The Times newspaper that the police have been busy with investigations at the hotel since Sunday and are still there on Tuesday afternoon. Hotel management did not respond to requests for comment. The employee spoke and asked that his name be withheld because he is not authorized to comment.

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

It’s unclear when Nick Reiner checked in and when he left Pierside Santa Monica, located a few blocks from the beach, with rooms starting at $220 a night.

When the police arrived at the hotel, Nick Reiner was gone.

Law enforcement near Rob Reiner’s home Sunday night following news of the murder.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

Arrest near USC

Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Gang and Narcotics Unit, along with the US Fugitive Task Force, tracked down Nick Reiner in South LA on Sunday night, according to LA Police Chief Jim McDonnell. The arrest did not happen, said the king.

Reiner was found near USC, about 15 miles from where he was stabbed, McDonnell said. He refused to give details on how the suspect was found and arrested.

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

KABC-TV has obtained video purportedly showing video of Nick Reiner at a South LA store shortly before his arrest.

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

(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

Unanswered questions

Prosecutors charged Nick Reiner with two counts of first-degree murder Tuesday afternoon. He also faces a special charge of using a deadly weapon, a knife, in a crime, LA County Dist. He said. Nathan Hochman said at a press conference on Tuesday.

However, the officials have not said anything about the incident.

One important question is when the Reiners were killed. Prosecutors allege Nick Reiner stabbed his parents “around the wee hours of the morning” on Sunday, according to a news release. But the exact time has not been revealed.

“We don’t have that kind of clarity yet,” LA Police Chief Jim McDonnell said of the timeline of the couple’s deaths. “We’re waiting for the coroner to try to determine as much as he can right now.”

On Sunday afternoon, a massage therapist came to the Reiner home for the couple’s weekly session. When no one answered the door, the therapist called their daughter, Romy Reiner, who came home and found her father’s body, according to a source close to the Reiner family who did not wish to be identified.

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 the puzzle

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

Nick Reiner was living in a guest house 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 declined to reveal a possible motive for the killing.

Nick Reiner had a long history of substance abuse problems and gave many interviews about his recovery efforts and homelessness. He said he was in recovery at age 22, when he and his father produced a film based on his struggle, but by age 24 he said in a podcast interview that he had relapsed.

Because prosecutors allege a special circumstance — that Nick Reiner committed multiple murders — he could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted. Prosecutors have not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty.

That review process can take months, and Hochman hasn’t wanted to die in any way since returning the office’s pursuit of major decisions last year.