← Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
Grisly New Details Surface in Brentwood Double Murder Tied to Hollywood’s Inner Circle | Rob & Michele Reiner
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Hey everyone, I'm Ashley Banfield. This is drop dead serious. When this story broke, it spread like wildfire across the country. One of the most famous writer, director actors in America, it's had been murdered along with his wife. And the early rumor was that the police were looking for their son. And guess what? That son of Hollywood royalty Nick Reiner is now charged with the brutal murders of his parents Rob Reiner and Michelle Reiner. And now the story has taken a terrifying step forward with new details that have just surfaced about that son and some very high profile celebrities that had just had a brush with him hours before this tragedy unfolded. The LA County District Attorney is keeping some things close to the vest. Understandable. This is a murder investigation and it's high profile. But he did make one thing crystal clear. The death penalty is on the table for these vicious murders. Here's the announcement.
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D
These charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole or the Death penalty. No decision at this point has been made with respect to the death penalty we have requested. And currently Nick Reiner is being held without bail.
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C
Rob Reiner's son, Nick Reiner, was set to appear in court this morning, but the hearing was postponed after Nick's lawyer said that his client was, quote, not medically cleared to appear. That lawyer, incidentally, is Alan Jackson, the same lawyer that represented Karen Reed. And I just want to tell you something about what that might mean, not medically cleared to appear. Medical can mean physically. It can mean mental. It can mean a lot of things. But we also know that Nick Reiner had chronic drug abuse problems. It's possible that he was detoxing. It is possible that he was throwing up. It is possible that he physically could not make it to court because of that could have been because of his mental situation. Was he having a complete breakdown? Did they need to commit him for his safety and the safety of jail representatives and personnel? Lots of reasons why that lawyer, Alan Jackson, may have said he was not medically cleared for this appearance. They did set it for, though, the next day. So who knows, right? 24 hours later, would anything be different? We do know a lot more now, though, about what happened in the hours leading up to the moment that Rob and Michelle Reiner were stabbed to death. But there are still huge questions, right? First, authorities not sure yet when the Reiners were killed, when exactly these murders happen, saying it could have happened on Saturday night, but that it also could have happened on Sunday, just because before the couple's daughter, Romy, made the discovery. Going to tell you a little bit more about that in just a second, but I want to tell you something. The coroner would get those bodies right, both of them, and they would be lined up for autopsies, both of them. And based on rigor mortis, blood pooling, it's just sort of a grisly science, but it's very, very good. And the coroner will more than likely have a very clear time of death, right? Certainly a difference between Saturday and Sunday. But I will tell you that the New York Times is reporting that that daughter of Robin, Michelle's, Romy, she found her father's body in a, quote, gruesome scene in the home, but Romy did not see her mother. The Times reports that Romy ran from the home in fear and that it was her roommate that called 91 1. Romy was later alerted by a paramedic that her mother was also found dead inside. Why was Romy even there in the first place? Well, she had gone over to her parents home because she lives right across the street and she'd been alerted by a massage therapist. That therapist had arrived at Rob Reiner's home, Robin Michelle's home because apparently she had an appointment with them. But she's ringing away at the gate and cannot get a response. So she alerts Romy. And Romy came over and made that discovery. New York Times also reports that Rob and Michelle Reiner were due to have dinner that very night with Barack and Michelle Obama. That dinner was Sunday night, the night that their bodies were found. And then go back 24 hours to the night before on Saturday night. That's when the Reiner family, including Nick, went over to Conan o' Brien's lavish Christmas party all together as a family. We already knew that Nick and his dad got into an argument at Conan's party. Rob Reiner was apparently upset that Nick had shown up very underdressed, like wearing a hoodie for this lavish holiday party. But now NBC News is reporting that Nick also had a tense interaction with other famous guests. In one instance, it's reported that Nick walked up to Bill Hader, famous from snl, comedian, actor. So Nick apparently walks up to Bill Hader who's in the midst of a private conversation and interrupts. And upon being told that he was interrupting, Nick sort of froze. Appeared to be standing completely still and staring straight ahead right before apparently, quote, storming off. Very weird behavior. After the party, according to reports by tmz, Nick checked into a Santa Monica hotel room. The hotel staff would later find that the shower was, quote, full of blood. It's not clear when he exactly checked into that hotel, but it stands to reason that he may have checked in before the murders and then allegedly returned to clean up after the murders. Nick was arrested on Sunday at 9:15pm Pacific Time in a public area of LA's Exposition park neighborhood. He was taken into custody without incident. But if you look at the photos, it does appear to be a very dramatic arrest. Earlier on my NewsNation show Banfield, I talked to two people, News Nation senior correspondent Brian Enten, who had the very latest on the reporting. And he was live outside of the Reiners Brentwood home. But I also spoke with Dr. Leslie Dobson. She's a clinical and forensic psychologist with over 20 years experience assessing and treating mental health disorders. And trust me, you are going to want to hear what this doctor has to say about Nick. Radio Reiner. And just to be clear, we don't know if Nick is guilty of this crime. Things look bad, but he's going to have his day in court. But if he is guilty, what this doctor said about the red flags, what would have happened leading up to this, the triggers, what triggers have to be for something this massive? It is fascinating. Not only that, she says if Nick did this, this was something that didn't just come out of the blue. Here's my conversation with my colleague, Brian Enten.
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E
Brian, I mean, I suppose it's not surprising to hear the Los Angeles District Attorney talking about first degree murders. And we know California is a death penalty state, but he mentioned the special allegation. Walk me through what that meant.
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F
Yeah, and he was careful. He was asked about the death penalty, by the way, and he said they haven't made a decision yet. And we were expecting to see Reiner in court this morning. We were all there, downtown Los Angeles. And for him to just not be there and even his lawyer was there. So I think the lawyer even thought he was going to be there. That was kind of a shock. So we'll see how that plays out. But in terms of the special allegation, no surprise there. This really comes into play when a dangerous weapon is used. This can help beef up penalties at sentencing. It's something that they can add on to the charges. The DA spoke about it when he had his news conference. Listen to this, Ash.
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D
One of these special allegations is that the murder was committed with a deadly weapon or a knife. As to where and how the weapon will be was located or will be located, that will actually be evidence we'll present in court.
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F
And we asked him, you know, is there going to be a court hearing tomorrow? I mean, look, they plan to file these charges. They're. But he has to be in court for these charges to actually go through. And they couldn't really answer that question. The lawyer seems to think, Alan Jackson seems to think that they're going to be in court tomorrow, but we'll have to wait and see if he's medically cleared. You said it. That's the term that they used.
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E
Yeah. And that could be so many things, Right? It could be mentally ill, it could be drug influence. And let me ask you about the drug issue, because it's no secret that Nick suffered from drug abuse in the past and has been homeless, et cetera. So do we know if he was under the influence when the police arrested him? And tell me a little bit about what the folks at the hotel noticed.
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F
Well, the police chief did say, and they were very careful what they said, but this was something new. He said that they arrested him without incident. He didn't try to run, there was no fight. Basically, he turned himself in when they tracked him him down near University of Southern California. So that was something new. In terms of the hotel, it's called the Pier side Hotel in Santa Monica. I went over there today. It's right on the ocean there. And that is the room that we are told that he rented for one night. He used his own credit card. And we don't know the exact timeline, but it seems that he may have gone back to that room after allegedly murdering his parents. I spoke again today with Maureen o', Connell, who is a retired FBI agent who also lives in the neighborhood and was here right after the stabbing happened. Listen to what she had to say about this.
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He went to take a shower. He had to get out of Dodge. He wasn't going to stay here. But it also shows that he was aware of what he did. It also shows that he's cognizant that what he did was wrong and he needed to create distance between him and the crime. So he goes to a nearby hotel, he gets in the hotel, he wants to take a shower, he looks in the mirror, he's a mess. And all that blood evidence is going to be fantastic and it's going to be great for the prosecution, I would say, because that blood evidence likely will be his blood as well as the blood of his parents.
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F
And according to reports, actually there was a lot of blood found in that hotel room, not necessarily on him, but in the room itself.
- [12:38]
E
And then of course, I just want to say, like, Marin o' Connell is the best of the best, but I've just got to say he is innocent until proven guilty. These things didn't definitely happen. They allegedly happened. The blood was allegedly found. He allegedly went to that hotel room. So we just want to be careful before he has his day in court. And speaking of that, Alan Jackson. Oh, my God, I did not expect. Although Alan's from la, I didn't expect to see him showing up in this case. He came to the house where you are today. Did you get a chance to talk to him?
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F
Well, we tried. We tried outside court and he spoke a little bit outside court this morning, basically talking about the medically cleared issue. But this is our video from outside the house today, outside the Reiners house today. And no, he did not talk. We weren't expecting him to see him here this afternoon after seeing him in court, he basically showed up and then had his team with him and. And they went into the house. It was the first time I'd seen the gates open since we got here yesterday. He was inside for maybe 20, 30 minutes. We don't know why. Maybe he just wanted to see the murder scene. And then he came out and the gates closed and off he went, which is weird.
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E
I'm sure a lot of people are wondering, wait a second. His client is the defendant and this is the murder scene, but it's also Nick's home. It's where Nick was living. So technically, what you're seeing is Nick has apparently allowed his lawyer to go into his own home that he shared with the murder victims. I know that's all very, very sort of flummoxing to see that, but, you know, presumably the police have done everything. They have done the full investigation. It's not a crime scene anymore. It's been released. So that can't, you know, hurt the scene at all or the investigation. Real quickly, how can Nick afford Alan Jackson? Nick is not worth hundreds of millions. But his parents were.
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F
Yeah, and he's a very, very expensive attorney. That was sort of the word on the street here today. How's he going to get the money? Look, he, he. I'm told there may be a family trust. His grandpa may have had a family trust. This is also something that Maureen o' Connell knows something about, and she explained a little bit of what she thinks about that. Listen to this. Ash, what do you think about Alan Jackson being the attorney? Well, Alan Jackson, right.
- [14:47]
G
I mean, he's very, very. Obviously, I think Nick's worth a lot of money, but whatever assets he has, one would expect them to be split amongst the siblings. But I would also say that would also be my presumption. But this is, you know, just my opinion. I would also say that they probably have a trust, a really good one, maybe an irrevocable trust, and he may have a trust even from his grandfather, which would be separate, apart from anything else. So does he have. Have a great deal of assets? I would say he probably does have a pretty good amount of assets.
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F
So we still don't know how he's paying, but we do know that we may see Alan Jackson and we may see Nick Reiner in court for the first time tomorrow morning. If he's medically cleared, we're going to be back there again scoping it out. 8:30 tomorrow morning.
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C
Ash, great work from Brian, who's on the scene. And now here is my conversation with Dr. Leslie Dobson about all of the backstory. And if Nick Reiner is guilty of this crime, what we might have known beforehand.
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E
Okay, Doc, I saw your TikTok today, and I was enraptured by it because I had that exact question that you posed to your followers, and that was, how does this happen when you've got a successful family, a loving set of parents? Okay, I get it. Maybe some drug abuse and difficulties. But walk me from that to what we're looking at right now.
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H
I think we have to walk back decades. I mean, I would assume. And people who kill their parents usually fantasize about doing it for many, many years, and they don't tell anyone about it. So they have this longstanding, intimate fantasy, and they build this vengeance towards their parents. And usually there's this perfect storm at the end. A triggering event, unmedicated mental illness, maybe substance use. People did see him, and they said he was tweaking during that night. And then that's the triggering event. We also had an escalation of violence throughout the past 10 years. We have damage to property, arguments, broken relationships. So you put all that together, and then you have one trigger. You never know when it will be or what it will be. And the fantasy then becomes true.
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E
So let's talk about the trigger, because there's been so much reporting about this party at Conan o' Brien's house where witnesses said he was fighting with his dad, that his mom intervened. It was very awkward and uncomfortable. And then this report tonight that after comedian Bill Hader said he came up and barged into a personal conversation, it was pointed out to him, and he behaved very strangely. He stood there stone cold staring and then just huffed off. So, I mean, that doesn't sound like the kind of triggering event that would cause a double murder.
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H
You know, you never know. The main part of the trigger could be that his mental health was not in a good place. Then you've got the escalation of impulsivity, the disinhibition from substances, and then maybe there's a psychosis. Maybe there's somewhere where he's just not in reality. He's hearing voices, so he interrupts Bill. He doesn't even know what he says. No one knows what's going on. And then he kind of, like, you know, leaves reality a bit. And we don't know when the murder actually happened. Right. So we're looking at this compilation of his life and his relationships and his emotions and his mental health and his substances over decades.
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E
I'm gonna. I'm gonna point out a picture when we get to it. We're sort of on this rotating wheel of pictures Right now, but it just occurred to me as I was looking at them. One of the pictures is of the family at the Spinal Tap premiere, which is pretty recent, actually. And you can tell something has happened to Nick. He looks. This is not the one. So look at Nick here on the far right. He's thin, he's tall, he's chiseled in the jaw, et cetera. That's the Spinal Tap picture. Look at the difference. I know, you know, you can't judge a book by its cover, but does that tell you anything, the remarkable change in his outer appearance?
- [19:05]
H
Yes. I mean, even down to his attire. His attire is, you know, he's wearing a sweatshirt. He has gained weight. He looks disheveled. It tells you that he's not doing well.
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F
Right.
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H
He's not at the best where he was. And then you bring in the most recent dynamics of having to leave the home. He was not in a good place. And I think it was very clear to a lot of people around him. But why would you ever expect that he would kill his parents? You would never think that his violence never escalated to that point that we know of. We don't know what happens inside the family.
- [19:41]
E
So you said on your TikTok, Dr. Jobson, it was not inevitable. It was preventable. And I think a lot of people want to know, I've got problems in my family, or I've got an issue with my brother, my uncle, my cousin, my son, my daughter. What on earth do you mean by preventable? What kind of lessons can we learn from this?
- [20:03]
H
I think we learn to be helpless. When people are very, very difficult in our lives, we learn to be helpless. We learn that, okay, they will go to this level of violence. They have this range, but they've been in this range for such a long time that we don't anticipate them going further. Maybe they wreck up the guest house, but they don't go after a human being. Maybe they slap us, maybe they hit us, but they don't stab us. And when enough time passes and the behaviors have stayed in that range, we become helpless. We don't think we can make them better, but we don't think they're going to get worse. So we stop paying attention to the red flags and they kind of fade into the background when the red flags are still all there and the individual is still fantasizing, he is still growing in his mind this resentment, everything that was always there before, but we're just not a party to it.
- [20:57]
C
This case is moving fast, and we're going to be here every step of the way. So make sure that you subscribe. Before you go though. Did you notice I'm wearing the merch? And quick reminder, the Drop Dead Serious merch sale, 20% off, is extended through Friday, December 19th. Automatic 20% off right at checkout. You don't even have to put in a code. You can find everything at shop.dropdead serious.com Again, shop.dropdead serious.com it's hard to say it three times, but it's easy to type. And just so you know, the one I got has the cityscape. But then also check it out. Hello. It's got the Drop Dead Serious thing on the back. So you know, as I always say, I'm so appreciative you're here. Thank you so much everyone. I'm Ashley Banfield. I appreciate you listening. I appreciate you watching. And remember, the truth isn't just serious, it's yep, it's Drop Dead Serious.
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Oh, oh, oh, oh.
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Righty.
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