Nick Reiner makes first court appearance to face murder charges in killings of parents

James Queally, Richard Winton and Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times on Dec 17, 2025

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LOS ANGELES — Nick Reiner made his first appearance in a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday morning, roughly three days after allegedly killing his parents — beloved Hollywood figures Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner — inside their Brentwood home.

Flanked by his attorney, Alan Jackson, and two other lawyers, Reiner was barely visible from the courtroom gallery during the brief hearing. He donned a blue suicide prevention smock frequently worn by defendants who pose a risk of self-harm.

Reiner, 32, was charged with two counts of murder on Tuesday, and could face life in prison or the death penalty if convicted. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said that no decision had been made on seeking capital punishment in the Reiners’ slayings. Such reviews normally take months.

A judge approved Jackson’s request Wednesday to continue Reiner’s arraignment to Jan. 7. He did not enter a plea.

“There are very very complex, serious issues associated with this case,” that need to be analyzed, Jackson told reporters outside the courthouse after the hearing. Jackson did not answer any questions even as reporters probed him about his client’s mental health and asked to know who was paying for his legal services.

“We ask that during this process you allow the system to move forward in the way it was designed. Not with a rush to judgment. Not with jumping to conclusions. But with restraint and with dignity,” he said.

Reiner will continue to be held in Los Angeles County jail without bail.

Prosecutors allege Reiner fatally stabbed his 78-year-old father and 70-year-old mother sometime in the early morning hours on Sunday. Their bodies were found in the master bedroom of their Brentwood home around 3:40 p.m., authorities have said.

A massage therapist arrived at the couple’s home and, upon not receiving an answer at the property, called their daughter, Romy Reiner, 27, who lives nearby. She discovered the gruesome scene and had a friend call 911, according to a source who was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.

Nick Reiner, who lived in his parent’s guesthouse, checked into the Pierside Santa Monica hotel on Sunday, after the killings, according to a law enforcement source who spoke about the case on the condition of anonymity. Hotel staff also confirmed he stayed there and that police had been present at the upscale hotel since Sunday.

But when police arrived at the hotel on Sunday, Nick Reiner wasn’t there.

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 him down in South L.A. on Sunday night and took him into custody. Security camera footage from a gas station shows him wearing a green and white tracksuit jacket, a baseball cap and carrying a red backpack as he purchases a beverage before his arrest.

It is not clear how authorities linked Nick Reiner to the killings.

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