Rob Reiner and his wife Michele’s bodies have been released to their devastated loved ones, who can now finally hold their burial.
Reiner, 78, and Michele, 70, were found stabbed to death Sunday at their $13.5 million Brentwood estate, where their son Nick, 32, lived in the guesthouse. Nick was arrested that night and has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
Nick had a long history of drug and mental health issues, having gone to rehab for the first time at the age of 15 and plunged into multiple spells of homelessness before his latest stay in his parents’ guesthouse, which he confessed he ‘wrecked’ once while ‘totally spun out on uppers’ that kept him ‘up for days on end.’
The Daily Mail understands that the Reiners’ shattered friends already held a private memorial function for the couple on Monday, in a nod to Jewish tradition that a funeral should be held within one day of the death itself.
At that stage the Reiners could not be buried because the bodies had to be autopsied, but that process is now complete and the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office has issued its report, according to the New York Post.
The autopsy results indicate that the couple died as a result of multiple sharp force injuries, the same cause of death formally announced by the authorities Wednesday.
Rob Reiner and his wife Michele’s bodies have been released to their devastated loved ones, who can now finally hold their burial; the couple are pictured in 2013
The Reiners, who married in 1989, had three children together – (from left) Jake, 34, Nick, 32, and Romy, 27; they are all pictured in 2014 at Avery Fisher Hall in New York
Now the couple’s loved ones will have to wait for the full coroner’s report, which will reportedly be finalized within the next 90 days.
The Reiners were parents to Nick as well as Romy, who lived across the street from them, and another son called Jake, 34. Rob Reiner also had an older daughter called Tracy, 61, whom he adopted with his first wife Penny Marshall.
Reports claim Romy was the one who found the bodies and then allegedly told police about a ‘dangerous’ family member who ‘should be a suspect.’
Along with their children, the couple’s survivors include Rob Reiner’s siblings, painter Lucas Reiner and author Annie Reiner, as well as Michele’s sisters, rabbi Suzanne Singer and children’s nonprofit CEO Martine Singer.
The reported memorial service Monday was held at the home of Albert Brooks, with a guest list including Conan O’Brien, Billy Crystal, Bill Hader and Larry David.
Nick was charged that day with two counts of first-degree murder, for which if convicted he could get the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole.
He appeared in court Wednesday shirtless under an anti-suicide vest, did not make a plea and waived his right to a speedy arraignment.
This arraignment is now scheduled to be held on January 7, giving his top-flight attorney Alan Jackson more time to prepare his case.
The Daily Mail understands a memorial was held Monday at the home of Albert Brooks, with Conan O’Brien in attendance; (from left) Brooks, O’Brien and Reiner are pictured in 2024
Nick’s substance abuse began at an early age, resulting in his first rehab stint at the age of 15 and a staggering 17 stays in treatment facilities by the time he was 22
Nick, seen in September 2025, was arrested last Sunday after his parents were found stabbed to death, and he has since been charged with two counts of first-degree murder
Jackson successfully prosecuted Phil Spector for murder, and in private practice as a defense attorney has represented Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein.
Nick’s counsel issued a statement to the public saying there were ‘very, very complex and serious issues that are associated with this case.’
He requested that ‘throughout this process you allow the system to move forward in the way that it was designed to move forward, not with a rush to judgment.’
When asked who was paying his fees, he replied: ‘I can’t comment.’
Under the ‘slayer statute’ in California law, Nick will not be eligible to inherit any of his parents’ $200 million estate if he is convicted of their murder – although an exception exists if he successfully lodges an insanity plea.
A source close to Rob Reiner informed the Daily Mail this Monday that Nick ‘had been living in their guesthouse, the same one he destroyed more than once, but it had been like a revolving door all his adult life.’
The source alleged further: ‘He would do meth and not sleep for days and then have outbursts, breaking things, punching walls. He was a ticking time bomb. His drug use was getting worse and his parents wanted him out.’
Nick, the friend claimed, ‘used to brag how he could get away with anything and took money from his parents for drugs and prostitutes.’
The insider added: ‘He would talk about this stuff in meetings, but then stopped going because he said it was too cultish. He laughed about destroying his parents’ guesthouse more than once. He was so nonchalant about it.’
He appeared in court Wednesday shirtless under an anti-suicide vest, did not make a plea and waived his right to a speedy arraignment
The bodies were discovered by the Reiners’ daughter Romy, 27, who reportedly informed the police about a ‘dangerous’ family member who ‘should be a suspect’; Romy posing with Nick
This past Saturday, the night before Rob and Michele Reiner were found dead, Nick was seen having what sources described as a ‘very loud argument’ with his parents at Conan O’Brien’s star-studded Christmas party, according to TMZ.
Michele, by that point, was alleged to have spent months telling friends about trying to cope with Nick’s drug and mental problems, saying: ‘We’ve tried everything.’
Nick’s substance abuse began at an early age, resulting in his first rehab stint at the age of 15 and a staggering 17 stays in treatment facilities by the time he was 22.
Reiner laid bare his family’s turmoil by directing a 2015 film called Being Charlie, which was inspired by Nick’s rollercoaster battle with addiction.
Nick co-wrote the script, in which the main character Charlie bristles against his parents’ approach to his drug abuse, such as enforced trips to rehab.
Near the end of the movie, Charlie’s father apologizes for taking such a hard line with him, a conversation Reiner characterized as an echo of reality.
While promoting the film the year of its release, Reiner expressed regret at having relied so heavily on the advice of medical professionals in seeking help for Nick.
‘When Nick would tell us that it wasn’t working for him, we wouldn’t listen,’ he told the Los Angeles Times. ‘We were desperate and because the people had diplomas on their wall, we listened to them when we should have been listening to our son.’
Reiner and Nick are pictured in 2016 at the BUILD Series promoting their film Being Charlie, which was inspired by Nick’s rollercoaster battle with addiction
Michele said: ‘We were so influenced by these people. They would tell us he’s a liar, that he was trying to manipulate us. And we believed them.’
The following year, Nick recounted his own past experiences with addiction, saying that he had become homeless in previous years because he refused to submit to the treatments he had been urged to undergo.
‘If I wanted to do it my way and not go to the programs they were suggesting, then I had to be homeless,’ he shared in an interview with People.
‘I was homeless in Maine. I was homeless in New Jersey. I was homeless in Texas. I spent nights on the street. I spent weeks on the street. It was not fun.’
He eventually gave up drugs when he ‘got sick of doing that s***,’ he said. ‘I come from a nice family. I’m not supposed to be out there on the streets and in homeless shelters doing all these f***ed-up things.’
Two years later, he gave an interview in which he discussed having once destroyed his parents’ guesthouse while under the influence.
‘I got totally spun out on uppers,’ he said on a 2018 episode of the Dopey podcast. ‘I think it was coke and something else. I was up for days on end.’
He recalled ‘punching out different things in my guesthouse. I started with the TV and then went over to the lamp. Everything in the guesthouse got wrecked.’
Back in 2016, promoting Being Charlie, Nick had explained that he ‘didn’t bond’ with his father while younger but that working on the film ‘made me feel closer to him.’
He harbored hopes he would be able to retain his sobriety and avoid sinking back into homelessness, inasmuch as when he ‘was out there, I could’ve died. It’s all luck,’ he said on the BUILD Series. ‘You roll the dice and you hope you make it.’
