Romy Reiner was told by paramedics that her mother was dead after she found her Hollywood director father's body, soaked in blood with his throat slit, in his bed inside her parents' Los Angeles home. A traumatized Romy then ran out of her parents' house in anguish.
Romy, 28, the youngest child of Rob and Michele Singer Reiner, hurried to her parents' Brentwood mansion on Sunday afternoon after a massage therapist called to say no one was responding at the gate, a family friend told The New York Times. Romy, who lives just across the street, went over with a roommate to unlock the gate and check on her parents.
Shocked Beyond Belief
Inside, Romy was confronted with a heartbreaking scene — the body of her legendary filmmaker father. She then ran out of the house, shaken and terrified, while her roommate called 911. Romy reached out to her father's close friend, Billy Crystal, for help, the report said.
It wasn't until police officers and paramedics arrived at the scene that Romy was given the crushing news that her mother, Michele Singer Reiner, had also been killed, according to a family source who asked to remain anonymous.
Romy did not see her mother's body, the source said.
Billy Crystal — who had been close friends with Reiner since starring in his 1989 hit "When Harry Met Sally" — rushed to the home with his wife. According to earlier reports, the couple was confronted with the devastating sight of their longtime friends' bodies inside the house.
Rob and Michele Reiner had been dead for hours — with rigor mortis already beginning — by the time Romy made the grim discovery, law enforcement sources told TMZ. Court records indicate the killings likely occurred in the early morning hours, long before the devastating scene was uncovered around 3:30 p.m.
Romy later told investigators that her older brother, Nick Reiner, had been staying in a guesthouse on the property.
Nick, 32, was arrested several hours later and formally charged with the murders of his parents.
A source close to the family said there had been no recent red flags suggesting Nick — who has long battled drug addiction and mental health struggles — was capable of committing such a brutal act, according to The New York Times.
Motive Still Unclear
Still, there were troubling signs in the hours before the killings. The night before his parents were allegedly murdered, Nick reportedly had a major outburst at Conan O'Brien's Christmas party, where tensions boiled over into what witnesses described as a "very loud argument."
Nick was heard aggressively questioning other guests, repeatedly asking, "What's your name? What's your last name? Are you famous?" according to The Wall Street Journal.
A witness also said Nick interrupted comedian Bill Hader — a former "Saturday Night Live" star — during the holiday gathering, adding to the growing sense that something was deeply off that night.
When Hader told Nick Reiner he was in the middle of a "private conversation," the screenwriter reportedly froze in place, silently staring for a moment before abruptly storming away.
The tense confrontation may have been fueled by concerns that Nick had relapsed and was once again refusing treatment — despite having been through rehab at least 17 times since he was just 15 years old, according to a source who spoke with The New York Post.
"Rob had been telling people that they're scared for Nick and scared that his mental state was deteriorating," a lifelong family friend who lives near the Reiner home told The New York Post.
Reiner is currently being held without bail and was reportedly placed on suicide watch in the aftermath of his arrest.
Prosecutors have charged him with two counts of murder in connection with the deaths of his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner.
He made his first court appearance on Wednesday and looked unmoved.
