The one disturbing rule Rob Reiner’s staff had to follow for son Nick

The tragic killing of actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife Michele is still sending shockwaves through the film industry.

The couple’s son, Nick Reiner, has been arrested in connection to the murders and made a court appearance on Wednesday during which he waived his right to enter a plea to two charges of first-degree murder, the BBC reported.

According to reports, Rob and Michele were last seen alive on December 13, a day prior to their killing, at Conan O’Brien’s Christmas party in Los Angeles. Nick was in attendance too, allegedly because his parents were concerned for his well-being and brought him with them. The father and son got involved into a heated argument at the gathering, after which Rob and Michele left the party, while Nick stayed around for a while more.

On December 14, at approximately 3:40 p.m., the couple’s daughter, Romy Reiner, found her parents’ bodies in their Los Angeles home, with their throats slit. Authorities said they were death for at least several hours at that point, which points to the fact that the murders took place in the morning.

TMZ reported that Nick checked in at the Pierside Hotel in Santa Monica around 4 a.m., just after the alleged time of the killings and used his own credit card to pay for the room which he then left in a complete mess. According to employees at the hotel, he left the place after a one-night stand but didn’t check out officially. There were no visible tracks of blood on him.

However, after housekeepers entered the room, they reportedly encountered a disturbing scene, with significant blood found in the bathroom and additional stains on the bed and blankets that had been hung over the window to block out the light. They alerted the authorities, which helped in discovering Nick’s whereabouts.

People close to the Reiner family claim Nick has always been a troubled child who “needed more attention” growing up. 

“He was a very hyper little boy. They always had to keep an extra eye on him,” a source told The Daily Mail, explaining that the family and their staff operated under a kind of unspoken rule: “‘Give him what he wants.’”

In fact, Nick has struggled with addictions and even experienced periods of homelessness. He has also been to rehab 18 times.

Los Angeles Times reported that weeks prior to murdering his parents, Nick had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Changing his meds made him “erratic and dangerous” and “out of his head.”