Romy Reiner, the daughter of the director Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, found her father’s body on Sunday after being alerted by a massage therapist who had been unable to reach the couple before a scheduled appointment at their Los Angeles home.
A person close to the Reiner family provided one of the first detailed descriptions of the tragedy from the family’s perspective, sharing the account on Tuesday, hours before the couple’s younger son, Nick Reiner, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in their stabbing deaths.
The person, who spoke to The New York Times on condition of anonymity because the immediate family was not yet ready to speak publicly, said that Romy Reiner fled the home without realizing that her mother was also dead inside.
The murder charges Nick Reiner is facing were announced by Nathan J. Hochman, the Los Angeles County district attorney, who said that cases involving family members were “some of the most challenging and most heart-wrenching cases that our office faces.” Prosecutors and police officials emphasized that investigations were ongoing and that evidence would be presented in court.
Mr. Hochman said that prosecutors would request that the murder charges be considered under “special circumstances,” in part because there were multiple murders, meaning that the maximum sentence could be the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Although Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has put a moratorium on executions, Mr. Hochman said that his office was still weighing whether to pursue the death penalty in this case.
Nick Reiner had spoken over the years about his struggles with drug abuse and periods of homelessness that began in his teenage years. He worked with his father on a movie loosely inspired by his early life, “Being Charlie,” a project that was meant to help heal a fraught relationship.
Here’s what else to know:
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Awaiting medical clearance: Nick Reiner did not appear in court on Tuesday because he had not been medically cleared to be transferred to the courthouse from the jail, his lawyer, Alan Jackson, told reporters at the courthouse. The screening is a requirement to ensure that detainees do not need medical treatment, and Nick Reiner, once medically cleared, will be brought to court for arraignment, Mr. Hochman said. At that time, Nick Reiner will enter a plea.
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Rob Reiner: He was a popular sitcom actor before directing a slate of beloved films, including “This Is Spinal Tap,” “When Harry Met Sally …” and “The Princess Bride.” He later became a force in California and national Democratic politics, championing same-sex marriage and other causes. He had three children with Ms. Reiner — Jake, Nick and Romy — while a fourth, Tracy, was adopted with the actress and director Penny Marshall.
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Michele Reiner: A photographer and later a producer, Ms. Reiner inadvertently altered the course of movie history when Rob Reiner spotted her on the New York set of the romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally …” The pair later married, and their real-life love story influenced him to change the ending of his most famous movie.
