Jake Reiner, the son of the late director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, is speaking out about the deaths of his parents in a personal essay titled “Mom and Dad.”
Two months after his brother Nick Reiner pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of multiple murders in the deaths of his parents, Jake, 34, shared details on Substack of the “living nightmare” he’s experienced since learning what happened to them.
Jake shared that on the afternoon of Dec. 14, he was at a celebration of life for one of his best friends — who died in October — when he received the news of his parents’ deaths.
“It was at that moment I received a call from my sister Romy telling me our father was dead. Minutes later, she called back telling me our mother was also dead,” Jake wrote.
“The 45-minute Lyft ride from downtown to the west side was unendurable. My world, as I knew it, had collapsed. I was in a trance.”
His 78-year-old father and 70-year-old mother were found dead with stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood section of Los Angeles on Dec. 14, 2025, authorities said.
Jake said the only thing he could focus on was getting to his childhood home to “figure out what the hell just happened.”
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“Nothing can prepare you for what it feels like to lose both parents instantly at the same time. It’s too devastating to comprehend. I still wake up every morning having to convince myself that, no, it’s not a dream. This truly is my living nightmare,” he added.
In his post, shared on Friday, Jake wrote, “We lost more than half of our family that night in the most violent way imaginable.”
“Sure, any loss of a parent is devastating, but nothing compares to losing both of them at the same time and, on top of that, having your brother be at the center of it,” he added.
Jake said he understands that people have questions about what happened to his parents.
“Some of those answers will come in time. But some parts of this belong only to our family, and keeping them private is the only way to protect what little remains of something that was taken from us,” he wrote.
He said that he was “”robbed of so many things that day.”
“My parents won’t be at my wedding, they won’t get to hold their future grandchild, and they wont get to see me have the successful career I’m still seeking,” he wrote.
“It simultaneously breaks my heart and enrages me.”
He said that he keeps thinking about how frightened his parents must have been.
“They were the last people in the world to deserve what happened to them. They deserved to be loved, they deserved to be respected, and above all they deserved to be appreciated for how much they gave to all three of us and to the world,” he added.
Jake said he was telling his story and that his sister Romy “will tell hers in her own way and in her time.”
“What the hell do you say to someone who is living through this reality? The truth is, there is nothing to say. I just ask for love and compassion – the same principles my parents lived by,” his post concluded.
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Jake’s post comes a week before his brother Nick’s preliminary hearing on April 29, where prosecutors will present evidence and a judge will decide if it’s enough for him to go to trial.
During Nick’s court appearance in February, he only spoke to answer a question from the judge in the affirmative.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman spoke to reporters outside the courthouse following Nick’s hearing.
“This case is a death penalty-eligible case. Along those lines we take the process in which we determine whether or not the death penalty should be sought extremely seriously and it goes through a very rigorous process,” Hochman said.
“We have invited defence counsel to present to us — both in writing and orally — in a meeting, any arguments that they would like to make in consideration for our going forward or not going forward with the death penalty,” Hochman added.
Nick was set to enter a plea in January at a hearing in Los Angeles, before his defence attorney, Alan Jackson, announced that he was withdrawing from the case, and Reiner will now be represented by public defender Kimberly Greene.
“This morning I had to withdraw as Nick Reiner’s counsel. Circumstances beyond our control but more importantly circumstances beyond Nick’s control have dictated that sadly it’s made it impossible for us to continue our representation,” Jackson told reporters outside the courthouse in January.
“Be very, very clear about this — my team and I remain deeply, deeply committed to Nick Reiner and to his best interests,” Jackson said. “In fact we know, we’re not just convinced, we know that the legal process will reveal the true facts of the circumstances surrounding this case.”
“What we’ve learned — and you can take this to the bank — is that pursuant to the law in this state, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder. Print that,” Jackson added.
Following the news, Nick’s family told the New York Times in a statement that they “have the utmost trust in the legal process and will not comment further on matters related to the legal proceedings.”
—With files from The Associated Press
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