It was supposed to be a weekend of celebration for Rob and Michele Reiner.
They attended Conan O'Brien's Christmas party on Saturday and planned to meet Barack and Michelle Obama on Sunday night.
But that meeting with the first lady and the 44th president never happened.
The couple were found dead in their Brentwood home on Sunday afternoon and their son Nick Reiner was arrested on suspicion of murder.
More details are emerging about that fateful weekend, but a full account of what happened has yet to be revealed.
Nick Reiner had a long history of substance abuse problems and gave numerous interviews about his attempts at rehabilitation and his periods of homelessness. He said he was in recovery at age 22, when he and his father produced a film based on his struggles, but at age 24 he said in a podcast interview that he had since relapsed on methamphetamine.
According to family friends, Reiner lived in the guest house on his parents' property. The family was increasingly concerned about his mental health and had expressed those concerns in recent weeks.
On Saturday night, Nick and his parents were at the same holiday event.
That night, the 32-year-old got into a fight with his parents at the party at O'Brien's house, friends of the Reiners told The Times. People at the party commented that Nick was acting strangely at the event, they said.
On Sunday night, law enforcement officers investigate near the Reiner home.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
It is unclear when the Reiners were killed. Michelle Obama revealed that she and Barack Obama were planning to meet with Reiners that Sunday night.
“We were supposed to see them that night,” he told Jimmy Kimmel on his show Monday. “Rob and Michele Reiner are some of the most decent and brave people you will ever want to meet.”
Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Alan Hamilton said the initial 911 call came about 3:40 p.m. Sunday from inside the home, which is in the 200 block of Chadbourne Avenue. There were no signs of forced entry and Nick Reiner was not at the property when officers arrived, according to law enforcement sources not authorized to speak publicly about details of the case.
The couple had wounds that appeared to have been stabbed, sources said.
The medical examiner is determining the time of death for Rob and Michel Reiner, but investigators are tracking Nick Reiner's whereabouts in the hours after the confrontation at O'Brien's party.
The Reiners' youngest daughter, Romy, 28, found her parents dead inside the home Sunday afternoon, according to family friends, who did not want to be identified due to the nature of the crime.
Nick was not home when the bodies were discovered, sources said.
Nick Reiner attends the premiere of “Spinal Tap II” on September 9 in Los Angeles.
(Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images)
Actor Billy Crystal, Rob's longtime friend and collaborator, was one of the first people the family approached after learning of the couple's death and visited the home on Sunday.
That night, the deaths at the Hollywood legend's home were attracting worldwide attention.
It is unclear when police began focusing on Nick Reiner and how they were able to determine his location.
Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department's Gang and Narcotics Division, along with a U.S. Marshals task force that normally searches for fugitives, located Nick in South Los Angeles on Sunday night, according to a law enforcement source and Reiner's booking log.
He was found near USC, about 15 miles from the scene of the stabbing, the source said.
Nick Reiner was detained around 9:15 p.m. Sunday and booked on suspicion of murder at 5:04 a.m. Monday, the source said.
He is being held in the Los Angeles County Jail without bail, according to Los Angeles police and jail records.
