The Latest: Rob Reiner's son 'booked for murder' after apparent stabbing of director and wife

Rob Reiner’s younger son, Nick Reiner, for what investigators believe was the fatal stabbing of the director-actor and his wife at their Los Angeles home a day earlier. Police Chief Jim McDonnell said Nick Reiner, 32, has been “booked for murder” and is being held on $4 million bail.

Nick Reiner has spoken publicly of his struggles with addiction and homelessness. He and his father collaborated on a semi-autobiographical 2016 film, “Being Charlie,” that included elements of their relationship and experience.

Reiner, the son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, had long been one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood whose work included some of the most memorable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including “This Is Spinal Tap,” “A Few Good Men,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “The Princess Bride.” Reiner’s death led to an outpouring of grief from Hollywood and beyond.

Here's the latest:

Nick Reiner, 32, the younger of Rob Reiner’s two sons, spoke publicly of his struggles with addiction. By 18, he had cycled in and out of nine treatment facilities with bouts of homelessness and relapses in between.

Rob Reiner said in a 2016 interview with The Associated Press that “I maybe didn’t handle it the best way. I listened to a lot of people who had a desk and a diploma. I didn’t really think about my kid and what he needed.”

Nick and Rob Reiner would collaborate on a semi-autobiographical 2016 film, “Being Charlie,” that included elements of their relationship and experience. Rob Reiner directed the movie and Nick Reiner was a co-writer.

“We didn’t go into it thinking this is going to be therapeutic or bring us closer, but it did come out that way,” Rob Reiner told the AP. “It forced us to understand ourselves better than we had. I told Nick while we were making it, I said, ‘you know it doesn’t matter, whatever happens to this thing, we won already. This has already been good.’”

Rob Reiner ’s son has been taken into custody after the deaths of the director-writer and his wife Michele, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

The official confirmed 32-year-old Nick Reiner was in police custody on Monday. The official could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity. Reiner, 78, and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were found dead Sunday at their home.

Online jail records show Reiner was booked by Los Angeles police and remained in jail on Monday. It was not immediately clear what charges he would face. The online records showed a $4 million bail had been set.

— By Mike Balsamo

Trump responded to the reported killing of a Hollywood cultural icon and his wife with a striking political attack on the victims.

In a social media post, Trump said without evidence that Rob Reiner’s death was due to his opposition to Trump and his policies — in Trump’s words, “the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”

Investigators were questioning a family member of director-actor Rob Reiner Rob Reiner and his wife Michele after they were found dead at their home in Los Angeles, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.

Investigators believe they suffered stab wounds, said the official, who could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Los Angeles Police had not identified a suspect, Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton, the chief of detectives, said at a briefing on Sunday night.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said it responded to a medical aid request shortly after 3:30 p.m. and found a 78-year-old man and 68-year-old woman dead inside. Reiner turned 78 in March.

Detectives with the Robbery Homicide Division were investigating an “apparent homicide” at Reiner’s home, said Capt. Mike Bland with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Los Angeles authorities have not confirmed the identities of the people found dead at the residence in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the city’s west side that’s home to many celebrities.

▶ Read more about the investigation

Many prominent people are paying tribute to Rob Reiner and his wife Michele:

“Rob’s achievements in film and television gave us some of our most cherished stories on screen. But beneath all of the stories he produced was a deep belief in the goodness of people—and a lifelong commitment to putting that belief into action.” — On X.

“I spoke to him last night for over an hour. I always enjoyed his company. I met him at his Dad’s in 1975. He was telling me about fiming at Stonehenge and his thoughts for the future. This is so awful. I shall miss him. A clever, talented and very thoughtful man.” — On X.

“Rob and I remained good friends ever since we made GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI. The studio didn’t think I was old enough to do the part, but Rob fought for me. Political differences never stood in the way of our love and respect for each other. I am devastated by this terrible event.” — On X.

“Love you, Rob.” — On Instagram with a photo of him and Reiner on the set of “Stand By Me.”

“Horrified to hear of the passing of Rob Reiner and his wonderful wife Michelle. So much love to their kids and family.” — On X.

▶Read more of the tributes

Rob Reiner, the son of a comedy giant who became one himself as one of the preeminent filmmakers of his generation, has died. He was 78.

Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead Sunday at their home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation confirmed their identities but could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Reiner grew up thinking his father, Carl Reiner, didn’t understand him or find him funny. But the younger Reiner would in many ways follow in his father’s footsteps, working both in front and behind the camera.

After starting out as a writer for “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” Reiner’s breakthrough came when he was, at age 23, cast in Norman Lear’s “All in the Family.” But by the 1980s, Reiner began as a feature film director, churning out some of the most beloved films of that, or any, era.

▶ Read more about Reiner’s life and career

A security guard stands outside Rob Reiner's residence Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)

CORRECTS IDENTITY OF NICK AND JAKE REINER - FILE - Honoree Rob Reiner, second left, poses with his wife Michele, left, and children Jake, center, Romy, and Nick at the 41st annual Chaplin Award Gala at Avery Fisher Hall, April 28, 2014, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

News crews stage outside Rob Reiner's residence Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)

The entrance to Rob Reiner's residence is shown Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)

FILE - Rob Reiner arrives at the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network's Respect Awards, in Beverly Hills, Calif., Friday, Oct. 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)

A police officer blocks off a street near Rob Reiner's residence Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge on Monday postponed a preliminary hearing for one of three former aides to President Donald Trump facing felony forgery charges related to the 2020 election amid questions about what statements the man made to prosecutors could be admitted in court.

The move was a setback for prosecutors with the state Department of Justice who filed the charges and initially called for pushing ahead with the hearing for Ken Chesebro, an attorney who advised Trump's campaign.

The preliminary hearing for two other defendants continued Monday.

The three former aides face 11 felony charges each related to their roles in the 2020 fake elector scheme. In addition to Chesebro, the other defendants are Jim Troupis, who was Trump's campaign attorney in Wisconsin, and Mike Roman, Trump’s director of Election Day operations in 2020.

The Wisconsin case is moving forward even as others in the battleground states of Michigan and Georgia have faltered. A special prosecutor last year dropped a federal case alleging Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election. Another case in Nevada is still alive.

Dane County Circuit Judge John Hyland said Monday that holding a separate evidentiary hearing to determine whether comments Chesebro made to Wisconsin investigators were given under an agreement not to be used against him in a trial “may be the best route.”

Chesebro made his comments to investigators voluntarily and there was no immunity agreement given to him in exchange for talking, said Assistant Wisconsin Attorney General Adrienne Blais.

She called the move by Chesebro's attorney to not allow his comments at the preliminary hearing “a clear sandbag.”

The surprise move is just the latest attempt by the three Trump aides to derail the case.

Troupis last week tried unsuccessfully to get the judge to step down in the case and have it moved to another county. Troupis, who the other two defendants joined in his motion, alleged that the judge did not write a previous order issued in August declining to dismiss the case. Instead, he accused the father of the judge's law clerk, a retired judge, of actually writing the opinion.

Troupis, who served one year as a judge in the same county where he was charged, also alleged that all of the judges in Dane County are biased against him and he can't get a fair trial.

Hyland said he and a staff attorney alone wrote the order. Hyland also said Troupis presented no evidence to back up his claims of bias and refused to step down or delay the hearing.

Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the allegations.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice, headed by Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, brought the felony forgery charges in 2024, alleging that the three defrauded the 10 Republican electors who cast their ballots for Trump in 2020.

Prosecutors contend the three lied to the Republicans about how the certificate they signed would be used as part of a plan to submit paperwork to then-Vice President Mike Pence, falsely claiming that Trump had won the battleground state that year.

The complaint said a majority of the 10 Republicans told investigators that they were needed to sign the elector certificate indicating Trump had won only to preserve his legal options if a court changed the outcome of the election in Wisconsin.

A majority of the electors told investigators that they did not believe their signatures on the elector certificate would be submitted to Congress without a court ruling, the complaint said. Also, a majority said they did not consent to having their signatures presented as if Trump had won without such a court ruling, the complaint said.

Andrew Schoeneck, a special agent in the criminal investigation division of the Wisconsin Department of Justice, detailed the state's case against the three former Trump associates under questioning from prosecutors during the preliminary hearing.

The Trump associates have argued that no crime took place.

Trump lost Wisconsin in 2020 but fought to have the defeat overturned. He won the state in both 2016 and 2024.

The state charges against the Trump attorneys and aide are the only ones in Wisconsin. None of the electors have been charged. The 10 Wisconsin electors, Chesebro and Troupis all settled a lawsuit that was brought against them seeking damages.

This story has been corrected to show that the attorneys who are charged formerly worked on Trump's campaign, but are still practicing attorneys.

FILE - Jim Troupis reads a statement after his court appearance outside a Dane County courtroom Dec. 12, 2024, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)