The killings of Rob and Michele Reiner shatter family's gentle legacy

NEW YORK (AP) — Until Sunday's shocking double killings, few families seemed more apart from the dark side of life than the Reiners.

For decades, Rob Reiner and his father, Carl, had embodied a gentle, hopeful spirit in American culture, whether Dick Van Dyke's lovable antics on the show named for him and created by Carl, or the openly sentimental ending to Rob's “When Harry Met Sally…”, now held up as the kind of romantic comedy they don't seem to make anymore. Carl Reiner would call his son his favorite director, while Rob would recall being so awed by his father that he wanted to change his first name to Carl.

It was a dynasty seemingly spared of jealousy, cynicism and rage, or ambulances and police tape and 911 calls. Carl Reiner was married to his wife, Estelle, for more than 60 years; Rob to his wife, Michele, since 1989. Few would have imagined that “booked for murder” would appear in a sentence about any of them. But on Monday, Los Angeles police announced that 32-year-old Nick Reiner was in custody on suspicion of killing his parents, Rob and Michele.

“They were among my closest friends,” Maria Shriver wrote on Threads. “We laughed together, cried together, played together, dreamed together. We had dinner this past week, and they were in the best place in the their lives.”

Actor-producer Rita Wilson wrote in an Instagram post that it is “impossible to reconcile the tragedy of their deaths with the beauty they offered the world.”

The Reiners never pretended to like everybody. Carl Reiner, who died in 2020, had appeared in an anti- Donald Trump ad two years earlier, urging like-minded citizens to vote during the midterm elections. Rob Reiner was a liberal who denounced Trump for years as a threat to democracy, and was labeled by the president Monday a victim of “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

But the Reiners' politics, even at their angriest, were rooted in persuasion and civic engagement, the belief that the right words could bring about justice and redemption. In “A Few Good Men,” Rob's adaptation of the Aaron Sorkin play, an inexperienced Navy defense lawyer outwits a bullying commander into confessing his complicity with the death of a young private. “The American President,” a 1995 Reiner-Sorkin collaboration released during President Bill Clinton's first term, was a kind liberal fairy tale about a wavering chief executive who rediscovers his principles — and finds love with an environmental lobbyist.

“Beneath all of the stories he (Rob Reiner) produced was a deep belief in the goodness of people — and a lifelong commitment to putting that belief into action,” former President Barack Obama wrote on X.

As the liberal Mike Stivic in “All in the Family,” Reiner argued constantly with his bigoted father-in-law, Archie Bunker (played by Carroll O'Connor), but never gave up on reconciling with him. After one especially heated exchange, Stivic's mother-in-law, Edith (Jean Stapleton), explains to him that Archie's anger comes out of resentment that Mike is young and his life is before him.

When he sees Archie again, Mike hugs him: “I understand,” he says.

Even the acknowledged struggles of Nick Reiner appeared to have been resolved. In his teens, he was in out of treatment facilities and was homeless on occasion. But by 2015, the two had worked together on the semi-autobiographical film, “Being Charlie,” about a young addict and his tensions with his famous father. Both would say the project brought them closer. Nick Reiner told People magazine at the time that movies proved a mutual passion. Rob Reiner told The Associated Press that he had confronted his mistakes as a parent.

“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.’”

Signs are places at the front gate outside Rob Reiner's residence Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Honoree Rob Reiner, second from left, poses with his wife Michele and children Jake Reiner, Romy Reiner and Nick Reiner at the 41st Annual Chaplin Award Gala at Avery Fisher Hall on Monday, April 28, 2014 in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Flowers cover the Walk of Fame star for Rob Reiner Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Rob Reiner, from left, Michele Singer Reiner, Romy Reiner, Nick Reiner, Maria Gilfillan, and Jake Reiner arrive at the premiere of "Spinal Tap II: The End Continues" on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Chelsea has seen a 44% spike in injuries after competing in the supersized Club World Cup this year, according to findings published on Tuesday.

But the newly expanded tournament has so far had a “minimal impact” on injuries overall, the latest edition of the Men’s European Football Injury Index found.

There was fierce opposition to FIFA's new flagship club event when it was confirmed in 2023 that it would increase from seven to 32 teams, with players' unions warning of physical and mental burnout of players due to an ever expanding match schedule. But FIFA pressed ahead and staged the tournament in the United States in June-July.

Chelsea went on to win the inaugural competition, receiving the trophy from U.S. President Donald Trump at MetLife Stadium and taking home prize money of around $125 million. But, according to the Index, from June-October, Chelsea picked up more injuries — 23 — than any of the nine clubs from Europe's top leagues that participated in the Club World Cup.

They included star player Cole Palmer, and was a 44% increase on the same period last year.

The introduction of the expanded Club World Cup came at a time when competitions like the Champions League and World Cup are also increasing in size.

Maheta Molango, chief executive of the English Players Football Association, said players are being pushed to their limits and “exposed to an extreme schedule at a younger and younger age.”

“The current calendar makes no sense for players, fans or clubs,” he said.

While Chelsea, which played 64 games over the entire 2024-25 season, saw an increase in injuries, the Index, produced by global insurance firm Howden, found that overall there was a decrease.

“In principle you would expect this increased workload to lead to an increase in the number of injuries sustained, as a possible rise in overall injury severity,” the Index report said, but added: “The data would suggest a minimal impact on overall injury figures.”

Despite the figures, the authors of the report accept it was too early to assess the full impact of the Club World Cup, with the findings only going up to October.

“We would expect to see the impact to spike in that sort of November to February period,” said James Burrows, Head of Sport at Howden. “What we’ve seen previously is that’s where the impact is seen from summer tournaments."

Manchester City has sustained 22 since the tournament, which is the highest among the nine teams from Europe's top leagues — England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France.

Those teams have recorded 146 injuries from June-October, which is down on the previous year's figure of 174.

From August-October that number is 121, the lowest for that three-month period in the previous six years of the Index.

James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FILE - Chelsea's Reece James, center, lifts the trophy following the Club World Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and PSG at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, file)