Rob Reiner Was Trapped by the Law — And His Own Son | The Impossible Choice
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3.3 • 907 Ratings
🗓️ 5 January 2026
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Rob and Michele Reiner faced that question every single day. Their son Nick had reportedly been through seventeen rehab programs. He admitted to gaming the system. He convinced his parents the experts were wrong. And California law gave them almost no options to intervene.
Under the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, you can't force an adult into treatment unless they're an imminent danger to themselves or others. A 5150 hold gives you 72 hours — then the patient walks out if they say the right words. Nick knew how to say the right words. He said so himself.
So Rob and Michele kept Nick in the guesthouse. Under what reports called "watchful supervision." Except they weren't trained professionals. They were a 78-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman trying to manage someone with schizophrenia and active addiction.
Rob reportedly told friends the night before his death: "I'm petrified of Nick. I think my own son can hurt me."
By the next afternoon, Rob and Michele were dead. Stabbed multiple times in their bedroom.
This episode explores the legal trap that ensnares families across America. The 72-hour revolving door. The impossible conservatorship process. The false promise of CARE Court. And the reality that millions of parents are living with right now — hoping tonight isn't the night everything falls apart.
Nick made choices that led to that bedroom. But the system gave his parents no way out.
#RobReiner #NickReiner #MicheleReiner #ReinerMurder #TrueCrime #MentalHealthCrisis #LPSAct #CARECourt #TrueCrimePodcast #Accountability
Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISDOES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/
Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod
Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Brewski. Here now, Tony Brucey. |
| 0:08.2 | When your adult child is severely mentally ill and addicted, you get two choices in America. |
| 0:16.2 | You can let them go back to the streets, back to the shelters, back to the slow motion suicide of |
| 0:22.8 | homelessness, or you can keep them close in your guest house, in your spare room, in your life, |
| 0:30.3 | and hope every single day that they don't hurt themselves or you. Rob and Michelle Reiner chose the second option. |
| 0:42.2 | It killed them. |
| 0:45.0 | But here's the part nobody wants to say out loud. |
| 0:49.8 | What else were they supposed to do? |
| 0:54.8 | Nick Reiner is facing two counts of first degree murder. |
| 0:59.0 | His defense attorney is building an insanity defense. |
| 1:05.3 | And the public conversation has mostly split into two camps, people who blame Nick entirely and people who want to blame the mental health system. |
| 1:14.1 | But the truth is uglier than either of those narratives. The truth is that Rob and Michelle Reiner were trapped, legally, financially, emotionally trapped. |
| 1:26.1 | And the system that was supposed to help them offered nothing but a series of impossible choices. |
| 1:34.4 | This is a very deep, very large problem where there's issues here, here, over there, and back here, and that way too. |
| 1:43.4 | We're going to get into all of this. |
| 1:46.4 | Before we do, let me ask you this, please press subscribe. |
| 1:50.6 | Wherever it is, you are listening to us or watching us. |
| 1:53.4 | YouTube podcast channels, whatever it may be, please do hit that. |
| 1:56.9 | It helps us. |
| 1:57.9 | Let's other folks know you like our reporting. |
| 1:59.9 | And then you get all of our stories as we put them out to you. |
| 2:03.6 | And if you want to comment, there's two options for you. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from True Crime Today, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of True Crime Today and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.