Why Nick Reiner's Conservatorship Ended: The California Law Loophole That May Have Cost Rob & Michele Their Lives
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3.3 • 908 Ratings
🗓️ 20 January 2026
⏱️ 25 minutes
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Summary
The state of California once declared Nick Reiner so mentally ill he couldn't make his own decisions. A judge signed off. A professional conservator was appointed. For one year, Nick could be forced to take psychiatric medication and placed in a locked facility against his will. Then the conservatorship ended in 2021—and it was never renewed.
Today on Hidden Killers, we investigate the legal mechanism that was supposed to protect everyone in that Brentwood home and ask the hard question: why wasn't it enough?
Under California's Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, a person can only be conserved if they're "gravely disabled"—unable to provide for their own food, clothing, or shelter. But here's the catch: if family members are providing those things, the person may no longer qualify. The more you help, the harder it becomes to get the state to intervene.
We break down the conservatorship timeline, the reported medication change one month before the murders, and what this means for Nick Reiner's defense strategy. Alan Jackson said Nick is "not guilty of murder" under California law before withdrawing from the case. The conservatorship history will be central to that argument—because it proves the state itself found Nick gravely disabled due to mental illness.
Steven Baer, the licensed fiduciary who served as Nick's conservator, will almost certainly testify. What did he observe? Why didn't he petition for renewal? And what does California owe to families trapped between loving their children and getting them the treatment they need?
The system worked exactly as designed. That's the problem.
#HiddenKillers #NickReiner #RobReiner #MicheleReiner #Conservatorship #TrueCrimePodcast #MentalHealth #CaliforniaMurder #LPSAct #TrueCrimeToday
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Bruske. Here now, Tony Brucey. We're continuing to learn more and more about what the Reiner's did with Nick while they were alive. The steps they took to try and contain the madness. And we're going to go through what we've learned about the conservatorship. |
| 0:23.0 | And it's going to be an interesting lesson in just what these do and what they don't do. |
| 0:27.7 | And what you have to do to keep them active. |
| 0:31.0 | And is it worth it? |
| 0:33.2 | In practice, do they do anything near what on paper it looks like? |
| 0:40.8 | Because the Reiner's did something most families of severely mentally ill adults cannot do. |
| 0:45.3 | They got a court to take away their son's autonomy for a period of time. |
| 0:51.5 | A judge signed off. |
| 0:53.0 | A licensed fiduciary was appointed for one year. |
| 0:58.0 | That's important. One year. |
| 1:00.3 | For one year, Nick Reiner was under an LPS conservatorship. |
| 1:03.8 | The most restrictive mental health intervention California law allows. |
| 1:08.2 | The state of California looked at Nick Reiner and said, |
| 1:10.4 | This man cannot care for himself. |
| 1:11.9 | This man needs someone else to make decisions for him. This man can be forced to take medication |
| 1:17.0 | against his will and placed in a locked psychiatric facility if a doctor says it's necessary. |
| 1:24.5 | And four years later, Rob and Michelle Reiner are dead. |
| 1:28.5 | So, what happened? |
| 1:35.1 | We're going to get into all of that. |
| 1:37.8 | Be part of our conversation on this story and tell me your thoughts as we work through this because I want to hear them. |
| 1:45.4 | Either on YouTube comments or on our Substack comments. You can join us on Substack right now absolutely free, |
| 1:52.1 | no paywall there, and get our reporting a day before everybody else and communicate directly |
... |
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