By Conan O’Brien A thick fog surrounds coverage of the Dec. 13 holiday party — the night before Rob and Michelle Reiner were found dead in their Brentwood home and days before their son, Nick, was charged with her murder.
What we know for sure: Rob Reiner, his wife Michele Singer Reiner, and their 32-year-old son Nick were all in attendance. At some point, as they mingled and moved around the well-dressed party-goers, Nick’s appearance, demeanor and social intrusions began to attract attention – including the moment he interrupted a conversation between “Saturday Night Live” cast members Bill Hader and O’Brien.
Here’s what we’re not sure about: Anything else you might have read or heard.
At least nine news outlets reported last week that there was an argument between Nick and his parents. These include TMZ (“family sources”); People (“multiple sources at the party”); the Los Angeles Times (“family friends”); the New York Times (“two attendees”); CBS News (“sources at the party”); the New York Post (“friends” and “sources”); THR (unidentified sources); Rolling Stone (“sources”); and the Daily Mail (“multiple attendees”).
The details of each report vary slightly, and incidents are described in a variety of ways, ranging from awkward and uncomfortable exchanges (Rolling Stone) to “loud arguments,” “yelling matches” or “massive outbursts” (People, TMZ, The New York Times, The New York Post). No one has suggested that there was any kind of physical exchange.
The gathering, held at O’Brien’s home in Pacific Palisades, was a highly private event and no one in attendance spoke publicly. Apart from O’Brien and the Reiners, only Hader and Jane Fonda were designated to attend, but neither spoke publicly or even confirmed their attendance.
Then, on Friday, TheWrap quoted a Hollywood executive who was present as saying there was no explosion.
“That’s bullshit,” the executive told TheWrap, specifically referring to a Daily Mail report on Friday that O’Brien himself had advised guests not to call the police about the alleged Lehner fight.
The unnamed executive confirmed that Nick Renner was acting erratically in the A-list crowd but denied there was any major confrontation, telling TheWrap: “I said to Conan the next day, ‘What the hell is going on in the fight?'” He said, ‘I didn’t see the fight. ‘”
The executive said Nick Renner was actually “walking around and making people uncomfortable. Eavesdropping on conversations and stuff like that.”
But the executive strongly reprimanded O’Brien and guests for not witnessing a fight between Rob and Nick Lehner, adding, “If there was a big fight with Team Lehner, I know a million people. No one mentioned it to me.”
Sources tell TheWrap that despite reports, Rob Reiner and his son Nick did not get into a heated argument at Conan O’Brien’s Christmas party on December 13. (Getty Images)
TheWrap’s report echoed a New York Times report earlier last week, citing a family friend who said stories of confrontations at holiday parties were “exaggerated.”
Even reports of the Lehners’ dealings vary. Initial reports said the Reiners left immediately after the argument, but The New York Times’ source disputed this, saying the family was “accustomed” to Nick’s unusual behavior and wouldn’t back down. Rolling Stone reports that the Lehner family brought Nick in to “keep an eye on him,” while People reports that the family “never worried” Nick would become violent and settled in after he recently returned home.
Hollywood loves gossip, but is slow to publicly dismantle its own gossip. Add to that an embarrassing incident at an elite invitation-only gathering, extreme caution quietly embedded in the invitations, and the unspeakable tragedy of one of the town’s most beloved family patriarchs, and is it any wonder that this game of telephone has overloaded the circuitry?
The parties are likely to reveal more details at trial; prosecutors hoping to establish the timeline and motive for Nick Renner’s double murder of his parents could subpoena the invite list and ask for live testimony from any number of attendees, including O’Brien himself. At the rate Hollywood is tiptoeing around the Reiner murder, they shouldn’t expect any volunteers.
The Los Angeles County district attorney, on the other hand, appears to have had an easy time getting a conviction without even making a single call from O’Brien’s party invitation list. The physical evidence alone would be overwhelming, including material from the crime scene itself, blood-stained sheets found in the hotel room where Nick Renner fled on the night of the murder, countless surveillance videos, and the likelihood of some kind of confession on the evidence sheet.
Nick Reiner, 32, who was arrested Sunday as the prime suspect in his parents’ deaths, was formally charged Tuesday with two counts of first-degree murder. The case was ruled a stabbing homicide later this week. Two days earlier, Rob and Michelle were found stabbed to death in their Brentwood home by their daughter, Romi, in Exposition Park near the USC campus.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Lehner’s charges carry a potential sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, and a decision on the death penalty is pending.
Nick appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday and spoke only once, replying “Yes, your honor,” before the arraignment hearing was postponed to January 7. Court sketches show Nick appearing in court wearing a blue prison-issued suicide prevention vest.
Nick’s lawyer, Alan Jackson, asked the public on Wednesday to allow the legal process to unfold “with restraint and dignity.”
“The issues associated with this case are very, very complex and serious,” the defense attorney said. “Things need to be handled, examined and analyzed thoroughly but very carefully.”
Nick Renner is being held without bail pending arraignment.
The post What we know — and what we don’t know — a week after Linus’ murder and Conan O’Brien’s Christmas party appeared first on TheWrap.
