Blood in the Shower: The Evidence Trail Leading to Nick Reiner

A lot has developed since yesterday's post. Nick Reiner, 32, sits in the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles tonight, held without bail, on suicide watch, in administrative segregation. The case goes to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office today for filing consideration.

That timeline alone should make you pause. Bodies discovered Sunday afternoon. Arrest Sunday night. Bail revoked Monday. DA filing Tuesday. This thing is moving fast. Real fast.

The Hotel Room

According to sources speaking to multiple outlets, Nick Reiner checked into The Pierside Hotel in Santa Monica around 4 AM Sunday morning, using his own credit card. This was hours after the heated argument with his father at Conan O'Brien's Christmas party Saturday night.

Eyewitnesses at the hotel told investigators Nick appeared "tweaked out" at check-in. But here's the detail they emphasized: there were no visible signs he had been in a violent confrontation at that point. No blood stains. No cuts on his body.

He booked the room for one night. He never checked out.

When hotel staff entered the room later Sunday morning, they found the shower "full of blood." Blood on the bed. Bed sheets covering the windows.

LAPD Robbery-Homicide detectives went to the hotel Monday to gather evidence and interview employees.

The Timeline Now

Where He Sits Tonight

Nick Reiner is currently in the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles. Suicide watch. Administrative segregation. No bail.

Think about that fall. Saturday night, he's at a Christmas party at Conan O'Brien's house with his famous filmmaker father and photographer mother. By Monday, he's in one of the largest jails in the world, watched around the clock because authorities are concerned he might try to hurt himself.

Whatever Nick Reiner did or didn't do, that reality check came fast and hard.

What We Don't Know

The LAPD has said Nick is "responsible" for his parents' deaths. They haven't said exactly how they determined that. They haven't detailed the physical evidence connecting him to the scene. They haven't explained the timeline between the hotel check-in and when the killings allegedly occurred.

We know the hotel room had blood in it. We don't know whose blood. We don't know when it got there. We don't know if it matches the crime scene.

We know there was an argument at the Christmas party. We don't know what it was about. We don't know if it was unusual for this family or a pattern.

What we do know is that Nick Reiner struggled with addiction for most of his life. First rehab at 15. Seventeen stays in treatment facilities by his early twenties. Periods of homelessness. His parents wrote a movie about it. Directed a movie about it. Tried to understand what they were dealing with through art because nothing else was working.

Sources close to the family say Michele had been confiding in friends for months that she and Rob were "at their wits' end" over Nick's mental illness and substance abuse issues. They didn't know what to do with their son.

The System Takes Over Now

Today, the DA's office receives this case. If prosecutors believe the evidence supports it, double murder charges are coming. Under California law, that could mean life without parole.

Nick Reiner hasn't had the opportunity to tell his side. No defense attorney has been publicly identified. No bail means no opportunity to prepare his defense from outside a jail cell.

This is going to be a long road. A high-profile defendant. A Hollywood legacy on both sides of the tragedy. Cameras everywhere. Opinions already formed.

But here's the thing about the justice system that my father taught me: it doesn't matter how obvious something looks. It doesn't matter how fast they moved. It doesn't matter that the headlines have already convicted him. Nick Reiner gets his day in court. He gets a defense. He gets the presumption of innocence until a jury says otherwise.

We'll be watching every step of this case. Coverage continues as the legal process unfolds.