Jake Reiner Opens up About Parents Rob and Michele Reiner Eight Months After Their Deaths

For Jake Reiner, healing has meant confronting a loss that defies explanation. In a candid new interview, he reveals how his family has splintered — and how he's learning to carry on.

Jake Reiner is opening up about life after the violent, tragic deaths of his parents, filmmakers Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Reiner. His younger brother, Nick Reiner, is currently facing murder charges connected to the couple's deaths.

Jake Reiner attends the 24th Annual Beverly Hills Film Festival - day three at TCL Chinese Theatre on May 3, 2024 in Hollywood, California. | Source: Getty Images

Rob and Michele were fatally stabbed in their Brentwood, California, home in December 2025. Jake sat down for his first interview since the murders, speaking with KABC-TV's Mark Cota-Robles about his parents, his upbringing, and how drastically his life has shifted in the tragedy's wake.

"My parents had unconditional love for all three of us," Jake said in a portion of the interview that aired Thursday, August 27, on ABC7. He shared that the eight months since his parents' deaths have felt both agonizingly long and jarringly recent.

"It's been 8 months. It feels like 8 years at the same time. And it also feels like 8 minutes," he said. "Because every moment that I wake up, I'm reminded of my reality, and you're living through that every single day."

Jake Reiner during his interview on KABC-TV on August 27, 2026. | Source: YouTube/ABC7

Nick, 32, was taken into custody hours after his parents were found dead on December 14, 2025. He has since been indicted on two counts of first-degree murder and has pleaded not guilty.

During the interview, Jake described the moment his sister, Romy, called him with the news, and how quickly he sensed something was terribly wrong. He had been attending a celebration of life for a friend at Union Station in Los Angeles when the call came through.

"Romy called me, and I screened it because I thought at the time, 'I'm in the middle of something,'" Jake told Cota-Robles. When Romy, 28, called back "immediately," he said he "knew at that point that something was wrong."

Jake Reiner during his interview on KABC-TV on August 27, 2026. | Source: YouTube/ABC7

"Romy told me our dad was dead, and then she said, 'I can't find Mom,'" Jake said. "And I immediately went into shock. I need to get out of this train station, and I need to get to my parents' house."

Having covered crime scenes for years as a local news reporter, Jake said nothing prepared him for finding his own family at the center of one. "When it's your crime scene, like a crime scene at your childhood home, [it's] like the most surreal thing I've ever seen," he said.

Asked about earlier comments describing the aftermath as losing more than half his family — Nick included — Jake admitted his brother's arrest has only deepened his grief. "Yeah. I mean, he's in jail, so..." he noted, trailing off as he searched for words.

Jake Reiner during his interview on KABC-TV on August 27, 2026. | Source: YouTube/ABC7

"You know, it's ... I physically lost my parents. And then Nick was arrested. And now it's me and Romy," he said. Jake repeatedly declined to comment on his brother's alleged role in their parents' deaths throughout the interview.

He did, however, speak to how his parents regarded Nick, emphasizing their hands-on commitment to his recovery from addiction. "I can tell you they never stopped wanting to help him. They never stopped helping him," he said.

Nick had previously spoken openly about his struggles with substance abuse, collaborating with his father on 2015's "Being Charlie," a film loosely inspired by his own experiences. "I think that that project was a way for my dad to try and connect with him," Jake said of the movie.

In the months since losing his parents, Jake has leaned on therapy to work through his grief."It manifests into rage, into how unfair this was, how I didn't get a say in what happened," he said.

He continued, "I didn't get to stop it from happening. I had no choice in the matter. I just have to accept the reality of it. And to me, that is just one of the most infuriating parts of all of this."

Even with details of the killings now public, Jake said acceptance remains elusive. "I'll never understand. I don't care how it's explained to me," he said. "I don't care what facts come out. I will never understand why this happened."