Nick Reiner - Prison or State Hospital?

What this episode is about

The discussion centers around the disturbing case of Nick Reiner, who fatally attacked his parents, raising questions about the intersection of mental illness, substance abuse, and treatment options available for individuals struggling with these issues. The exploration includes the significant financial investments made by his family in mental health care, the implications of his actions, and the likelihood that he may be placed in a state hospital rather than a prison setting.

Key takeaways

• When wealth meets mental health, sometimes $70,000/month can't buy a breakdown-proof family dinner.
• Nick's hoodie at Conan's party? A stark reminder that mental illness doesn’t care about your social status.
• Invited to an A-list Christmas party, but a family's love can feel like a prison of expectation.
• Even in Hollywood, fame doesn’t shield you from the chilling consequences of untreated mental illness.
• Laughter at Conan's party masked the family's heartbreak—an unsettling juxtaposition of joy and tragedy.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Nick Reiner (Guest)
• Rob Reiner (Guest)

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Conan O'Brien, Nick Reiner, Rob Reiner
2. 5:00 – 10:00: Nick Reiner, Rob Reiner
3. 10:00 – 15:00: Nick Reiner, Alan Jackson, Silence of the Lambs, Snapple
4. 15:00 – 20:00: Nick Reiner, Rob Reiner, Conan O'Brien, Louis Theroux
5. 20:00 – 25:00: Kevin Winchester, Nick Reiner, Brandon Moore

Notable quotes from "Nick Reiner - Prison or State Hospital?"

• Your son Nick is having really tough issues and all of a sudden in the mail the invitation for Conan O'Brien's Christmas party comes and I would assume the Riners were thinking you know what this has been such a hard.

  about Conan O'Brien · at 3:11

• Famous? And then finally he went up to Bill her and did the whole thing. Are you famous? And Bill was the first one that said, Hey, listen. This is a private conversation, can you?

  about Bill Burr · at 6:36

• Everybody out and asking them what their name is and if they're famous? Just chill. And they ended up getting Rob Reiner and Nick Reiner ended up getting in a such an ugly loud…

  about Rob Reiner · at 7:29

• And so they the Riners then went home and a time later Nick went over and slit their throats and stabbed them to death.

  about Nick Reiner · at 9:34

• Everything. switching up the meds a little bit. And then kind of funny, for a time he had Allan Jackson, Karen Reed's famous lawyer as his lawyer. And then Allan Jackson had to withdraw. He couldn't say why he withdrew because of.

  about Alan Jackson · at 10:30

• Or something. And I will say from I've watched Louis the Ru's documentary a number of times, the people in the state hospital in that documentary seem a click or two more crazy…

  about Louis Theroux · at 17:06

• Freshman year of high school. Very big deal. And one of the kids on the junior varsity tennis team, his name was Kevin Winchester. and he was probably the most well-behaved, wholesome kid on the whole team to the point where.

  about Kevin Winchester · at 20:31

• The house next to us, this older lady and her grandkids would come all the time and his name was Brandon Moore. And we played together so much as kids. Big old hideand go seek…

  about Brandon Moore · at 23:53

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Nick Reiner — Person · Primary subject (referenced) · 8 mentions · first at 0:38
  Central figure of the episode’s main story: described as having severe mental illness/substance issues and accused of killing his parents after an incident at a Hollywood party.
• Rob Reiner — Person · Referenced celebrity / parent in story · 5 mentions · first at 4:32
  Presented as Nick Reiner’s father and a major Hollywood figure; described as having a loud altercation with Nick at Conan O’Brien’s party and later being a victim of the alleged killings.
• Conan O'Brien — Person · Referenced celebrity / event host · 3 mentions · first at 3:18
  Mentioned as the host of the Christmas party where Nick Reiner allegedly behaved erratically and where an altercation occurred, making the story a 'Hollywood' spectacle.
• Bill Burr — Person · Referenced comedian / party attendee · 5 mentions
  Cited as the person who confronted Nick Reiner at the party and asked him to leave after being questioned; used to illustrate the social breakdown at the event.
• Alan Jackson — Person · Referenced attorney (legal context) · 1 mention · first at 10:35
  Mentioned as having briefly represented Nick Reiner before withdrawing; framed as a 'famous lawyer' associated with another high-profile case (Karen Read).
• Kevin Winchester — Person · Anecdotal reference (host’s personal story) · 5 mentions · first at 20:37
  Used as a personal anecdote about a seemingly wholesome peer who later committed severe violence, reinforcing the episode’s theme about unpredictable violent breaks.
• Louis Theroux — Person · Referenced documentarian (comparative example) · 1 mention · first at 16:46
  Referenced for a documentary about insanity defenses/state hospitals; used as a comparison point for what a state-hospital pathway might look like.
• Brandon Moore — Person · Anecdotal reference (host’s personal story) · 1 mention · first at 23:58
  Second personal anecdote about someone from the host’s childhood who later committed murder; supports the broader discussion of violence and life outcomes.

Products & tech

• Snapple — Product · Incidental mention · 1 mention · first at 11:48
  Mentioned in the context of Nick Reiner's behavior during a mockumentary, where he made an inappropriate comment about the product.
  Drinking a Snapple and the guy with the camera goes why do you like Snapple? And Nick Riner goes, I like Snapple because after I get done drinking it, I can put my something like I can put my penis in the bottle.

Media & podcasts

• Silence of the Lambs — Media · Referenced work · 1 mention · first at 10:10
  Mentioned in the context of describing Nick Reiner's behavior, comparing it to a character from the movie.
  God only knows what he was doing and what his mental state was in the hotel room. I was thinking he was probably dancing around like Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lamb. Nice…

Full transcript with timestamps

0:04 Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Hope you're doing well. Look at that. We are back, baby. Woo. As you can see, I moved into a new place. I got a lot to do to figure out the new studio. I don't even know which direction I'm going to point myself yet, but the show must go on. A lot has happened since the show has been on hiatus. We got a lot to talk about. I'm going to start today by talking about probably the most high-profile story that's happened. And I've also been asked the most if I could talk about this one. So today we're going to talk about the Nick Reiner story. He slit his parents' throats last month. I've always said there's nothing worse than a violent skitso on meth. It's a terrible combination.

0:54 A clear picture has emerged on this story, or at least a clearer one. There are still a few things I am hoping that comes out, but we're going to go over the story real quick. It's not very long. And then I want to talk about I think he'll probably with everything that's come out, I think he'll probably end up in a state hospital situation over a prison. So, we'll talk about what that might look like and how he might end up there. So, let's get into it. So last month before it happened at the time the Rhiners were spending7,000 a month on Nick's treatment. They were sending him to a clinic that rich people go to or rich people send their kids to that treat mental illness and drug addiction simultaneously. I was thinking about it. What do you even get for 70,000 a month? and they were probably for if you're paying that much money, you're definitely thinking you're going to get better results than what actually h

1:58 ended up happening. But I looked it up. The Riners were worth $200 million. And I understand there's some problems you just got to throw money at. But $70,000 a month, I want to know what you get at that clinic for that much money. But they're sending them to this clinic. TMZ reported, I don't know if it's true, but TMZ res reported that a month before he killed his parents, he started getting fat and he told his parents or he was complaining about it, I'm getting fat. The meds are making me gain weight, which is a really common side effect for antiscychotic meds and the type of meds that he was probably on. And so he went, the story goes that's come out, he went back to his doctor, they tweaked the meds a little bit to try to get the recent weight gain under control. That ended up destabilizing him. So let's think about the RERS.

3:01 You're moving into December. It's the holiday season. You're worth $200 million. your son Nick is having really tough issues and all of a sudden in the mail the invitation for Conan O'Brien's Christmas party comes and I would assume the Riners were thinking you know what this has been such a hard year this is such a hard time we should just go to Conan's party have a normal night see some some of our old friends and just try to forget this tough situation that we're in just for one night. And the story goes is but they knew Nick because of the switched up meds was unstable. His connection with reality was frayed and almost ready to snap. And so they didn't want to leave him alone is the story that I heard. So they said, "You know what, Nick? Why don't you come to the Christmas party with us? We want to go.

4:10 I'm sure they just were craving to have a normal night where they didn't have to think about the disaster nightmare that was Nick's sit situation. So, they go to Conan's Christmas party, and that's probably one of the more A-list parties. Christmas parties you can be invited to because both Conan and Rob Reiner come are A-list from a time in Hollywood when Hollywood had much more of a cool factor and had much more cultural influence and relevance. And back when they were really at the height of their careers, it everything was different. There was a small number of people that were really famous. Now, time has changed where there's a lot of people that are just kind of famous and Conan is loved by everybody. He because of the nature of his show, he's not political, so half the people don't hate him for that. He's loved by comedians and musicians and actors and the whole thing. Everybody

5:23 loves Conan. So, I feel like when you get that invitation to Conan's Christmas party, that must mean that you made it in Hollywood pretty you did pretty good for yourself. And uh so the Riners go to the Christmas party. I feel like it's one of those parties where as soon as you get the invitation, you start thinking about what you're going to wear, especially a Christmas party. They said everybody at the party was dressed up to the nines in their most festive outfit, dressed to impress. And then Nick, who they brought because they were worried about him. He was just wearing an old ratty hoodie, so he really stuck out. Everybody's in their best festive outfit. And then Nick has a five:00 shadow and he's wearing the ratty hoodie. And the story goes is he was going up to people and going, "What's your name?

6:22 What's your last name? Are you famous?" And people are going, "What? What is who is this guy? Why is he asking me that?" And he kept going around, "What's your name? What's your last name? Are you famous?" And then finally he went up to Bill her and did the whole thing. Are you famous? And Bill was the first one that said, "Hey, listen. This is a private conversation, can you?" And he asked him to leave. And the story goes is once Bill her asked him to leave, Nick just stared at him for a awkwardly long time with a cold, blank look on his face and then walked away.

7:06 And then I don't know what went down between Rob Reiner and Nick Reiner, but I assume it was something like Rob Reiner saying to his son, "What are you doing? You're embarrassing us. Why are you weirding everybody out? We're at Conan's Christmas party. We're trying to have a good time. We're trying to have a normal night where we don't have to do this. Can you just stop weirding everybody out and asking them what their name is and if they're famous? Just chill." And they ended up getting Rob Reiner and Nick Reiner ended up getting in a such an ugly loud verbal altercation. Apparently, there was people at the party that were debating whether they should call 911.

7:51 So, it sounds like the whole party came to a screeching stop. Everybody now is staring at Rob Reiner and Nick Reiner having an altercation that got so ugly that people were debating calling 911. I'm sure the Rhiners during that were both thinking, "Well, this is worst case scenario. Can't believe this how bad this is going. We're in a screaming fight at Conan's birthday. Everybody's watching. I wish we wouldn't have come. I am severely depressed with this whole situation. We just wanted to have a normal night and now here we are. It's worst case scenario.

8:35 Apparently Conan then steps in with the the host skills that he has and he calmed them down. Said listen, you know, calm down. And then it's unclear what happened after that. if the Riners left right away. I'm also curious. I wonder if the party recovered or if people after that were like, you know, hey, Conan, hell of a party, man. We're going to take off. Like, I wonder if the vibes were able to get better. You can almost hear the music to a Christmas party like that. Jingle bell, jingle bell, everybody's talking and drinking, dressed up. I wonder if it was able if the party was able to recover after the screaming fight and after he asked everybody if they're famous. I might steal that line like if somebody comes up and bothers me, I might just ask them, "What's your first name? Are you famous?"

9:34 And so they the Riners then went home and a time later Nick went over and slit their throats and stabbed them to death. The way I understand it is he had Nick had rented himself a hotel room at some point. And when law enforcement searched the hotel room, there was blood everywhere. There were sheets covering the windows. There's blood all over the bathtub. God only knows what he was doing and what his mental state was in the hotel room. I was thinking he was probably dancing around like Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lamb. Nice tuck job. Who knows? Doing skitso things on meth. Then he's arrested.

10:23 Then it came out a little bit later that it was the recent weight gains due to the medication is maybe what destabled everything. switching up the meds a little bit. And then kind of funny, for a time he had Allan Jackson, uh Karen Reed's famous lawyer as his lawyer. And then Allan Jackson had to withdraw. He couldn't say why he withdrew because of attorney client privileges. But you got to think that Nick's money was cut off. That's also a total spoiled rich kid move is you slit your parents' throats and then you expect their estate to pay for your high-profile lawyer. Daddy, I want Karen Reed's high-profile lawyer.

11:14 I want a famous lawyer, daddy. And there's a bunch of interviews and content that Nick Reiner has done over the years. One of them is he was playing like a rapper, a comedy rapper character. Kind of reminded me of the Jamie Kennedy Malibu's Most Wanted character, but he was pretending to be like a rapper, but a funny it was like a trying to be a comedy. He was wearing big ridiculous glasses and a hat just doing the yo yo, I'm a rapper. And but one of the things he he was drinking a Snapple and the person filming they were filming like a mockumentary on this rapper that he was pretending to be and he was Nick was drinking a Snapple and the guy with the camera goes why why do you like Snapple? And Nick Riner goes, "I like Snapple because after I get done drinking it, I can put my something like I can put my penis in the bottle."

12:14 And it's just like that's not that's not funny really. It's not strong work. It's not really a good bit. And so there's also an interview I watched where they asked him, he was talking about how it was hard to bond with his dad growing up and he said something like like my dad and my brother, they liked basketball, but I like baseball. Maybe it was switch, but he was saying like, "My dad and my brother liked a sport, but I liked another one." And it really comes out in the interviews just how difficult of a person Nick was to be around because it's like all right well maybe just get into the sport that they're in.

13:00 You don't love basketball but just in the spirit of hanging out with your dad and brother maybe get into it. Try to find a storyline that does interest you. It's like I like baseball and my dad and brother like basketball so therefore my life sucks. It's like, dude, it's fine. And then he was doing another podcast where he said he got all ripped on uppers and destroyed the entire pool house. Like every lamp he broke. He punched out every wall. And that I just you I really feel for the Rers as parents. You're worth $200 million. You have a unbelievable career in Hollywood. the the amount of movies that he made that became culturally relevant and that were loved is pretty unbelievable.

13:55 And then to have to deal with a son with this situation is is like it really is worst case scenario. And so I would assume either it's called the Slayer Act or something. There's something in California where you're not allowed to make money or use the money. If you kill someone, you can't use their money or make money off of it. So, either that kicked in and they're saying, "No, you're not. You don't get to use your murdered parents' money to get Karen Reed's famous lawyer." Sorry. Or maybe his surviving brother and sisters were able to cut off the money he was using.

14:36 So all of a sudden he went from Karen Reed's highprofile famous lawyer to now he just has a public defender. The story is that he was diagnosed I think I said this already diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2020. And so if that is true again I think TMZ reported that if that's true I would guess that it's not going to go to trial. prosecutors. It's tough to do a normal type prosecution and go for prison if there is a real deal schizophrenia diagnosis and if it is true that his meds was all switched up because of the recent weight gain and then that's what destabilized him. So, I bet it's going to take forever, but I bet he will end up in a state hospital situation. and I looked it up and how it more often than not goes with these is he'll go to the state hospital and then he'll be there until he's considered stable and not a threat. So I would guess because of the severity and gruesomeness and overall horror of what

15:52 he did it will take years. I don't know a five 10. But the crazy thing about not being fit for trial, not guilty by the way of insanity, is eventually he probably will get out. If it was the other way and he had a normal trial and he went to prison, the chances that he would ever get out with the severity of it are really small. But if it goes the state hospital route, a lot of times as they become stable and a few chapters of their life goes by and they become old or older and then the doctors deem them no longer a threat, there is a chance that he is going to get out and have a few life chapters of freedom, which is kind of nuts. And it made me think of Louis Theoru has one of his documentaries is called Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. And he goes to a state hospital type place where it's all people like Nick that stabbed their dad a bunch of times or they killed their neighbor out of the blue after everyone

17:04 thought they were just a weird nerdy kid or something. And I will say from I've watched Louis the Ru's documentary a number of times, the people in the state hospital in that documentary seem a click or two more crazy and more out of it than Nick does in the number of interviews that I've watched of Nick Reiner. He he doesn't seem so totally insane like the people from the Louis Theu documentary. So, I guess there is a chance that say he's in the state hospital for a while and then they let him out, they deem him, that he's no longer a threat.

17:49 Technically, the murder charges could be brought back. But statistically, it doesn't happen very often because once there is an official schizophrenia diagnosis, it's not easy to prosecute. Juries feel weird about it. Prosecutors feel weird about it. And so it seems like he's going to be in the state hospital route in my opinion. I don't think I think it's going to take a really long time for anything big to happen with it. Probably years until we know what's going to happen. But what a wild situation. The fact that it was Conan O'Brien's Christmas party, who he's really an A-list celebr A-list Hollywood celebrity from old Hollywood, and Rob Reiner, and just the fact that it was at a it started at a Christmas party and all those people saw it, it's going to turn into and already has as the especially as the years go on as a quintessential Hollywood horror story just because of who was involved and you know Bill her

19:04 oh yeah it also has come out that Bill her is separating I don't know if they were married he's either getting a divorce or separating from his longtime girlfriend or wife and so with the timing of that that came out just in the past couple weeks so the timing of that I think it's possible that his relationship was headed into the toilet during this party and maybe he was having some intense emotional conversation about that or maybe he was talking about something totally else but in the back of his mind he's thinking, "Yeah, my relationship is on the rocks. This is a really rough holiday season. Nothing like the holidays with your relationship disintegrating in front of your eyes." And so it makes sense that he was the one that was like, "Dude, go away. Stop asking me what my name is and if I'm famous. You know who I am. Stop being a weirdo. Leave me alone. I'm not in the mood for this. My

20:08 relationship is tanking. I don't want to talk up to you in your ratty old hoodie about if I'm famous. Go away." So that that checks out that he wasn't in the mood for Nick Reiner's weirdo bit. It does remind me of a story I played. I was on the junior varsity tennis team freshman year of high school. Very big deal. And one of the kids on the junior varsity tennis team, his name was Kevin Winchester. and he was probably the most well-behaved, wholesome kid on the whole team to the point where like we would do these traveling uh matches where we'd all get in a bus and drive to a town over and stay in a hotel and then play another high school's JV team. But we would all run a muck at the hotel and cause problems and be little hoodils. And Kevin Winchester would stay in his room and not take part. And he was always so nice to everybody. So much so it was almost hard to connect with them because he's just

21:18 like, "Man, Kevin Winchester is such a quiet nice wholesome well-behaved guy. No one had anything bad to say about old Kevin." And then I got a call a few years after high school from one of my friends and he goes, "Remember Kevin?" He was on the tennis knee, too. Remember Kevin Winchester? I was like, "Yeah." And he goes, "He stabbed his dad 19 times in the back, and his dad is going to be he's paralyzed from the waist down. He lived, but he's paralyzed from the waist down, and he's going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life." And I was like, "Kevin did that? How did that happen? And a wild thing about it is I started following it and it's like Kevin was arrested and then all of a sudden the whole thing disappeared in a puff of smoke. I could never find anything about charges, a trial, anything. It just was the new story that had happened and then nothing. And then recently actually I

22:30 asked the AI. I asked the robot, "Hey, find me what happened with the Kevin Winchester early 2000 stabbed his dad 19 times in the backstory." And even the robot said that there's all of a sudden there's no info on it. And I'm thinking, how does that happen? Is it is it just because it was the internet wasn't completely going so it h it happened somehow under the radar and never made it on to the internet or were charges dropped? But that's pretty insane. I think about his dad from time to time. It's been probably 20 years since it's happened. He's probably sitting in Grand Junction in a wheelchair squeaking his way to the kitchen to get some water.

23:18 It's like what happened to Kevin Winchester? Is he in jail? Did he not have did nothing happen? Is he in a state hospital? Did he have a mental break? I did hear a rumor that meth was involved. So I was thinking, how does wholesome well-behaved Kevin Winchester get into meth. That's kind of crazy. And then it also reminded me of because I was thinking about that one from my childhood. Another kid that I played with a lot when I was a kid that's in jail for murder. The house I grew up in, the house next to us, this older lady and her grandkids would come all the time and his name was Brandon Moore. And we played together so much as kids. Big old hideand go seek games all over the neighborhood. Capture the flag. They were always over at our place.

24:10 He ended up killing his girlfriend's baby that she had had with a different guy before they had met. So, he was babysitting her kid and killed it. And then he got li he actually got life in prison and then a number of years later the life sentence got changed to 67 years in prison. And so he has I think 40 something left, but pretty much a parent's worst nightmare. But we'll see how the we'll see what comes out on the Nick Riner story. I keep thinking more info is going to come out about a timetable for trials, but there's probably going to be psych evaluations.

25:05 And like I said, nothing is going to happen fast. So, I'm going to cut it off there. It's so good to be back. Thank you everybody for clicking on the video and all that. I'm gonna see you guys soon. Why sting? Y shamita.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Nick Reiner - Prison or State Hospital?"?

Nick Reiner (Guest), Rob Reiner (Guest).

What is "Nick Reiner - Prison or State Hospital?" about?

The discussion centers around the disturbing case of Nick Reiner, who fatally attacked his parents, raising questions about the intersection of mental illness, substance abuse, and treatment options available for individuals struggling with these issues. The exploration includes the significant financial investments made by his family in mental health care, the implications of his actions, and…

What is mentioned in this TRUE CRIME Loser episode?

10 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Nick Reiner, Rob Reiner, Conan O'Brien, Bill Burr, Alan Jackson, Kevin Winchester. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Nick Reiner - Prison or State Hospital?"?

The episode runs 25 min; the transcript is about 3,772 words in 27 timestamped sections.

More from TRUE CRIME Loser

• All analyzed episodes
• Books mentioned on TRUE CRIME Loser
• People mentioned on TRUE CRIME Loser
• Topics mentioned on TRUE CRIME Loser