Nick Reiner, described as having an unusual and intense gaze, has been charged in connection with the murder of his parents, esteemed Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele. Their bodies were discovered with their throats slashed at their residence in Brentwood, Los Angeles.

John Fawcett, a longtime acquaintance of the Reiner family and owner of a Sinclair gas station in the area, recounted seeing Nick on his property late Saturday night, mere hours before the tragic incident occurred.

According to Fawcett, when LAPD detectives visited his gas station on Monday, they seemed to have a clear sense of what they were investigating.

Security cameras captured Nick on Saturday night into Sunday morning. The footage showed him wearing a cap and carrying a backpack as he walked past the gas station, located just half a mile from his family’s home.

Fawcett detailed Nick’s path, noting how he walked west along San Vicente Avenue, cutting through the gas station. Afterwards, Nick crossed the street, lingered briefly outside a consignment store called The RealReal, and continued on his way up the sidewalk.

Fawcett described how Nick walked westbound along San Vicente Avenue before cutting through his station. He then crossed the street before pausing outside a consignment store called The RealReal and then heading up the sidewalk.

‘He looks absolutely lost. He stood there for a bit and then he continues to go west until my cameras lost visual of him,’ Fawcett said. Nick was later captured on CCTV at a different gas station in downtown LA, purchasing a drink after allegedly having murdered his parents.

Fawcett has run his business for 45 years, and said Nick and his 27-year-old sister Romy had been coming to his forecourt since they were children.

Footage has shown Nick Reiner calmly buying a drink at a gas station just moments before he was arrested in Downtown LA

Rob Reiner’s son Nick has now been arrested in connection with the deaths of his parents

Nick had been living in his parents’ guesthouse for years, the Daily Mail understands, and for the past two years Romy – who lives across the road from her parents and Nick – would drive with her brother to the gas station. 

She was always bubbly and friendly to the station employee, Fawcett said, while Nick always had a creepy, vacant stare.

‘He was just a weirdo. She would come in, always friendly and sweet to my employees, and she would try hard to always involve him in their conversations. But he would never really respond, just short answers or even a grunt,’ Fawcett said.

Nick would come in and buy cigarettes, drinks and snacks, but looked progressively withdrawn, the gas station owner added.

‘He got a lot thinner over that time but recently he was starting to fill out again. But he had bags under his eyes and always, always a blank stare. He was just vacant, never very social at all,’ Fawcett said.

When asked his reaction when he heard of the Reiners’ violent deaths, Fawcett paused and sighed.

He said it reminded him of the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, the ex-wife of OJ Simpson who was brutally slashed to death outside her Brentwood home. 

Simpson was also a regular at Fawcett’s shop, he said, as her home was only a mile or so from the Reiner family residence.

Fawcett said he spoke to Nicole the day before she was murdered.

‘When I heard about Rob and Michele, all I could say was, “Oh, my God. Not again.”

‘The sheer shock of this happening again and so violently. I don’t even have the words to describe how devastating it feels.’

Fawcett said his heart is broken for Romy, Reiner’s youngest daughter who found her parents brutally slain in their home.

‘She is just the sweetest young lady. She has lost her father and mother. And now she is going to lose her brother. She will never see him again.’

The Reiners were also said to be regulars at another local business, an Italian restaurant called Amici across from the Sinclair gas station. 

One source told the Daily Mail that Rob and Michele ate at the restaurant Friday, the night before they attended a holiday party at Conan O’Brien’s house with their son.

They took Nick to the festive gathering of Hollywood A-listers to ‘keep an eye on him,’ sources said, but it reportedly turned sour when Nick was asked to leave after badgering numerous partygoers with a series of inane queries.

‘What’s your name? What’s your last name? Are you famous?’ Nick asked, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Nick had been living in his parents’ guesthouse for years, the Daily Mail understands, and for the past two years his sister Romy would drive with him to the gas station where owner John Fawcett spotted him on CCTV just hours before the killings

Reiner was arrested by the LAPD’s robbery homicide division with the help of US Marshals

At the party, Nick was introduced to Bill Hader by his father and he proceeded to interrupt the SNL comedian.

He then allegedly became irate when Hader responded that he was ‘in the middle of a private conversation’.

‘Nick just stood there and stared before storming off,’ an insider told NBC News. 

Less than 24 hours later, Rob and Michele Reiner were found stabbed to death inside their home. Police believe they were killed in the ‘early morning hours’ on Sunday. 

Nick checked in to the Pierside Hotel in Santa Monica, about two miles from his parents’ home, at around 4am Sunday morning.

Later that day, at around 9pm, Nick was arrested in the Exposition Park area of Los Angeles, close to the University of Southern California campus, some 15 miles away from the mansion where he allegedly killed his parents. 

Police are currently trying to piece together his movements in between, with new CCTV footage showing Nick calmly buying a drink at a gas station just moments before he was arrested for the murder of his parents.

A source close to the investigation told the Daily Mail that Reiner and Michele were found in bed Sunday afternoon with their throats cut and may have been asleep when they were murdered.

They were found after their daughter Romy was called over by a massage therapist who had arrived at the residence for a 2pm appointment Sunday.

The masseuse was unable to get inside and called Romy, who lives across the street with a roommate, for help.

Romy opened the door and discovered the gruesome scene of her father’s lifeless body before fleeing from the home. She was so distressed that she did not notice her mother’s slain body was also in the house. 

Her roommate called 911 while Romy reached out to her father’s longtime friend Billy Crystal.  

Romy only learned that her mother Michele Singer Reiner was also dead when paramedics arrived and broke the grim news, according to The New York Times.

Her older brother Nick was arrested in connection with the murders later that day. He has since been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, and if convicted, could face life in prison without the possibility of parole or even the death penalty.

The Sinclair Gas station is about two miles from the hotel. And the hotel is five minutes from the metro train stop, which goes directly to the Exposition Blvd stop where Nick was apprehended by cops.