Martine Singer has offered a heartbreaking account of the moment she discovered that her sister, Michele Reiner, and brother-in-law, Rob Reiner, had been murdered.
Rob and Michele were found fatally stabbed on December 14, 2025, at their $13.5 million estate in Brentwood, where their son Nick lived in a guesthouse.
Nick, 32, had a history of substance abuse and was reportedly diagnosed with schizophrenia. He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and is being held in solitary confinement while awaiting trial.
Singer said this week that a relative broke the news by calling her and saying: ‘Something terrible has happened and you gotta go over there.’
The drive to the Reiners’ home felt like ‘probably the longest car ride in my life,’ Singer recalled during an interview with ABC 7.
Singer said she has not been in contact with Nick. Asked how she would react if he reached out, she replied: ‘I appreciate the question. I’m not sure I can answer that.’
Martine Singer has given a heartbreaking account of learning that her sister and brother-in-law, Michele and Rob Reiner, had been murdered; the Reiners are pictured in 2013
Their 32-year-old son Nick, who had a history of substance abuse and was reportedly diagnosed with schizophrenia, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder
Michele is pictured with her sisters Suzanne (left) and Martine (right) during a trip to Strasbourg, France, held in memory of their mother, Nicole Bernheim
Singer runs the Los Angeles-based Children’s Institute nonprofit, while her other sister, Suzanne, is a rabbi.
During her latest interview about the Reiner murders, Singer said she had managed to keep ‘functioning’ and returned to work in January.
‘But it’s always there. It’s always in my mind and in my heart,’ Singer said. She remembered Rob and Michele as a ‘forcefield’ of a couple.
‘They were charismatic. They were funny and loud and boisterous, and the world seems very empty without them,’ she added.
Singer also shared several photographs from the past, including one showing her and Michele pregnant at the same time with their respective daughters.
Rob and Michele also had a son, Jake, 35, and a daughter, Romy, 28. Rob was additionally the adoptive father of Tracy, 62, his first wife Penny Marshall’s daughter.
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According to reports, Romy, who lived across the street from her parents, discovered their bodies in December. She allegedly told police that a ‘dangerous’ family member ‘should be a suspect.’
Jake has since praised Singer, saying she ‘stepped into this maternal role for both Romy and myself like you wouldn’t believe.’
‘I’ll never be Michele,’ Singer said. ‘We’re different people, and I can’t fill that hole in their lives, but I’ll do whatever I can to try to help them and support them and guide them if they want it.’
Rob and Michele also had a son, Jake, 35, and a daughter, Romy, 28, alongside Nick; the family is pictured in New York City in 2014
Singer spoke publicly about the murders earlier this week, describing how she, Romy and Jake have been coping with their grief.
‘I suppose you heal from a wound, but the scar is there. It’s a really hard thing to describe because it never goes away,’ she told Extra.
On the subject of her niece and nephew, she said: ‘Everybody in the family is healing in his or her own way. I’ll never be my sister and I can never be what’s missing in their lives, but I consider them my kids. There’s no daylight between us.’
Nick was reportedly seen arguing fiercely with his parents at Conan O’Brien’s star-studded Christmas party on the evening before the bodies were discovered.
A source close to the Reiner family informed Our News Outlet in July that he has been ‘rapidly deteriorating’ in custody and has become ‘like a babbling child, totally out of it,’ to the extent that ‘his lawyers have a hard time talking to him.’
He had no personal visitors other than his lawyers until this Monday, when he was met by someone a source described as ‘a relative’ in the presence of his counsel.
At first, Nick’s counsel was the top-flight lawyer Alan Jackson, who successfully prosecuted Phil Spector for murder and in private practice as a defense attorney has represented Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein.
When he was asked who was paying his fees to represent Nick, Jackson replied: ‘I can’t comment.’
However on January 7, Jackson withdrew from the case, citing ‘circumstances beyond our control’ and ‘beyond Nick’s control,’ and the accused is now being represented by public defender Kimberly Greene.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced on September 15 that his office ‘will not be seeking the death penalty in this case.’
