Eight months after the murder of Rob and Michele Reiner, their son Jake Reiner has sat down for his first television interview since their December 2025 deaths.
“Nobody really understands what it’s like to go through something like that until you’re living
it,” Jake Reiner told Good Morning America in an interview that aired Thursday. “It’s been 8 months. It feels like 8 years at the same time. And it also feels like 8 minutes. Because every moment that I wake up, I’m reminded of my reality.”
In the interview, Jake recalled the phone call from his sister Romy that first alerted him to what had happened with his parents. “Romy told me our dad was dead and then she said, ‘I can’t find mom,’” Jake Reiner said. “I immediately went into shock.”
Jake soon after found out that his brother Nick was the prime suspect in their parents’ murder. When asked if he was surprised by his brother’s alleged involvement in the deaths, Jake said he didn’t want to answer that question.
“[Nick]’s in jail. It’s like, I physically lost my parents, and then Nick was arrested. Now it’s just me and Romy, and we have to navigate this by ourselves essentially,” Jake Reiner said.
“For me, it manifests into anger. It manifests into rage, into how unfair this was, how I didn’t get a say in what happened. 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.”
According to GMA, Jake Reiner declined to comment at all on his brother, including how he feels about Nick now as well as his brother’s attempts to use money from their family trust topay for his legal defense; while Jake hasn’t attended his brother’s trial, he reportedly testified before the grand jury that indicted Nick.
“I’ll never understand. I don’t care how it’s explained to me. I don’t care what facts come out. I will never understand why this happened,” Jake Reiner said. “My parents had unconditional love for all three of us. I can tell you they never stopped wanting to help him. They never stopped helping him.”
Part of the reason Jake stepped forward is to bring awareness to the annual Cape & Gown Gala, an event that raises money for the Children’s Institute, an organization that Rob and Michele Reiner were heavily involved with; Rob Reiner emceed the gala in the past, and Jake will attend the event this year in his parents’ place.
“I don’t necessarily know that I have this weight on my shoulders to carry on their legacy, but I do feel responsible for making sure people know them and they remember them,” he said.
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