Jashti Flohr's partner in crime, Magnus, joins her to talk about the tragic death of Rob Reiner and Robin Michelle Reiner, who were found murdered in their Brentwood, California home on December 18th.
00:00:30.000I am thinking that they probably were not in the same bedroom because you would notice that there were two people there.
00:00:43.000Hi and welcome to Flossom Talk. I'm Jashti Flohr, journalist, Hollywood truth teller and your voice of reason in the town built on delusion.
00:00:51.260Magnus is here to help me again and if I didn't introduce him the other day, it's because I feel like everyone probably know him by now.
00:00:58.020But I know there's a lot of new subscribers here.
00:01:00.460So Magnus is my partner in crime and also he's worked as a journalist for over 100 years.
00:01:35.720And maybe the O.J. Simpson case has similarities as well.
00:01:40.100But what I really found, it's so hard to wrap my head around, is that a person will allegedly kill the two people in the world that loves him unconditionally and that has always been there to support him.
00:01:57.720I think that's why this case to me is just so heartbreaking, because we know that his parents loved him so much and only wanted what was best for him.
00:02:41.640No, it was postponed till January 7th.
00:02:44.740I think that's because his attorney is probably telling him what to do, that he needs more time.
00:02:49.180So they're not going to come back with anything until January 7th.
00:02:52.500So legally, we won't find out more until then.
00:02:55.320But a lot of other things have come up now.
00:02:58.100So this morning, his siblings came out with a statement and they were saying that words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day.
00:03:09.940The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Robin Michelle Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience.
00:03:16.680They weren't just our parents, they were our best friends.
00:03:19.900We are grateful for the outpouring of condolences, kindness and support we have received, not only from family and friends, but people from all walks of life.
00:03:30.120Can you imagine what they're going through now?
00:04:13.320So according to California law that you found out this morning, Magnus, you can't tap into the inheritance of the family to defend yourself against crime like this.
00:04:22.100So someone else must bank his attorney for him.
00:04:28.680And I am, you know, people have been speculating about a death penalty.
00:04:37.000Well, you know, potentially they can, the prosecutor can seek the death penalty.
00:04:41.820But, you know, it hasn't been used in California for a long time.
00:04:44.540And I also think that, you know, if you, if it was your sibling, even no matter what they've done, I shouldn't say no matter what, but I mean, that's another tragedy again.
00:04:57.140Yeah, no, I feel like what we know from the family and how loving and caring they were, I don't think that their siblings would, you know, want that for themselves or for their brother.
00:05:09.760So, yeah, I don't think that's going to happen.
00:05:12.180So there's been some more video footage released from the night that everything happened.
00:05:43.980And, you know, without being unfair, one can say that Exposition Park has been known for, you know, drug dealing and gang related activities.
00:05:51.720So it's not, you know, it's not Brentwood Park, so to speak.
00:06:03.380Well, we know that he was there and he was going into this convenience store and buying a few things.
00:06:09.840And in this convenience store at the same time, there was a police officer.
00:06:14.660It was interesting to see this footage because when he first, when he walked in, he was sort of walking around normally.
00:06:20.260And then he saw this man, was it a guard?
00:06:24.600I don't know why he, but we know now that the other man in the store was a police officer and they probably were at that point looking for him.
00:06:33.780And he started looking over his shoulder and he was studying the man.
00:06:36.620And yeah, it certainly looked like he didn't want to be too near that guy.
00:06:40.960I also, when you watch the video and you see the way he was walking into the store, it was something very off about him.
00:06:48.980Very short steps and the way he was just leaning back and forth.
00:06:53.920And we don't know what he was up to that entire day after this tragedy happened because we know that he didn't actually check out of the hotel in Santa Monica.
00:07:30.720And it's said that he, that there was so much blood and I don't understand how there can be so much blood there.
00:07:37.560Because if, like we've tried to figure out now, if he went to this hotel and checked in there before he went to kill his parents or if he checked in after he had killed them.
00:07:49.200And we think most likely he checked in there after he had done this crime and no one in the reception noticed that he was covered in blood.
00:08:15.880So why, you know, and if he lived in the guest house, why would he be wearing a jacket inside?
00:08:20.420So even if his regular clothes were, you know, were bloody, he could have put on a jacket and closed it and you wouldn't see anything, right?
00:08:33.580He could have gone to the guest house after this and brought new clothes with him and brought that and then changed.
00:08:40.100And that, because in the next, that video that was from the next day, there was no bloodstains on anything that he was wearing.
00:08:46.660And also, would he then, if he was wearing that same jacket when he went to his parents' house, would he then take off the jacket and do what he did and then put the jacket back on again?
00:08:57.260There are a lot of little things here that I just like, feel like I want to get to the bottom of here on how this actually happened.
00:09:04.780We know for sure now that his parents were killed at the early morning hours, the police have said.
00:09:10.920And we were thinking, what is early morning hours?
00:10:12.420Because you would have seen signs of struggle, I'm sure.
00:10:15.120You would wake up the other person when you, yeah, true.
00:10:20.320And then they would have had some kind of sign of struggle.
00:10:24.180But on the other hand, if this happened when they were asleep, probably that's a really good thing that they didn't even know that this was happening to them.
00:10:34.560There's also another report here from someone called John Fawcett, who owns a gas station in the neighborhood of Brentwood, where the family house is.
00:10:45.600And he said that he'd known the family for years.
00:11:19.420Just short answers or even a grunt, Fawcett said.
00:11:21.640Yeah, Nick would come in and buy cigarettes, drinks and snacks, but looked progressively withdrawn.
00:11:27.540So he was basically just walking around looking a little like lost.
00:11:31.660But isn't this what a lot of people have said about him, though?
00:11:35.560That, you know, he was described as strange and a little bit off.
00:11:41.560Yeah, and he, yeah, I mean, a lot of people have come out and said really terrible things about this guy.
00:11:48.600And I feel like I always try to look for humanity in people.
00:11:53.960And I saw someone was mentioning this in a comment on the video we published yesterday where someone said, you know, a close family member is schizophrenic and you have to try to understand the mental illness.
00:12:06.260And I think we have to understand that this is, he was never, he was not born a monster, you know, not that I'm trying to excuse anything that he did, but I'm just trying to understand what could drive a person to do something like this.
00:12:21.000And I think this is where we have to have the discussion of mental illness.
00:12:32.640He had financial security from, he was born and I've seen interviews with him where he was constantly complaining that he didn't feel that he fit in.
00:12:44.660And he felt so much pressure from around him that he should become something great as his father and his grandfather.
00:12:53.540And people said that he was a spoiled brat.
00:12:55.920Uh, I just feel like he was a very, very troubled soul that needed help and he didn't get the help that he needed because.
00:13:07.520Well, they certainly tried, didn't they?
00:13:09.480I mean, they did try and they didn't know what to do either.
00:16:18.820But we know that the parents went home to bed.
00:16:21.220And now someone on behalf of Bill Hader has said that Bill, like everyone else who saw Rob and Michelle at the party, is horrified over what happened.
00:16:29.180And it's extremely sad that what went down actually went down.
00:16:34.020With total respect for Rob and Michelle and their family, Bill is not going to talk about his interaction with Nick publicly.
00:16:49.800Can you imagine being dragged into this story for having a conversation with him the same night?
00:16:57.020And then, of course, then you go through your mind, maybe if I wasn't so rude to him or maybe if I didn't tell him off, maybe things would have been different.
00:17:28.800And I'm sure he was close friends with Rob as well.
00:17:31.780So it's not only that this led up to this awful moment, but also that he lost someone that he really cared about here.
00:17:39.300And there were a lot of other big celebrities.
00:17:40.960I think also Jane Fonda was at this party.
00:17:43.600We don't know all the details there yet.
00:17:46.020But for the people who were around when this argument happened, they almost think that, oh, maybe there's something that I could have done.
00:17:54.360I think even though we have to use the word allegedly, I think that Nick didn't plan this.
00:18:00.680I don't think there's any sign that he actually planned to do this before he went to this party.
00:18:06.500That he planned to leave the party and then go and kill his parents.
00:18:10.020And there's also a report here from Rob Shooter, another journalist who has his newsletter.
00:18:15.020And he said that he actually met Nick Rayner a few years ago, that he had a meeting with him in a coffee shop here in West Hollywood.
00:18:23.960And he said that he was shady, smelly and arrogant, barking at the staff like they were beneath him.
00:18:31.720I remember when they got his order wrong, he flew into a rage that made the baristas shrink back in fear.
00:21:12.540But, you know, there has to be some really disturbing mental illness here for someone.
00:21:16.940Like I said in the beginning of this episode, when you are capable of killing the only two people in the world who loves you unconditionally, something is very, very wrong with you.
00:21:28.980And I think Nick hates himself so much.
00:22:01.700Yeah, and yes, we'll keep you posted, of course, if any new information comes out.
00:22:07.600And again, thank you so much for watching.
00:22:09.540And thank you to all the new subscribers and to the ones who've been here already and followed my long reporting on the Blake Lively versus Justin Baldoni drama.