Nick Reiner and the Problems Money Can’t Solve

Nick Reiner ’s next pretrial hearing in the apparent patricide of his parents Rob and Michele Reiner is Sept. 15. Their son, who struggled with drug addiction and severe mental health issues, has pled not guilty. Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office prosecutors recently added a charge of premeditation to their double homicide case, alleging he lay in wait to fatally stab his parents at their Brentwood home.

For other families quietly and often despairingly living with similar problems of addiction and mental illness involving their children, the tragedy is an unnerving, looming specter — a worst-case scenario made real. The wealthy Reiners for decades accessed every form of professional assistance their money could buy. They were as sophisticated about their collective plight as possible, even together writing and directing a social-issue feature film , Being Charlie , about it. “It was our life for years and years and years,” Nick told The Hollywood Reporter in 2015 of his personal battles when the project premiered. Related Stories Lifestyle Rob and Michele Reiner's Son Jake Marries Longtime Girlfriend News Rob Reiner's Son, in First Interview, Speaks About Parents' Murders, Won't Discuss Brother Accused of Killings

In the end, though, none of this mattered. The family was overmatched and outdone by the scope of their crisis.