A week after the Reiners’ murder and Conan O’Brien’s Christmas party, here’s what we know — and we don’t

A thick fog has settled around reports of Conan O’Brien’s Dec. 13 holiday party — the night Rob and Michelle Reiner were found dead in their Brentwood home and the day before their son Nick was charged with their murder.

Here’s what we know for sure: Rob Reiner, his wife Michelle Singer Reiner and their 32-year-old son, Nick, were in attendance. At some point, as they mingle around well-dressed parties, Nick’s appearance, demeanor and social intrusion begin to attract attention — including when he interrupts a conversation between “SNL” alum Bill Hader and O’Brien.

And here’s what we don’t know for sure: you may have read or heard.

At least nine news outlets, along with various unnamed sources, reported last week that Nick and his parents had been fighting. They include TMZ (“Family Resources”); People ( “Too many resources at the party” ); Los Angeles Times (“Family Friends”); The New York Times (“Two Participants”); CBS News (“Sources at the Party”); The New York Post (“Friends” and “Sources”); THR (sources not described); Rolling Stone ( “source” ); and the Daily Mail (“multiple participants”).

Each has a slightly different description, with a wide range of how the incident is described, from an awkward and uncomfortable exchange (Rolling Stone) to a “loud argument,” “shouting match” or “massive blow-up” (People, TMZ, NYT, New York Post). There is no suggestion of any kind of physical exchange.

A highly private affair at O’Brien’s home in Pacific Palisades, one person at the party did not speak on the record. Besides O’Brien and Reiners, only Hader and Jane Fonda are named as being there, and none of them have spoken publicly or even confirmed their attendance.

Then, on Friday, TheWrap reported that there was no blow-up, citing a Hollywood executive.

“That’s bulls-t,” the executive told The Wrap, specifically speaking about Friday’s Daily Mail report that O’Brien talked guests out of calling the police on the alleged Rainer fight.

The executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also confirmed that Nick Reiner was casually working around the A-list crowd, but denied any major confrontations, telling TheWrap: “I told Conan the next day — I said, ‘What’s all this stuff about dressing up?’ He said, ‘I didn’t see any fight.’

The executive said that Nick Reiner was, in fact, “walking around making people feel uncomfortable. Listening in on conversations and things like that.

But executive O’Brien and guests were adamant about not witnessing the shouting match between Rob and Nick Reiner, adding, “If there was a big fight with the Reiners, there were a million people who knew me. Nobody mentioned it to me.”

TheWrap’s reporting echoed that of The New York Times earlier last week, citing a family friend, who also reported that stories of confrontations at the holiday gathering were “overwhelming.”

Reports of the reiners’ arrivals and departures also vary; Initial reports had it that the Reiners broke up immediately after the argument, but a Times source disputed that, saying the family had become “used to” Nick’s unusual behavior and wouldn’t budge. Rolling Stone reported that the Reiners brought Nick to “keep an eye on her,” while People reported that the family was “never worried” that Nick would become violent and her recent return home.

Hollywood has always been quick to gossip and slow to publicly tear down its own. Add in the factors of an embarrassing incident at an elite, invite-only party where extreme discretion is quietly baked into the invite and an unspeakable tragedy for one of the city’s most beloved family patriarchs, is it any wonder this game of telephone overloaded the circuits?

It is likely that more details from the party will come out at trial; Prosecutors seeking to establish a timeline and motive for convicting Nick Rayner of his parents’ double murder can submit the subpoena list and call for live testimony from any number of attendees, including O’Brien himself. At this rate, with Hollywood cautiously circling the wagons around the Renner murder, they shouldn’t expect any volunteers.

On the other hand, the Los Angeles County District Attorney appears to have had no problem convicting O’Brien without ever making a single call from the party’s invitation list. The physical evidence alone would be overwhelming, with materials from the crime scene itself, blood-stained linens recovered from the hotel room Nick Renner fled to on the night of the murder, untold spools of security footage and possibly some kind of confession on their evidence sheet.

Nick Reiner, 32, was formally charged Tuesday with two counts of first-degree murder after being arrested Sunday as the prime suspect in the deaths of his parents, which were ruled a homicide by stabbing later in the week. The charges come two days after she was picked up in Exposition Park near the USC campus, hours after Rob and Michelle were stabbed to death by their daughter, Romy, in their Brentwood home.

Reiner’s charges carry a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, while a decision on the death penalty is still pending, DA Nathan Hochman said.

Nick made his first appearance in court on Wednesday, where he spoke only once, replying, “Yes, your honor,” before the hearing was adjourned to January 7. In the courtroom sketch, Nick appeared in a prison-issued suicide prevention vest.

Nick’s attorney, Alan Jackson, on Wednesday urged the public to allow the legal process to unfold “with restraint and dignity.”

“There are very, very complex and serious issues that are involved in this case,” the defense attorney said. “Things are fine but need to be handled very carefully and examined and analyzed.”

Nick Rayner is currently being held without bail pending his statement.

The post What we know — and we’re not talking about much — a week after the Reiners’ murder and Conan O’Brien’s Christmas party appeared first on TheWrap.