Rob Reiner and His Wife Michele Formed ‘Loving’ Bond with Man Imprisoned 34 Years Ago for a Murder He Allegedly Didn’t Commit

Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, attended a stage production inspired by a prisoner who had become “like family” to them less than 36 hours before they were killed, according to a new report.

The celebrated filmmaker and his wife formed a close bond with Nanon Williams after seeing Lyrics From Lockdown — a one-man show based on his life and incarceration — in Los Angeles in 2016, NBC News reported.

In the years that followed, their relationship deepened. By the time of their deaths on Dec. 14, Rob and Michele were exchanging emails with Williams, 51, almost daily. Williams has been incarcerated for 34 years for a murder he says he did not commit.

“They were an integral part of my life,” Williams told NBC News. “They became a part of me.” He added that Rob and Michele had even been introduced virtually to his children.

Their daughter, Romy Reiner, said Williams “became like family,” and that her parents had offered him a place to live if he were ever released from prison, according to NBC News.

On Friday, Dec. 12, Romy joined her parents and family friends Billy Crystal and his wife, Janice, at a performance of Lyrics From Lockdown in Los Angeles. Williams’ mother, sisters, and wife — whom he married while incarcerated — were also in attendance.

After the show, which explores race, justice, and mass incarceration in America, a small group of advocates reportedly gathered near the stage to discuss the latest developments in Williams’ appeal.

Williams was in his cell at the W.F. Ramsey Unit, a maximum-security prison about 40 miles south of Houston, when he learned of Rob and Michele’s deaths two days later.

“Please, this can’t be true,” he recalled writing to Michele on his state-issued tablet, according to NBC News. “Please tell me the news is lying.”

Because prison emails can be delayed due to screening, Williams later received three messages from Rob and Michele that had been sent before their deaths.

In her final email to Williams, timestamped Saturday, Dec. 13 at 8:26 p.m. EST, Michele described the stage production as “amazing,” NBC News reported.

“We all said that we can’t wait to watch it with you,” she wrote, signing off with, “Love you, Michele.”

Williams was just 17 years old when he was sent to death row. According to NBC News, he witnessed his uncle’s fatal shooting at age seven and lost his father to a killing over drug territory when he was 11.

As a teenager, Williams became involved in drug dealing. On the night of May 13, 1992, a drug transaction in Houston turned deadly when 19-year-old Adonius Collier was shot multiple times.

A co-defendant, Vaal Guevara, claimed he saw Williams pull the trigger, while a ballistics expert testified that the bullet recovered from Collier’s skull came from Williams’ .25-caliber handgun, not Guevara’s .22 Derringer.

Guevara later admitted he fired at Collier but said he missed. After pleading guilty to a drug charge and testifying against Williams, he served four years of a 10-year sentence.

At Williams’ 1995 trial, he was sentenced to death. His defense attorney did not challenge the prosecution’s assertion that the ballistics evidence definitively tied him to the shooting.

Years later, a deeper review of the case led a state judge in 2021 to conclude that Williams deserved a new trial following post-conviction hearings. That recommendation, however, was rejected by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

By the time Rob and Michele learned of Williams’ case, he was no longer on death row. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court barred executions for crimes committed by juveniles, and Williams’ sentence was reduced to life without parole.

Lyrics From Lockdown premiered at the National Black Theatre in 2013. The production was created with Bryonn Bain, a poet who was inspired by letters Williams wrote describing his life and incarceration.

When Rob and Michele contacted Williams after seeing the show in 2016, he said he initially didn’t know who the When Harry Met Sally director was. Still, he was struck by the sincerity of their concern.

“The more they learned,” Williams told NBC News, “the more pissed off Rob became, and the more loving Michele became.”

Rob later served as an executive producer on Lyrics From Lockdown, helping the show travel nationwide and bring attention to Williams’ case.

Their son, Jake Reiner, said in a statement obtained by NBC News that his parents “were fierce in doing everything in their power” to help Williams gain his freedom. “I know wherever they are,” he added, “they are beaming with pride for him.”

On Dec. 16, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman announced that the Reiners’ son Nick had been charged with two counts of murder, along with special allegations of multiple murders and the personal use of a deadly weapon, a knife.

Williams said he has been reflecting on the compassion Rob and Michele would have shown toward Nick in the wake of his arrest.

“I have a responsibility to Nick,” Williams told NBC News. “If I ever get out of here, how could I not try to do something to help him?”