A Fox News alert. A familiar name. And confirmation that left the public stunned.
Governor Confirms the Death of a Hollywood Icon
We are back with a Fox News alert.
Governor Gavin Newsome confirming that
Hollywood icon director Rob Reiner and
his wife Michelle are dead. Newsome
saying, quote, “Jen and I are
heartbroken by the tragic loss of Rob
Reiner and Michelle Singer Reiner. He
made California a better place through
his good works. Rob will be remembered
for his remarkable filmography and for
his extraordinary contribution to
humanity.”
The statement was emotional — but it raised immediate questions.
What happened inside the home?
And why are authorities saying so little?
LAPD Reveals Almost Nothing — And That’s By Design
But the LAPD revealing little
information about their investigation so
far. They did confirm though their
robbery homicide division would be
overseeing the case.
That confirmation alone signaled the seriousness of the situation.
To understand why police are staying quiet, Fox News turned to someone who knows homicide investigations from the inside.
Former Homicide Detective Explains the Silence
Former homicide
detective Brian Foley joins me now.
Brian, why are they being so tight
lipped at this point?
Well, as a homicide detective, you want
as very little information getting out
there as possible unless you want it to
get out get out there. We’ll talk about
that with with Providence when you don’t
want too much information uh getting out
there. So, they’re going to be very
tight lipped.
This isn’t about secrecy — it’s about control.
From Active Scene to Forensic Puzzle
They This is not an active
scene in that there’s an active danger
there. So, now this becomes a highly
forensic scene. And what the detectives,
I can tell you, are doing right now are
securing search warrants. They, yes,
they need a search warrant to search a
victim’s house.
And then Foley makes a key point.
“A Very Intimate and Emotional Crime”
This is a stabbing,
Todd. And what do I always say? Stabbing
is a very intimate and emotional crime.
And almost always the victim is known to
the suspect. However, this is a very
highly public uh and outspoken person.
So, that kind of eliminates that.
That contradiction — intimacy versus public exposure — makes the case far more complex.
What Investigators Are Hoping to Find
But
you hope two things. One, that this
suspect has revealed themsel through
hate messaging to the victim uh in the
past and his security. people will know
it. Uh, and that the the scene becomes
now the main point of evidence.
This is a highly forensic scene. You’re going to
have maybe one of the best homicide
divisions and crime scene processing uh,
in the world on that scene processing
it.
When there is a stabbing, you hope
that there was a struggle and that
there’s transferred DNA. What do I mean?
The v the suspect’s hair, the suspect’s
skin. You look under the the victim’s
fingernails and you hope that there’s
DNA evidence there.
Why Police Needed a Search Warrant
Why did the LAPD
need a search warrant? Because when I
was in law school, the one thing I
remember is if there’s an active crime
scene and you can see that there was a
stabbing in plain sight, you don’t need
a search warrant. Why here?
You don’t
Well, you don’t need a you don’t need a
search warrant immediat immediately to
see if there’s a suspect still in the
place.
But once the scene is secure, everything changes.
“You Can’t Afford to Make Mistakes”
But once you know that the the
scene is safe, there’s no suspects in
there, you have evidence of a crime,
that the crime happened there in that
into that residence, you don’t know what
you’re going to find there. maybe
something that’ll that’ll get somebody
else uh in trouble.
So, that search, why
not obtain the search warrant and move
forward as best you can? This is a
murder investigation. You can’t afford
to make any mistakes. The detectives
will work with the prosecutors to make
sure no mistakes are are are made there.
Video Evidence and “People of Means”
There’s going to be video. This is a
person of means that is going to have a
a security system on a street that is
going to have security systems uh with
people with means.
So, I I like the
solvability factors that are coming into
this uh that are going to come into this
case, but I don’t expect the detectives
to be putting that information out there
unless they want us, the public, to know
it.
And that leads to another troubling case.
The Brown University Shooting Raises New Questions
I’m glad you mentioned video because
let’s go to Brown. The shooting there at
Brown University, the person of interest
that they had that they didn’t
necessarily broadcast to the world, but
people found out who this individual
was. That guy was released.
It seems
like this is the only camera video
footage we have. This is a tremendously
large university. How is that possible,
Brian?
“Very Disappointing” for Investigators
Uh, it’s very disappointing as a as a
det homicide detective. When you hear a
homicide happened on a college campus,
you think this is a a place that’s going
to have a lot of video evidence, might
even have license plate readers.
And yet, that wasn’t the case.
A Person of Interest — Then Released
Uh, and
for them to have for this to be the best
piece of video that they have so far,
uh, it’s very disappointing PR-wise, you
know, putting out that you have a person
of interest.
Now, you
know why that police departments don’t
like to put this kind of stuff out. Yes,
they had a person of interest. They
didn’t need to put that out.
Now, they had to let that
person go.
What This Means for the Community
It seems to me
like that is not the person. The police
are confident of that.
What does that tell
the community? There is an unstable
shooter out there and this is such a
unique situation.
Ballistics, Slugs, and Limited Leads
Some
forensic value may be in the scene.
Certainly ballistic value. I’m sure
they’ve already collected uh the
ballistic value out there. Ballistic
value, I mean, you know, they have
slugs, uh possibly shell casings that
help determine what type of firearm was
used, but that’s about it right now,
unless they can get more video.
Technology May Hold the Key
And I’m
sure the Providence Police Department
has a real-time crime center. And what
is that? That is a technology center
where they’re able to process large
amounts of video evidence and and get
the best uh video out there and get it
to their investigators and any other
stuff they can find out in the
technology center to get it to their
homicide detectives.
Do Authorities Know Who Did This?
with the release of
this person of interest back into the
community. Do you believe as we sit here
5:20 on a Monday morning that the FBI
and Providence PD know exactly who
they’re looking for or do you think
they’re still investigating to try to
figure out who did this?
Nope. I don’t think they know who it is.
Should Colleges Be “Hardened” as Soft Targets?
Do we need to harden soft targets like
colleges and universities?
No. No brainer. How is Brown University
have that lack of um video evidence?
This had
to have occurred at Brown at one time or
another. They were likely aware that
they did not have a lot of video cameras
around.
“You’d Think the Campus Would Be Blanketed”
This is a campus inside a city.
You’d think they that place would be
blanketed uh with video. To this point,
from what I’m seeing, uh it is not.
Closing Words
Brian Foley, you always give us real
answers, not cop talk, and we appreciate
that because it allows the viewer to
really understand what’s going on and
what’s not going on.
As always, a
pleasure, Brian. Thank you. Likewise.
I’m Steve Ducey. I’m Brian Kilme.
And I’m Anley Hehart. And click here to
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