A man got away with murder for several years but seemingly slipped up when he was featured in a true-crime documentary.
Robert Durst was the focus of 2015 docuseries The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.
At the time the HBO release was recorded, the real estate heir was 78 years old and despite being a suspect in multiple criminal cases, had not been convicted of any crimes. Catch the trailer here:
In 1982, Durst's first wife Kathleen McCormack went missing. On 24 December, 2000, a woman named Susan Berman was founded murdered in her home in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, California. And in 2001, Durst's neighbor, Morris Black's body parts were discovered in a bay.
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By the time The Jinx was made, there was no solid enough evidence to tie Durst to any of the cases and get a conviction.
However, during a scene in the sixth episode of the series, Durst seemingly admitted to being responsible for the murders of all three people.
During the docuseries, Durst was confronted with a letter he'd written to Berman a year before her death.
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The letter appeared to have the same handwriting to a note sent to police on the day Berman was found dead, believed to be from her killer.
Durst admitted he wrote the first, but denied writing the second - only marked with Berman's house address and the word 'cadaver' - and continued to deny involvement in her murder. However, he later couldn't tell the two letters apart.
Unaware that his microphone was still on at the time, Durst then went to the bathroom while filming the docuseries and in a clip from the episode, he can be heard talking to himself in the toilet.
He says: "You’re caught! What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."
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Helped by his seeming confession in the documentary - although it was swiftly picked apart by defence attorneys in court - Durst was arrested the day before the docuseries' finale and ended up on trial for Berman's murder, taking to the stand in 2020.
During his cross-examination, the real estate heir said he regretted taking part in the hit 2015 doc The Jinx and he claimed he'd misspoken in the loo and the recording wasn't an accurate depiction of what happened.
According to reports, he told the court in Los Angeles: "What I did not say out loud-or perhaps I said very softly-is they'll all think I killed them all, of course."
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Reflecting on the most damning piece of evidence connecting him to the scene of the crime - the anonymous letter - he admitted to the court he visited Berman's home and found her body, but panicked and left, with the intention of calling police but later resolving to write a note.
Durst told the court: "It's a very difficult thing to believe. I mean, I have difficulty believing it myself, that I would write the letter if I had not killed Susan Berman."
Deputy District Attorney John Lewina asked Durst if he would lie under oath to help his own case to which he replied: "Yes."
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When the prosecutor asked if he would admit it if he had killed Berman, Durst said: "No."
He added: "I did not kill Susan Berman. But if I had, I would lie about it."
He maintained he had nothing to do with Berman's death, however in September 2021 he was convicted for first-degree murder and the next month, sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
Prosecutors also argued that Durst killed Berman in order to cover up the murder of his first wife, as well as arguing Durst murdered his neighbour because he'd discovered Durst was hiding out there after New York authorities opened an investigation into his wife's disappearance.
However, a jury in Texas acquitted Durst of murder in 2003 after he testified that he killed Black in self-defence.
Durst was later officially charged with McCormack's death on 22 October, 2021, however, he died in prison on 10 January, 2022 before a trial could begin.
Topics: True crime, Crime, US News, HBO, Film and TV
Poppy Bilderbeck