The case of Robert Durst, the infamous actual property scion accused of eluding justice for many years in the mysterious deaths of 3 other folks, exploded 9 years in the past in what gave the impression to be a rambling confession all the way through the finale of an HBO documentary collection about his existence, when he famously muttered: “Killed them all, of course.”
Durst was once arrested on the eve of the finale of the HBO docuseries “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst’’ in 2015. He was put on trial and convicted for the death of a confidant and indicted separately in the death and disappearance of his first wife.
Durst died serving a life sentence in 2022, but since the original series, director Andrew Jarecki continued chronicling the story for a second season, “The Jinx Part Two,” which premiered April 21 on HBO. The new season finds the occasions main up to Durst’s arrest, in addition to his bombshell trial in Beverly Hills, California, in the killing of his good friend and his eventual conviction.
With renewed consideration on the saga of Robert Durst, beneath is a recap of what led to “The Jinx Part Two.”
Who was once Robert Durst?
Robert Durst was once born April 12, 1943, the oldest son of New York actual property tycoon Seymour Durst, whose circle of relatives Durst Organization is attached to a few of New York City’s maximum iconic structures.
Today, the Durst Organization owns and manages “13 million square feet of premiere Manhattan office towers and over three million square feet of residential rental properties with 3,400 rental apartments built, and over 3,500 in the pipeline,” according to its website. Forbes estimates the circle of relatives fortune at greater than $8 billion.
Robert Durst was once raised in Scarsdale, New York, in Westchester County. His mom, Bernice, died after she fell from the roof of the circle of relatives house in 1950, and whilst experiences at the time mentioned she died accidentally, in accordance to The New York Times, members of the family recognize privately that she died via suicide.
In the “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” the guy at the middle of the docuseries claimed he witnessed his mom’s demise, a declare his more youthful brother Douglas Durst, an actual property developer, has denied.
In the Nineties, Durst turned into estranged from his circle of relatives after his father entrusted Douglas Durst with taking rate of the circle of relatives industry. He then sued the circle of relatives and took a $65 million payout in 2006.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that if he had the opportunity to kill me, he would,” Douglas Durst told the Times in 2015.
Durst’s existence was once surrounded via the mysterious 1982 disappearance of his first spouse, Kathleen McCormack Durst, the execution-style homicide of Susan Berman in 2000 and the demise in 2001 of an aged Texas neighbor, Morris Black, whose frame he admitted dismembering and dumping in Galveston Bay.
Durst’s fall got here when he was once arrested in 2015 in Berman’s killing, after he had lengthy been suspected of being accountable in all 3 instances, with critics believing his cash and standing shielded him from justice for many years.
The disappearance of Kathie Durst
In 1973, Durst married Kathie McCormack on his thirtieth birthday, two years after he met her in Vermont in 1971.
She was once 29 years previous and 3 months clear of completing scientific college when she disappeared in 1982. Durst informed police that he had dropped her off at a teach station as a result of she had categories the subsequent day in Manhattan and that he by no means noticed her once more. Her frame hasn’t ever been discovered.
Friends and circle of relatives have lengthy believed Durst was once accountable for his first spouse’s disappearance and demise. Jim McCormack, her brother, in the past informed “Dateline” that Durst was once bodily and mentally abusive towards Kathie.
Her disappearance as soon as once more drew public and police passion after the airing of “The Jinx,” wherein inconsistencies in Durst’s tales have been coming to gentle.
Who was once Susan Berman?
Durst met Susan Berman, a pal till her demise who was once referred to as the daughter of a mob boss, in the Sixties whilst he was once pursuing a doctoral program at UCLA sooner than he dropped out and returned to New York.
He even walked Berman down the aisle at her wedding ceremony in 1984, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Berman, a creator who had struggled on and off financially, had additionally in the past borrowed cash from Durst.
She was once discovered lifeless in her house in Benedict Canyon in Los Angeles in December 2000, shot point-blank in the again of the head.
She was once killed simply over a month after phrase were given out that New York State Police have been reopening their investigation into the disappearance of Kathie Durst. Prosecutors have mentioned that Berman helped Durst quilt up Kathie’s disappearance and demise and that Durst killed her as she was once making ready to probably confess her position to legislation enforcement.
What came about to Morris Black?
After Berman was once murdered, Durst moved to Galveston, Texas, and sought to disguise his identify and id. There, he assumed the identify Dorothy Ciner and was once disguising himself as a girl.
He was once arrested in October 2001 after rubbish baggage containing the dismembered frame portions of Durst’s aged neighbor, Morris Black, have been present in Galveston Bay.
Durst posted $250,000 bail and went on the run till he was once arrested once more in Pennsylvania when he was once stuck making an attempt to shoplift.
Put on trial in Texas, he claimed that he killed Black in self-defense, and he was once acquitted in November 2003.
‘The Jinx’ and the aftermath
The first season of “The Jinx” turned into a true-crime sensation that captivated tens of millions, that includes lengthy interviews with Durst and together with new inconsistencies, key pals, circle of relatives and police, in addition to re-enactments of his previous and, in the ultimate episodes, bombshell proof tying him to Berman’s killing.
Durst was once arrested in New Orleans in 2015, the night time sooner than the finale of “The Jinx” was once scheduled to air.
In the ultimate scene, after an interview wherein he was once faced with proof, Durst, dressed in a sizzling microphone, may also be heard in the toilet in a rambling speech wherein he says to himself: “There it is, you’re caught,” in addition to “I’m having difficulty with the questions. What the hell did I do?” and the now notorious “Killed them all, of course.”
Durst pleaded no longer to blame to killing Berman, however after a dramatic trial, he was once sentenced to existence in jail for her homicide in 2021.
The identical yr, he was once indicted in the homicide of Kathie Durst in 1982.
“Those of us in law enforcement who are always seeking to do better by victims can and should look at how this case was handled and what if anything we can learn about the early stages of criminal investigations, especially those where individuals with status, wealth and power are implicated,” Mimi Rocah, the Westchester County district legal professional, mentioned a yr later, in 2022.
Durst, 78, had already died in January 2022, in a California sanatorium whilst he was once serving existence in jail for Berman’s homicide.