The case of Robert Durst, the notorious real estate heir accused of evading justice for decades in the mysterious deaths of three people, exploded nine years ago in what appeared to be a rambling confession during the finale of an HBO documentary series about his life, when he muttered the famous phrase: “Killed them all, of course.”
Durst was arrested on the eve of the finale of the HBO documentary series “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst” in 2015. He was put on trial and convicted of 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 has continued telling the story for a second season, “The Jinx Part Two,” which premiered April 21 on HBO. The new season reveals the events that led to Durst’s arrest, as well as his bombshell trial in Beverly Hills, California, for the murder of his friend and his eventual conviction.
With renewed attention to the Robert Durst saga, below is a recap of what led up to “The Jinx Part Two.”
Who was Robert Durst?
Robert Durst was born on April 12, 1943, the eldest son of New York real estate mogul Seymour Durst, whose Durst Organization family is linked to some of New York City’s most iconic buildings.
Today, the Durst Organization owns and manages “13 million square feet of prime Manhattan office towers and more than three million square feet of residential rental properties, with 3,400 rental apartments built and more than 3,500 under development.” , according to your website. Forbes estimates the family’s fortune at more than $8 billion.
Robert Durst was raised in Scarsdale, New York, in Westchester County. His mother, Bernice, died after falling from the roof of the family home in 1950, and although reports at the time stated that she died by accident, according to The New York Times, family members privately acknowledge that she died by suicide.
In “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” the man at the center of the docuseries claimed to have witnessed his mother’s death, a claim that his younger brother, Douglas Durst, a real estate developer, denied.
In the 1990s, Durst became estranged from his family after his father entrusted Douglas Durst with running the family business. He then sued the family and received a $65 million payout in 2006.
“I have no doubt that if he had the opportunity to kill me, he would,” Douglas Durst told the Times in 2015.
Durst’s life was surrounded by the mysterious disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen McCormack Durst, in 1982, the execution-style murder of Susan Berman in 2000, and the 2001 death of an elderly Texas neighbor, Morris Black, whose body he admitted to dismembering and dumping in Galveston Bay.
Durst’s downfall came when he was arrested in 2015 for Berman’s murder after being suspected of being responsible for all three cases, with critics believing his money and status shielded him from justice for decades.
The Disappearance of Kathie Durst
In 1973, Durst married Kathie McCormack on her 30th birthday, two years after meeting her in Vermont in 1971.
She was 29 years old and three months away from finishing medical school when she disappeared in 1982. Durst told police he left her at a train station because she had classes the next day in Manhattan and that he never saw her again. Her body was never found.
Friends and family have long believed Durst was responsible for his first wife’s disappearance and death. Jim McCormack, his brother, previously told “Dateline” that Durst physically and mentally abused Kathie.
His disappearance once again attracted public and police interest following the airing of “The Jinx,” in which inconsistencies in Durst’s stories came to light.
Who was Susan Berman?
Durst met Susan Berman, a friend until his death who was known as the daughter of a mob boss, in the 1960s while he was pursuing a doctorate at UCLA before dropping out and returning to New York.
He even walked Berman down the aisle at his wedding in 1984, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Berman, a writer facing financial difficulties, had also previously borrowed money from Durst.
She was found dead in her Benedict Canyon home in Los Angeles in December 2000, shot at close range in the back of the head.
She was killed just over a month after news spread that the New York State Police were reopening the investigation into Kathie Durst’s disappearance. Prosecutors said Berman helped Durst cover up Kathie’s disappearance and death and that Durst killed her as she prepared to potentially confess her role to authorities.
What happened to Morris Black?
After Berman was murdered, Durst moved to Galveston, Texas, and sought to hide his name and identity. There, he took the name Dorothy Ciner and disguised himself as a woman.
He was arrested in October 2001 after trash bags containing dismembered body parts of Durst’s elderly neighbor, Morris Black, were found in Galveston Bay.
Durst posted $250,000 bail and fled until he was arrested again in Pennsylvania, when he was caught trying to steal from a store.
Taken to trial in Texas, he claimed that killed Black in self-defenseand he was acquitted in November 2003.
‘The Jinx’ and the aftermath
The first season of “The Jinx” became a true crime sensation that captivated millions, featuring extensive interviews with Durst and including new inconsistencies, important friends, family and police officers, as well as reenactments of his past and, in the final episodes, bombshell evidence that link him to Berman’s murder.
Durst was arrested in New Orleans in 2015, the night before the finale of “The Jinx” aired.
In the final scene, after an interview in which he was confronted with evidence, Durst, using a hot microphone, can be heard in the bathroom in an incoherent speech in which he says to himself, “There you go, you’ve been caught,” as well as “I’m having difficulty with the questions. What the hell did I do? and the now infamous “I killed them all, of course.”
Durst pleaded not guilty to Berman’s murder, but after a dramatic trial, he was sentenced to life in prison for her murder in 2021.
The same year, he was indicted for the 1982 murder of Kathie Durst.
“Those of us in law enforcement who are always looking to do better for victims can and should look at how this case was handled and what we can learn about the early stages of criminal investigations, especially those in which individuals with status, wealth and power is implicated,” Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah said a year later in 2022.
Durst, 78, had already died in January 2022, in a California hospital, while serving a life sentence for Berman’s murder.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
