12 Crimes of Christmas - "THE JINX: ROBERT DURST'S BATHROOM CONFESSION & THE VERDICT 40 YEARS IN THE MAKING - PART 2"

0:03 Caalarogus Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Reed Carter. Sunday, December twenty eighth, twenty twenty five. Yesterday we covered Robert Durst's first two victims, His wife Kathy, who disappeared in nineteen eighty two. His best friend Susan Berman, shot execution style on Christmas Eve two thousand. Today the murder he admitted to, the acquittal that shocked America, the documentary that caught him confessing, and the forty year reckoning. September thirtieth, two thousand and one, Galveston Bay, Texas, a thirteen year old boy was fishing with his father, normal day, quiet water. Then something floated into view, a human torso, limbless, headless, wrapped in black garbage bags. Police divers searched the bay, found more bags, two arms, two legs severed with surgical precision, wrapped individually.

1:06 Waited to sink, but they didn't sink deep enough. The head was never found. Medical examiner determined the victim died from a gunshot wound. Dismemberment happened after death. The killer had taken time, used the right tools, knew what they were doing. A piece of newspaper was stuck to one of the garbage bags had a delivery address label led police to a fourplex on Avenue K for residents. One of them was Dorothy Seiner, a mute woman who communicated through handwritten notes. Except Dorothy Sinner wasn't a woman at all. She was Robert Durst, hiding from the investigation into his missing wife, living under a dead classmate's name, wearing dresses and wigs. The victim was his neighbor, seventy one year old Marris Black, dismembered and dumped in the bay by a billionaire in disguise. Durst was arrested, posted three hundred thousand dollars bail, then jumped bail and disappeared. Spent six weeks on the run, finally caught in Pennsylvania shop lifting a chicken sandwich, had thirty seven thousand dollars cash in his pocket, two handguns in his car a butcher saw.

2:14 At trial, Durst took the stand, admitted killing Morris Black, admitted dismembering his body, admitted dumping the pieces in Galveston Bay, and the jury found him not guilty. I'm reed, Carter. This is Celebrity Trials Today, Part two. How Robert Durst admitted to killing and dismembering a man and walked free. How a documentary caught him confessing to everything, and how justice finally caught up forty years too late. This is the story of money buying freedom until it couldn't anymore. Let me paint you the picture of how Robert Durst was living in two thousand and one. He owned homes in Manhattan, Connecticut, San Francisco, and Northern Cams, California. He had a luxury three thousand, eight hundred dollars a month apartment in Dallas. He had a small apartment in New Orleans.

3:07 He was worth hundreds of millions of dollars. And he was living in a three hundred dollars a month apartment in Galveston, Texas, dressed as a mute woman using the name of a high school classmate he hadn't seen in forty years, communicating with his landlord through handwritten notes. Why because investigators in New York were asking questions about his missing wife, because Susan Berman had just been murdered. Because the walls were closing in Morris Black was seventy one years old, lived across the hall from Dorothy Kinner in the Galveston Forplex. A loner, Cantankeros had his own problems, but he became friendly with his strange neighbor. At some point, Durst dropped the female disguise around Black. They became friends.

3:51 Durst later testified they'd sit together talk share meals. Two outcasts in a Rundown building. On September twenty eighth, two two thousand and one, according to Durst, he came home and found Morris Black in his apartment, sitting on his couch, watching television and holding Durst's gun. Durst claimed Black pointed the gun at him, they struggled, the gun went off. Black was shot in the head. Accident, self defense, not murder. But here's what happened next, and this is undisputed. Durst admitted to all of it. Morris Black's body was lying on the floor of Durst's apartment, blood everywhere, a dead man in his living room. Durst's first instinct wasn't to call nine one one, wasn't to get help, wasn't to report the accident, he claimed it was. His first instinct was to make the body disappear. Durst went to Black's apartment across the hall found tools, saws and acts, brought them back, and he dismembered Morris Black's body. Cut off the head first, then the arms, then the legs. Worked in the bathtub to contain the mess, each piece in black garbage bags, meticulously, carefully, like he'd done it before.

5:06 The dismemberment was done with what prosecutors called surgical precision. Not the work of someone panicking, not the work of someone who just accidentally killed his friend, the work of someone methodical, experienced cold. Durst loaded the garbage bags into his car, drove to Galveston Bay, dumped them in the water, then realized he'd made a mistake. The head could identify the victim, so he went back for it, took the head, disposed of it separately. It was never found. Then Durst cleaned up, scrubbed his apartment, got rid of evidence, and when police came asking about Dorothy Seener, he was gone.

5:46 October ninth, two thousand and one, police arrested Robert Durst and charged him with murder. He posted three hundred thousand dollars bail, pocket change for a man worth hundreds of millions, and walked out of jail. Shorts scheduled a hearing Durst was supposed to appear. He didn't show. Robert Durst had jumped bail, disappeared again for six weeks he was a fugitive, changed his appearance, shaved his head, used yet another alias. This time he took the name of the man he'd killed, called himself Morris Black. November thirtieth, two thousand and one, Durst was finally caught, not through brilliant detective work, not through a tip. He was arrested in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for shoplifting.

6:31 What did Robert Durst air to a billion dollar real estate empire steel a chicken sandwich from a supermarket while he had thirty seven thousand dollars cash in his pocket. Police searched his car, found two handguns, a butcher's saw, maps, cash, everything a fugitive needs. He was extradited to Texas to face murder charges, this time no bail. He sat in jail until trial, and Robert Durst hired the best lawyer's money could buy. August two thousand and three, Galveston County Courthouse, Robert Durst went on trial for the murder of Morris Black.

7:15 His defense team included Dick de Geren, one of the most famous criminal defense attorneys in Texas, the kind of lawyer only the wealthy can afford, the kind of lawyer who wins cases that seem unwinnable. The prosecution's case seemed air tight. Durst admitted killing Black, admitted dismembering him, admitted dumping his body parts in Galveston Bay, admitted fleeing, admitted using fake identities. The physical evidence was overwhelming. District Attorney Curt Cistrunk laid it out for the jury. Durst cut up Black's body without hesitation, meticulously cleaned the crime scene, reserved a flight to leave the area, dumped the body, but returned for the head because it could identify the victim.

7:58 Is it well planned and calcul related? You bet it is, Sistrunk told the jury. But de Geron had a strategy, a brilliant, cynical, effective strategy. He told the jury they should only consider what happened the moment the gun went off, not what happened after the dismemberment irrelevant to the murder charge. The cover up irrelevant, the flight irrelevant. Whatever Durst did after Morris Black was dead cannot change how Morris Black died. Degaron argued, you can't convict Bob Durst simply because of that. The defense painted Morris Black as unstable, aggressive, dangerous. Testified that Black had pointed the gun at Durst first, that Durst feared for his life, that the shooting was self defense or accident, and because Black's head was never found, prosecutors couldn't prove exactly how he was shot front of the head, back of the head, point blank execution or struggle over a gun without the head. They couldn't say for certain. Robert Durst took the stand in his own defense, testified for nearly four days, admitted everything he'd done after the killing, said he panicked, said he was afraid no one would believe him. The police would immediately look into who am I, Robert Durst, who happened to rent this apartment as Dorothy Sinner and find out that I am this wealthy guy who rented the apartment well below his means, and there is all this media attention on him back

9:28 in New York. I just didn't think I would be believed he was right about one thing. Nobody believed his story, But belief isn't the standard proof beyond a reasonable doubt is November thirteenth, two thousand and three, after twenty six hours of deliberation over five days, the jury returned a verdict not guilty. Robert Durst walked out of that courtroom a free man. He'd admitted killing someone, admitted dismembering the body, admitted dumping it in the bay, and he walked free. Justice isn't black or white, it's green, Durst's own defense attorney Chip Lewis later said, and he had the green. One juror explained it years later. They didn't know if he was shot in the back of the head or if they struggled, but we do know that Morris Black was crazy because that was proven to us. The defense had successfully made the victim the villain, made the billionaire who cut up a body seem like the reasonable one, made twelve people believe that what happened after the killing didn't matter. Some jurors later regretted their decision, said they felt played, said they wished they'd voted differently, but it was too late. Double jeopardy attached. Robert Durst could never be tried again for Morris Black's murder. He pleaded guilty to lesser charges, tampering with evidence, jumping bail, served time, but walked out of prison in two thousand and five.

10:53 Three deaths connected to Robert Durst his wife Kathy missing since nineteen eighty two, Susan Berman murdered Christmas Eve two thousand, Morris Black killed and dismembered in two thousand and one, and Durst had never been convicted of any of it. Your tax dollars at work will be right back with the Jinks, the documentary that caught Robert Durst confessing on a hot microphone and the forty year reckoning that followed. Twenty ten, director Andrew Jureki released a film called All Good Things. Ryan Gosling played a character based on Robert Durst.

11:42 Kirsten Dunst played Kathy. The title reference to the health food store Durst and Kathy opened in Vermont before Everything went wrong. Shortly after the film came out, Robert Durst reached out to Jareki, said he liked it, wanted to talk. Against the advice of his lawyers and friends, Dursty agreed to extensive interviews. Those interviews became the Jinx The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, a six episode HBO documentary series True Crime that felt like fiction, except every horrifying detail was real. Jareki interviewed Durst for hours over several years on camera in depth. Durst was charming, evasive, occasionally candid, often unsettling. He spoke about Cathy, about Susan, about Morris Black, denied killing anyone except Black, which he called self defense.

12:34 But during the production, Jareki's team discovered something. Susan Berman's step son was going through her belongings. Found a letter Robert Durst had written to Susan in nineteen ninety nine, a letter with her address on the envelope. The address was written in block letters, and it contained a spelling error Beverly Hills, same misspelling as the anonymous cadaver letter sent to police after Susan's murder, same handwriting, same error. Robert Durst wrote both letters. The production team realized they had evidence connecting Durst to Susan Berman's murder. They turned the letter over to the Los Angeles District Attorney's office. A new investigation began March fourteenth, twenty fifteen, the night before the final episode of the Jinx was scheduled to air.

13:23 FBI agents arrested Robert Durst at a hotel in New Orleans. He was charged with the first degree murder of Susan Berman. In his hotel room, agents found a latex mask that covered his head and shoulders, multiple fake IDs cash. He was ready to run again, but the most damaging evidence came from the documentary itself. In the final interview, Jareki confronted Durst with the two letters, the matching handwriting the matching misspelling, asked him directly if he'd written the cadaver note. Durst was flustered, made excuses, said he didn't remember writing it, then asked to use the bathroom. He walked into the bathroom, closed the door, but his microphone was still on, still recording, and in that bathroom, believing he was alone, Robert Durst talked to himself, there it is. You're caught a pause.

14:15 What the hell did I do? Another pause? Killed them all? Of course, killed them all, of course. The audio was choppy, edited slightly for the broadcast. The production later confirmed some portions were rearranged for dramatic effect, but the words were real. Robert Durst, in a moment he thought was private, admitted to killing them all. Kathy, Susan Morris them all. The finale of The Jinks aired. The next night, millions watched The Bathroom Confession played, and Robert Durst finally was facing murder charges he couldn't escape. March twenty twenty, Robert Durst's trial for the murder of Susan Berman began in Los Angeles.

15:04 After just two days of testimony, COVID nineteen shut everything down. The trial paused for fourteen months. May twenty twenty one, the trial resumed. Durst was now seventy eight years old, in a wheelchair, reading questions from a tablet because his hearing had deteriorated. Frail but still defiant, prosecutors presented their case over four months, more than seventy witnesses. They connected the dots between all three deaths, argued that Durst killed Kathy in nineteen eighty two, that Susan Berman helped cover it up, that when investigators reopened Cathy's case in two thousand, Durst killed Susan to keep her quiet. The cadaver letter, the matching handwriting, the misspelling, the timing, the bathroom confession.

15:54 Deputy District Attorney John Lewin told the jury Bob Durst has been around a lot of years, and he's been able to commit a lot of horrific crimes. He's a narcissistic psychopath. He killed his wife and then he had to keep killing to cover it up. Durst testified in his own defense again for days, denied killing Susan, denied killing Kathy. Admitted writing the cadaver letter, but claimed he only stumbled upon Susan's body and didn't know who actually shot her. Nobody believed him. September seventeenth, twenty twenty one, the jury, deliberated for less than a day, came back with a verdict guilty first degree murder. The jury also found Durst guilty of special circumstances. He was lying in wait he killed Berman to eliminate a witness to another crime, Kathy's murder. October fourteenth, twenty twenty one, Robert Durst was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

16:55 He sat in his wheelchair, said nothing showed, no emotion was in Berman's stepson Sarab Kaufman addressed the court. I should have been working for a career. I could be proud of finding love, getting married and having children. Instead, I was forced to pay for memorials and bills that were not mine. He asked Durst to reveal where Kathy's body was to give her family closure after forty years. Durst said nothing. Two days after sentencing, Durst tested positive for COVID nineteen was hospitalized eight days later. October twenty second, twenty twenty one, he was charged with second degree murder in New York for the death of Kathy Durst, finally forty years after she disappeared, but there would be no trial.

17:46 January tenth, twenty twenty two, Robert Durst died in a California prison hospital. He was seventy eight years old, natural causes, his lawyer said, the litany of medical issues they'd been reporting for years. He died unrepentant. Deputy D. A. John Lewin said it plainly to the end. He was hostile, unrepentant, and unremorseful. Because Durst's appeal was still pending when he died, his murder conviction was automatically vacated under California law. Technically, legally, Robert Durst died an unconvicted man, but we know what he did. He told us himself killed them all, of course, Kathy McCormick Durst never found. Her mother died at one hundred and two, not knowing what happened to her daughter.

18:36 Her brother Jim spent decades fighting for justice. Susan Berman shot in the back of the head, killed to keep Durst's secrets. Her family robbed of a priceless person. Marris Black seventy one years old, dismembered, dumped in a bay, his head never recovered. Three victims, forty years, billions of dollars spent on lawyers, and in the end, what caught Robert Durst wasn't the police, wasn't the prosecutors. It was a documentary filmmaker and a hot microphone in a bathroom. Kill them all, of course, that's part two of our Robert Durst Special. Kathy McCormick Durst twenty nine years old, three months from becoming a doctor, vanished January thirty first, nineteen eighty two. Never found. Susan Berman, fifty five years old, crime writer, shot execution style December twenty third, two thousand, the day before Christmas Eve. Morris Black, seventy one years old, killed and dismembered September two thousand and one, dumped in Galveston Bay, Robert Durst, billionaire air dressed as a mute woman to hide, admitted dismembering a man and walked free.

19:49 Caught confessing on a hot mic, convicted at seventy eight, dead three months later. For forty years, Robert Durst's money protected him best lawyers, best investigation, best experts, every advantage wealth can buy. His defense attorney said it himself. Justice isn't black or white, it's green, and he had the green. But in the end, justice came, not fast enough, not completely enough. Kathy's family never got to see him tried for her murder. Susan's family never got full closure. Marris Black's family watched his killer walk free. The system failed, failed for decades, failed, the victims, failed their families, but eventually, finally justice came. Robert Durst is dead, his conviction vacated on a technicality, His secrets buried with him. But we remember Kathy McCormick, Durst, Susan Berman, Morris Black, their names, their lives, what was stolen from them? Make it make sense?

20:54 You can't. A billionaire killed three people and spent most of his life free. That's not justice, that's America. I'm read Carter tomorrow, continuing our Twelve Crimes of Christmas, the story of Jody Arius Rest in Peace, Kathy, Rest in peace, Susan, Rest in peace, Morris. Someone has to say your names. This is celebrity Trials.