Robert Durst: how a documentary exposed a murdering millionaire

"What did I do?", an old man asks himself in the documentary 'The Jinx'. Sharply, he responds: "I killed them all, of course."

This is how the millionaire and murder suspect Robert Durst gave himself away in a monologue that is now television history. It was key to the trial and conviction of a man who would eventually die in prison.

In early 2022, Robert Durst passed away in a prison hospital in California, where he'd been serving a life sentence for the murder of his best friend, Susan Berman, in 2000.

Dock De Guerin, his attorney, said the death of the bizarre New York millionaire was due to natural causes, aggravated by Covid-19. Durst was 78 years old.

Durst was the heir to one of New York's great real estate fortunes, the Durst Organization. He'd become the black sheep of the family over time.

Robert Durst lived his life in an unorthodox manner. He was accused of up to three murders and ended up with a conviction for one of them.

His life was that of a movie. The stories about Robert Durst were collected in one of the best recent documentaries: 'The Jinx'.

'The Jinx' was made by Andrew Jarecki in 2015. The series was one of the most successful in the genre of 'True Crime'.

The documentary gained popularity with both HBO viewers and critics, who gave an average grade of 8.6 for the series on iMDB. It exposed the narcissism and egotism of Robert Durst that would eventually cause his downfall.

During hours and hours of interviews, Robert Durst managed to control himself and remain tight-lipped about his alleged crimes. However, at the last moment, he slipped up and confessed the murders to an open microphone. It would be part of the evidence that got him convicted.

Hours before the premiere of the last episode of 'The Jinx', police arrested Robert Durst in New Orleans. The documentary maker, Andrew Jarecki, had forwarded the millionaire's confession to them before its release on HBO. Prosecutors then decided it was sufficient evidence to get a warrant for his arrest.

The confession of Robert Durst in 'The Jinx' was admitted as evidence in the trial that would end up condemning him to life imprisonment.

Investigators called Robert Durst a "narcissistic psychopath," Variety reported during the trial.

Robert Durst got a life sentence for murdering Susan Berman in 2000. However, the motive for this crime may have been related to another murder: that of his wife, Kathleen McCormack in 1982. McCormack disappeared without a trace that year and was never found. She was presumed dead in 2017.

According to the evidence of the trial, the millionaire shot Susan Berman in the head at his home in Beverly Hills. Berman was a friend of his, and he'd just found out that she was going to testify against him in the investigation of Kathleen McCormack's disappearance.

'The Jinx' recounts that Robert Durst fled from his Beverly Hills mansion to a small and filthy apartment in Galveston, Texas after shooting Susan Berman. While he was hiding in the apartment, he posed as a mute woman.

During that time in Texas, posing as a mute woman, Durst became friends with a neighbor, Morris Black. When he shot that neighbor, it was the crime for which the police finally managed to arrest the murderous millionaire.

However, a Texas court acquitted Robert Durst for the killing of Morris Black. It ruled him innocent and accepted his argument that it had all been in self-defense.

The self-defense argument was all the more bizarre because Morris Black's body had been found floating in Galveston Bay, dismembered.

The Prosecutor's Office accused Robert Durst of murdering his neighbor to steal his identity and thus flee from justice. It was the story of a movie.

In the end, the recorded confession of Robert Durst in the last episode of 'The Jinx' was the evidence that did the millionaire murderer in. It allowed for the case of Susan Berman to be reopened and led to the conviction of Durst for the murder of his friend.

Arrested in New Orleans in March 2015, Durst was sentenced to life in prison at the end of 2020. He would eventually die behind bars.

As a true crime classic, the HBO documentary 'The Jinx' is timeless and eye-opening. It tells Durst's bizarre and almost incredible story in a wonderful way and is highly recommended for viewing.