Episode Transcript
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0:00
This. Is the story of the one. As.
0:02
Head of maintenance at a concert hall. He
0:04
knows the show must always go on. That's
0:06
why he works behind the scenes. Ensuring
0:08
every light is working. The
0:11
H Back is humming and his
0:13
facility shines with granger supplies and
0:15
solutions for every challenge he bases
0:17
plus twenty four. Seven Customer Support
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his been You never misses a
0:22
Be Car, quick.com or just that
0:24
by. Granger. For. The ones
0:26
who get it done. Is
0:29
so murder mystery You've got
0:32
a wealthy family is something
0:34
for everybody. There is a
0:36
club of people concerned by
0:38
trying to figure out what
0:40
happened. I've never seen anything
0:43
like it. Almost
0:47
everywhere Robert Durst went mystery,
0:49
follow a missing wife. Everything
0:51
about this rate of heart
0:54
of murder. best friend, a
0:56
dead neighbor. It's hard to
0:58
understand now the stories you
1:01
haven't heard as those who
1:03
knew Robert Durst best speak
1:05
out. I hope and pray that
1:07
when all this is done, we all get
1:09
answers. And hear his
1:11
own account of a strange life.
1:14
The reclusive millionaire spent much
1:17
of his time on the
1:19
road. So where was he?
1:21
What was he doing? Who
1:23
was he with? What is
1:25
a guy of his wealth
1:28
doing hanging out at a
1:30
homeless shelter soup kitchen for
1:32
decades? Suspicions questions raised. a
1:34
new one. The Series The
1:36
Jags Will They're finally Be
1:39
Answers Bob Didn't Kill Susan
1:41
Berman The Twisted Trail of
1:43
Robert Durst. And a mystery
1:45
that haunts a mother and her
1:48
are here is definitely in the
1:50
mix. He is in the next.
1:52
I'm Lester Holt and this is
1:54
dateline. Here's
1:57
a kid. Morrison with Robert Durst the
1:59
last year. A
2:08
minor written decades. Offices
2:12
As a warning, hold
2:15
on. A
2:17
darker writing about of very troubled third
2:20
year old boy was on the phone.
2:22
The hostility is. Sufficient
2:27
to produce a personality
2:29
three composition and possibly
2:31
even Schizophrenia. The
2:34
troubles little was his name
2:36
is well known. Robert. I
2:46
know you've heard the bizarre saga
2:48
the multi millionaire scion of a
2:50
New York real estate empire the
2:53
disappeared while the dead friend the
2:55
dismembered neighbor. He's been the subject
2:57
of several Dateline episode and the
2:59
star though not in the way
3:01
he intense debate fios the Jake's
3:03
but the you does anyone know
3:06
the truth about. Story
3:12
behind the story. Trail
3:14
we saw the revelations we encountered
3:17
the personal account he wrote and
3:19
we were given which have led
3:21
us into a very weird place
3:24
the last years of the infamous
3:26
Robert Durst A Tail. It's like
3:28
quicksand it sucks you in. Bomb
3:32
is endlessly fascinating N
3:35
n always surprises make
3:37
he was certainly elusive.
3:39
The Curio sometimes. Desperate,
3:42
always in motion, Tracking
3:45
him his dissent is strange. detour
3:47
off the road off the grid.
3:49
A lie said No one, not
3:51
even his family or close friends
3:53
could save them soon as I
3:56
could harm in size. I'm really
3:58
thankful. We.
4:02
Begin with to people who knew
4:04
and loved the man they called
4:07
Bobby godfather of their son. Close.
4:09
Friend of more than forty years. Long
4:12
before the rest of the world heard
4:14
of him. And when did you mean
4:16
I'm wee hours? I still together. Stewart
4:18
and Emily Altman spoke to us after
4:20
Durst was arrested. Says
4:24
suicide of Bob has not a
4:26
monster in the has a heart
4:28
that gets cost me a great
4:31
to have concerts. And I catch
4:33
up my head around his whatever happened.
4:35
To. Bob. His
4:38
heart. The
4:40
Altman shared personal photos and
4:42
the story about they've lived
4:44
and breathed. Starting with the
4:46
family disaster that tormented it.
4:49
Is. Bomb committed suicide when he
4:51
seven years old and new
4:53
was a devastating. Experience
4:56
for Vog. Compounded
5:00
by Bob strained relationships with his
5:02
brother Douglas and his father see
5:05
more than in the nineteen seventies,
5:07
Stewart introduce Bob to a young
5:10
woman. And this whole twisted
5:12
tale was set in motion. How
5:14
seven on he says the second street on
5:17
the second floor and casting was of and
5:19
on the third floor and Bob owns the
5:21
building. And
5:23
his cholesterol. Cassie.
5:29
Is Kathy Mccormick stewards young and
5:31
beautiful upstairs neighbor. He was like
5:34
since arming end of Princess has
5:36
he was the love of the
5:38
size. But
5:42
it didn't last. A
5:45
few years later the opens watch
5:47
their prince and princess grow apart.
5:49
See B more Independence Lessons A
5:52
fairytale. Many months know it's I
5:54
kept His brother Jim told us
5:57
it was more like a horror
5:59
movie. There's. A dark side?
6:01
A bob that you know
6:03
was fairly well camouflaged when
6:06
they were first. Does you
6:08
know it's going out? Married
6:10
with escalated? Ultimately, it's psychological
6:12
abuse, economic abuse, physical abuse,
6:15
Remember that doctors letter warning that the
6:18
ten year old Bob suffered from severe
6:20
hostility issues? Cassie
6:22
gave a coffee to were friends,
6:24
including Ellen Strauss evidence he said
6:27
just in case. Cause
6:29
he warned all of us that if anything
6:31
ever happened to look. And.
6:38
Then the Nineteen Eighty
6:41
Two Kathy Durst disappeared.
6:43
How does he take
6:45
his spot? Arms. You
6:49
know he asked if we had seen
6:51
or heard anything from you anything, but
6:53
they didn't No one did. Bob.
6:56
Was typically almost
6:58
detached. And in
7:01
his demeanor an enormous i don't
7:03
know nothing. I don't know anything.
7:07
From. The outset, Bob denied any
7:09
involvement and cab his disappearance
7:11
of the time, he was careful
7:14
to distance himself from investigators. New
7:16
York Times reporter Charles Bagley
7:18
is covered the Durst real estate
7:20
empire for more than three
7:22
decades, and when Kathy vanished setbacks,
7:25
Bob's protective friend Susan Berman the
7:27
name you've probably heard of
7:29
became use unofficial spokesperson. And
7:33
Susan would call back and say
7:35
well bob's you know really not
7:37
feeling right right now. ah I'm
7:39
I'm gonna handle a lot of
7:42
as the move on himself was
7:44
pretty much incommunicado them but we
7:46
have obtained this. His own
7:49
account his version of things
7:51
which he rode later. Is
7:54
what he wrote about caffeine disappearance
7:56
after my wife Kathy. Best I
7:58
could use of. alcohol, drugs,
8:00
and food chains from an
8:03
infrequent problem. with daily event.
8:06
It in com him to work for about two
8:08
years. Later
8:11
when Bob against showing up at
8:13
work again sporadically, he was an
8:16
anything like of Buttons Up executive.
8:18
He enjoyed smoking pot and a
8:20
social situation burping and farting. That's
8:23
because it disturb people in L
8:25
ne like to watch their react
8:28
size. So these stories about misbehaving
8:30
p and a wastebasket a somewhere
8:32
that was peeing in a way
8:35
Starting all of that it gave
8:37
pause to the family. Said.
8:42
It was no great surprise when
8:44
the family patriarch Seymour Durst chose
8:46
Bob younger brother Douglas to run
8:48
the family business. did. He really
8:50
thinks up until the point where
8:52
Douglas picked that that he had
8:54
a shot at, it is room
8:56
for it to go Supposed to
8:59
be his his job? He was
9:01
upset has devastating effects on Bob.
9:06
That is one. A little known and
9:08
reclusive Bob Durst went off on his
9:11
own to embark on. A strange new
9:13
life but we wanted to know
9:15
is how and why trouble seem
9:18
to be his traveling companion. When.
9:23
We return. More mysteries and more
9:25
questions for Robert Durst and a
9:27
P Get his new life on
9:29
a lost coast. I. Think he wanted
9:32
the a cross dresser and maybe he was
9:34
experimenting with us. You
9:36
know what I mean. Hanging out at
9:38
a homeless shelter, soup kitchens, and
9:40
he bought a house he hangs
9:43
out in a home. soon. I'm
10:00
almost mystical corner of Northern
10:03
California where Bob there's came
10:05
to pass get lost himself.
10:08
It was ninety ninety five after he
10:10
was dumped from the company Thirteen years
10:12
after Kathy disappeared. Far.
10:15
Walked into the office of local real
10:17
estate broker Gene Davenport. To
10:19
tell me was a writer for the Wall Street
10:21
Journal is that your mom have a place most
10:24
severe. Bob
10:27
forked over nearly four hundred thousand in
10:29
cash for a big family house in
10:31
the town of Printed Out overlooking the
10:34
Pacific. Where's live like a hermit number
10:36
really seem around. He never really had.
10:39
Contacts or didn't really have any best
10:42
friends. In
10:44
that personal account of his,
10:46
he explained why. I.
10:48
Hated the have more that a brief conversation
10:51
with someone because I immediately found myself being
10:53
asked what do you do. The.
10:55
To answer was nothing. I
10:57
live off the family estate.
11:01
Which was true enough, but it
11:03
wasn't exactly idol either. that author
11:05
Matt Birk Back, who followed The
11:08
Dirt Case for over fifteen years.
11:10
Wrote a book about it called
11:13
a Deadly Secret. Bob
11:15
nurse was buying other properties. He
11:17
said. But some of his choices
11:19
didn't seem to make sense. The. Scientists
11:22
homes were talking storage facilities and
11:24
Keel Foxes Media by one storage
11:26
place or some have an address.
11:28
The i just went out to
11:30
be storage facility and was he
11:32
doing wheelies. different stores, facilities, The
11:35
main town near Trinidad is
11:37
Eureka where we discovered boss
11:40
been credited of time in
11:42
a second hand clothing store
11:44
primarily for women. I
11:46
want a be a cross dresser and maybe
11:48
he was experimenting with that. You
11:51
know what I mean. He
11:53
always came along said shopkeeper cake
11:55
kings. He went by something pretty
11:58
plain my says in own. We
12:01
are in are showing it was
12:03
outstanding and then he was just
12:05
a skirt chino and try to
12:07
match it up you know I
12:09
must. First time he couldn't so
12:12
I would try and helping match.
12:15
See. Has seen her serve cross
12:17
dressers, but there was something different
12:19
about this one. He
12:21
wanted to be somebody else besides Robert
12:23
Durst. Which
12:26
would explain another untold story of
12:28
those years and on and so
12:30
far unexplained habit of frequenting Juri
12:33
Good see. besides. Hanging
12:36
out as a was homeless
12:39
shelter, soup kitchen, He
12:43
bought a house. He hangs out at
12:45
a home so sing at a homeless shelter. But.
12:49
Sir Charles Barkley. He. Was
12:51
also restless and was
12:53
in constant motion whether
12:55
he was here in
12:57
Texas or California or.
13:00
In Europe. Or
13:02
Los Angeles where he'd look in on
13:04
Susan Berman, who you'll remember spoke for
13:06
him after Kathy disappeared and was now
13:09
trying to make it as a Hollywood
13:11
screenwriter. The
13:13
sea and Bobby I always felt were
13:15
very tight. This is Susan Berman friend
13:18
Kim like for. See was.
13:21
Very protective of Bobby. Susan.
13:26
Moved in a slight be run down cottage
13:28
in L A Benedict Canyon. And
13:31
occasionally Bob would stop by, but
13:33
soon he be gone in. Sometimes
13:36
flying back to Trinidad where he'd
13:38
question is settled. Driver Ross. Sea
13:42
would set a specific really ask
13:44
questions about as a sheriff's department
13:46
been out area seen many Llangollen
13:48
on. And and
13:50
Ninety Ninety Seven. Well, Bob lived
13:52
here. Something did happen. A
13:55
local teenager named Karen Mitchell vanished
13:57
after leaving a women to store.
14:00
That later Bob was known to frequent.
14:03
By. The year two thousand. The case was cold.
14:07
For that of course is one
14:09
across the country a New York.
14:11
Another case was suddenly hot against
14:13
the investigation into the disappearance of
14:15
Bob's wife Kathy Reopen by Westchester
14:17
County d I Jeanine Pirro. Who.
14:20
Later became a Tv host on
14:22
Fox News Channel. i hadn't. Instincts.
14:24
Everything about. This rate of
14:26
murder. We had evidence that she
14:28
was battered by him. I would
14:30
see a sense confirmed. Ah, he
14:32
was clear to me that he
14:34
tells her investigation was supposed to
14:36
be top secret But as we
14:38
know. Bob. Durst found
14:41
that seem wise. Men:
14:45
One of Kathy's friends you've met
14:48
her Ellen Strauss offered the cops
14:50
a tip. I begged
14:52
of the police interview his best
14:55
friend Susan Berman. I sell them
14:57
all my research I sell. Susan
14:59
Berman was the key. Always did.
15:03
And the boys did plan on
15:05
interviewing Susan Berman. The
15:08
problem was they just waited
15:10
a little too long. Time
15:14
ago said Susan ever tell
15:16
you that she was. Afraid
15:20
of Robert. She did
15:22
tell me suis assess of as and my
15:24
first thought was whether they listen to me
15:26
over there waiting for the dough. When
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You added a two thousand
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Westchester County Reinvestigation of the
17:36
Missing Millionaires Wife Kathy Durst
17:38
had been chugging quietly for
17:40
months. When the story broke,
17:42
Durst about himself in the
17:44
media glare. Again, it had
17:46
been eighteen years since Kathy
17:48
disappeared and public opinion he
17:51
wrote turned against him Unlike
17:53
before. And Nineteen Eighty
17:55
Two, The tone of the publicity was
17:57
of a scandal about a rich Mark,
17:59
the reddit. Durable Marriage people did
18:01
not distance themselves from me because
18:03
of in two thousand I was
18:06
a murderer who? everyone just light.
18:08
Of course, Susan Berman had kept
18:10
the bad Crescent Bay back in
18:13
eighty two and now investigators wanted
18:15
to talk door. And
18:17
what did Bob do that? He.
18:20
Got married not to Susan
18:22
Berman. But the New
18:24
York real estate broker Deborah Sheraton
18:26
there was a marriage been haven't
18:29
Sat was clearly a marriage of
18:31
convenience and that. Is
18:33
is Bobby. there is say. In any
18:35
event, I'm arrested. I have
18:37
someone to bail me out into the hands of my
18:40
affairs. Well. Course, that's just
18:42
an opinion. Maybe it was a
18:44
love facts, but it did come
18:46
with spousal privilege, which meant Deborah
18:48
didn't have to talk to the
18:50
cops about her new wealthy husband.
18:52
He also reportedly got access to
18:55
a substantial share of his money.
18:57
Never doesn't do anything unless several
18:59
assets after. A
19:01
character reference I'm not sure I want to
19:03
have. C is a savvy. Business.
19:06
Woman Meanwhile, out in Hollywood,
19:08
Susan Berman was struggling to
19:10
make it as a screenwriter.
19:13
Things weren't quite going as well as
19:15
see would have liked with her. Career.
19:17
For years Susan had relied
19:20
on Bob for help and
19:22
he responded sometimes with sex
19:24
to at least were twenty
19:26
five thousand dollars. To
19:29
with some staccato as kind as
19:31
silky. Added say that when on.
19:33
The trains on. We had some
19:35
unique insights. I'm a Woman Hussein,
19:38
She was Susan Berman his closest
19:40
confidants, a therapist and psychic. Her
19:42
name is Barbara stabbing her and
19:45
she told us he knows what
19:47
Susan was thinking. Of fact, she
19:49
gave the police many hours of
19:51
her recorded conversations with Susan in
19:54
which are those last months of
19:56
two thousand according to Barbara. Susan
19:58
grew increasingly worried. Good
20:01
Susan ever tell you that she
20:03
was. Afraid of
20:05
Robert. She did tell
20:07
me she was a sea of
20:09
south as hand they ties I
20:11
had the ceiling see cells. Afraid
20:13
of a big says she was
20:15
afraid he lives with Char. Any
20:17
help. But it was more than a
20:20
synthesizer. Susan was afraid
20:22
of Bob, she said, because
20:24
she knew too much she
20:26
knew his secrets, twas the
20:28
and civilise ice is very
20:30
agitated with. When
20:34
he save her. Susan.
20:36
Didn't know said Barbara and then
20:38
just before Christmas two thousand she
20:40
said Susan let know that Bob
20:42
was on the way with money.
20:45
He said I'll bring it. And
20:49
that's what has since I
20:51
can't pills it. Away
20:54
Cops have long suspected Bob did go
20:56
to Susan's house in a way, but
20:58
not to bring her more money. To
21:01
prevent her from talking ever.
21:04
We do know from flight records
21:06
and Fobs own personal account that
21:08
he did go to California Christmas
21:10
two thousand. Robert Durst was on
21:13
the move again late December he
21:15
flew here to Eureka, California. He
21:18
had owned a house in this area
21:20
for several years, but had recently sold.
21:22
It wasn't coming to stay here. Got
21:26
a car. Got inside it. Pointed.
21:28
South. In
21:31
Bob There's own personal account, he notes
21:33
a visit the Garber feel six hundred
21:35
miles from Los Angeles. After that, we
21:37
can't follow his crew. We
21:40
do know that lead on December twenty
21:42
second or early the Twenty Third Susan
21:44
Berman was murdered by a bullet to
21:46
the back of her head, at her
21:48
home and away and on the Twenty
21:50
Third flight records him from Bob Took
21:52
off from San Francisco on The Red
21:54
Eyes to New York. And.
21:57
Soon after this at. Least.
22:00
December twenty third. Showed up at the
22:02
Beverly Hills p d I call it
22:04
the cadaver know? Oh yes. the famous
22:06
note directing police to her body. A
22:09
note like be written by her killer.
22:12
Word of Susan Berman murder
22:14
traveled fast. Was
22:17
like. Oh My.
22:19
God. I'm on and off. My first thought
22:21
was, why didn't they listen To me It
22:23
Is not. Interview Susan Berman in a timely
22:26
manner. Over there
22:28
waiting for the dough. Bob
22:30
skipped Susan Berman memorial service
22:33
and a few weeks later
22:35
he surfaced in Galveston, Texas.
22:38
Another good place to get
22:40
lost, except of course trouble
22:43
eventually found him there. I
22:45
killed a dismemberment and an
22:47
unforgettable acquittal. We all know
22:50
the stories. That.
22:52
Not this person. Coming
22:56
up did Robert Durst
22:58
rehearse telling the truth?
23:01
Is is moistened friend smuggled in
23:03
the a cassette tape recorder into
23:05
the jail. He would mean. Discuss
23:08
with them whether know. The
23:10
story of. At.
23:25
The end of the he A
23:27
to Galveston, Texas is Rules and
23:29
Miles Zero it says this is
23:31
where Bob Durst went to Sadness
23:33
Good Actually moved here just weeks
23:35
before Susan Berman murder and initially
23:37
he was needs assessment and he
23:39
took pains to keep himself. He
23:41
did as he told his friends
23:43
the all. Of
23:45
a new will be looking for a other Thurston
23:48
or three on the dollar a month apartment under
23:50
an assumed name. The
23:52
name of an old high school classmates
23:55
they dorothy. Signer: a
23:57
low in his log he wrote he didn't
23:59
like wearing a wig. It
24:02
itched it got in my eyes unless it
24:04
was on tight which made my head sweat.
24:07
But the version Bob told
24:09
over the years believes author Matt
24:11
Birkbeck doesn't tell the real story.
24:14
Certainly not the famous killing of
24:16
his elderly neighbor Morris Black or
24:19
Bob's activities in Galveston and Elstl.
24:22
It was really strange you know him
24:24
and Black appalling around in Galveston amongst
24:26
homeless. So what is a guy of
24:29
his wealth and his family's
24:32
influence doing stealing identities.
24:37
In fact in the spring of 2001 at
24:40
the same time as he as Dorothy
24:42
Signer was living in Galveston he rented
24:44
another room in New Orleans under
24:47
the name Diane Wynn. We
24:49
found the place and his
24:51
old landlord Michael Ogden. He
24:53
was wearing blouse with
24:56
small brassiere a wig.
24:59
He lived on the top floor and
25:01
the neighbors often saw him wearing women's
25:03
clothing. He wasn't a
25:05
drag queen he was
25:08
just in disguise. And
25:12
then he'd fly off somewhere else
25:14
New York, California, Connecticut. Always
25:17
returning as he carefully noted in
25:19
his personal account to
25:21
that downmarket apartment in Galveston
25:24
where in September 2001
25:26
he shot Morris Black accidentally
25:28
and in self-defense he claimed
25:30
and then dismembered the man
25:32
and threw his body parts
25:34
into Galveston Bay. Here's
25:37
how Durst described Jack
25:40
Daniels marijuana bought
25:42
Boesaw. Boesaw not deep enough
25:44
returned for bigger Boesaw could
25:47
not use saw went
25:49
back first looked at electric saws
25:51
bought axe. But
25:57
Matt Birkbeck believes Bob's claims about the killer
26:00
were attempts after the fact to
26:02
sanitize what the evidence suggests was
26:04
a brutal murder. It
26:06
makes no sense. And if you look at
26:09
the autopsy report, it shows that Morris had
26:11
been beaten severely in the upper torso and
26:13
even perhaps suffered a heart attack. So obviously
26:15
something else was going on. After
26:20
his arrest, Bob called his friends,
26:22
the Aldmans, and tried to explain
26:24
what happened. He said
26:26
he went to the field stage. He was
26:28
an out of body experience. And
26:32
it's hard to understand. Charged
26:35
with murder, Bob Durst
26:37
also called his new wife, Deborah
26:39
Cheriton, who helped arrange 300,000 in
26:43
cash for bail, which
26:45
he promptly skipped, got a car,
26:47
and traveled the country, sometimes using
26:49
Morris Black's ID. It
26:53
was weeks later when they finally caught
26:55
him, shoplifting in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Well,
27:00
more than 38,000 in cash was in his car. The
27:06
Altmans visited him in jail. You
27:09
know, I asked him how he was doing. And
27:11
he said, you know, not great. He
27:13
talked about how he pretty much was going
27:15
to do maybe suicide by cop. But
27:19
Bob, of course, didn't pull that particular
27:21
trigger and was sent back to Texas
27:23
for trial where his Houston
27:25
attorney, Dick DeGaren, devised the defense that
27:27
beat the murder charge. It
27:29
was a simple case of a struggle over
27:32
a gun and the gun went off. If
27:35
it truly was self-defense, then
27:38
what happened after the
27:40
killing doesn't change that.
27:44
Bob wasn't so confident he'd get
27:46
off. In fact, he asked
27:48
his friends, the Altmans, to help him learn
27:51
more about what life behind bars would be
27:53
like for him. He thought that
27:55
if we got to know the ins and outs,
27:58
that maybe it would be easy for him. who was
28:00
on the inside. He worried
28:02
about how he'd hear his favorite music,
28:04
for example. He was trying to
28:06
find out if maybe there was a radio station he
28:08
could buy, so that if he
28:10
were in jail he could have music that he
28:13
liked. Bob knew his
28:15
chances of acquittal depended in large
28:17
part on winning the jury's sympathy.
28:20
So for that, he went on a
28:22
crash diet. Bob was trying
28:24
to use every way within his
28:26
power to look frail when he
28:28
was on trial in Galveston. He
28:31
also went to considerable trouble to
28:33
practice his testimony, as presiding judge
28:35
Susan Chris learned later from recordings
28:37
taped in the jail. He had
28:39
his wife and friend smuggled a
28:42
little cassette tape recorder into the
28:44
jail. He would practice
28:47
his testimony, sneak the tapes back
28:49
to them, and then discuss
28:51
with them whether or not he sounded believable
28:53
with the story that he was telling. The
28:56
defendant pre-roll. The Altman said
28:58
Bob was convinced, 99.9% certain that he'd be
29:00
convicted. Would
29:04
the jury find the defendant Robert
29:07
Durst not guilty? The
29:13
jury took five days to save him
29:15
from 25 years to life in prison,
29:18
though he later served a little time
29:20
at federal prison for skipping bail and
29:22
dismembering Morris Black. But by 2005, he
29:25
was a free man again. Now
29:28
the only person who could catch Bob
29:31
Durst was... Bob
29:33
Durst. Coming
29:35
up. Caught off
29:37
camera and seemingly off-guard on the
29:40
jinx, did Robert
29:42
Durst confess? Why
29:44
did he give that interview? Thought he'd be
29:46
able to show he's not a horrible person.
29:49
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apply. Houston,
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2010. The story of
31:56
Robert Durst took a most unlikely turn.
32:00
The most in Galveston. Long behind
32:02
him he had settled into this
32:04
luxury highrise. Marxism was the condo
32:06
board presence as served or school
32:08
is mostly dad. the shadow was
32:10
didn't look like his hair was
32:12
staff there was messy a look
32:14
like over the street bomb. He.
32:18
Was sixty seven by them. And.
32:20
Seem to have done away with his cross dressing.
32:23
Might have lived out his days in
32:26
quiet as six centric isolation. But
32:29
then the Durst story went
32:32
Hollywood. Or movie
32:34
called all good Things was released.
32:36
Based on Robert Durst Life
32:38
played by Ryan Gosling. It
32:42
was directed by filmmaker Andrew Directly.
32:45
Bob like that movie and that's why you
32:47
got involved with Iraqi I think. It
32:51
was to offer his side of the story
32:53
that Bob Sapp for too long interviews with
32:55
directly for what would eventually become the H
32:57
B O series called The Cheeks. And
33:00
things have not Do it or begged him not to
33:02
do it. Why is it only
33:04
Bob knows what did he think he
33:07
would get out of us forty be
33:09
able to So that is not a
33:11
monster is not a horrible sources Bob
33:13
watch the jinx of the same time
33:15
as everybody else does. And
33:18
according to Directed, the filmmakers had
33:20
given evidence to the authorities two
33:22
years before the show where. Which
33:26
to Bob's attorney Dick Deguerin
33:28
that the shows far from
33:30
objective reporting. They've edited probably
33:32
fifty or more hours down
33:34
into a few minutes, and
33:37
I think that editing job
33:39
was designed to make him
33:41
look bad. But
33:43
it was a simple comparison of hand
33:45
writing samples that on it's own seem
33:48
to condemn Robert Durst. It was episode
33:50
five of the Jinx Series in which
33:52
a letter he admitted sending to Susan
33:55
Berman was compared to the infamous cadaver
33:57
node her presumed kids in the car.
34:02
Soon after seeing that episode, Bob
34:04
packed up and left used by
34:06
the cops, were monitoring his cellphone
34:08
and eventually tracked him to the
34:11
Jw Marriott Hotel in New Orleans.
34:13
So now to F B I
34:15
agents show up at the hotel
34:18
in there talking to the clerk.
34:20
Wealth: You have any one book
34:22
tear under the name of Dorothy?
34:24
sign up Now They go through
34:27
ten other aliases. No.
34:30
No No. Can: Where
34:32
is it? They
34:37
turn around and as bob walking in
34:39
the lobby headed for the elevators. Later
34:43
the accompanied him do his
34:45
room and ultimately they turn
34:48
up cached are gone and
34:50
some pot. So far,
34:52
Durst was booked for possession of
34:54
a handgun and marijuana in Louisiana
34:57
and also arrested for the murder
34:59
of Susan Berman in Los Angeles.
35:02
And the very next day
35:04
the final episode of A
35:06
Jinx Fear featuring the now
35:08
infamous off camera bathroom. With
35:12
was a confession. Course.
35:27
Few people knew this fans as
35:30
a documentary edited durst hot make
35:32
moment manipulate me to senses together
35:34
that we're not actually spokeswoman tourists
35:37
friend certain know like what did
35:39
you think of what you saw.
35:44
That just puts a store and he looked at me
35:46
speechless. Really long time and I
35:48
burst into tears. Because
35:51
it is cyclists like a nice. After
35:55
his arrest a package arrived for
35:57
him that New Orleans hotel. The.
36:00
Police openness. And they were A pair
36:02
of shoes in it. and one hundred
36:04
seventeen thousand dollars in cash. So
36:08
he was definitely getting ready
36:10
for some. Her
36:12
shoes and money as as kind of what
36:14
you need a that as a. And
36:17
attorney De Guerin stepped in. Again
36:19
his time He acknowledged because of
36:21
Bob's trip to New Orleans, sitting
36:23
amount of jail might not be
36:26
so easy. I acknowledge early on
36:28
the chance of him making bail
36:30
right now. The. Chances are
36:32
slim and non and slammed his
36:34
left out. Robert
36:37
Durst pleaded guilty to feel legal
36:39
gun possession. He was sentenced to
36:41
seven years and several times. Faster
36:45
the Susan Berman case attorney Dick Deguerin
36:47
insisted father had nothing to do with
36:50
her murder. Trial got
36:52
underway in March. Two thousand and fourteen. But
36:55
was postponed because of the Corona virus.
36:57
Us Senate. Bid.
37:00
Resume Fourteen months later with
37:02
De Guerin continuing his battle
37:04
against it sucks Deputy Da
37:06
Nang John Lewis a frail
37:08
Robert Durst testified from his
37:10
wheelchair forces and under questioning
37:12
by Lewin made this done
37:14
with your muscle. Tissue.
37:18
Mine. Is to. Do
37:23
Not. Live.
37:29
In September Two Thousand Twenty One
37:31
a jury found Robert Durst guilty
37:34
of first degree murder. He was
37:36
sentenced to life without parole. Two
37:38
months later, a Grand jury in
37:41
New York indicted him for the
37:43
death of his first wife, Kathleen
37:45
Durst. That
37:48
a jury would never hear
37:50
that case. In January Two
37:52
Thousand Twenty two, Robert Durst
37:54
died in California hospital while
37:56
serving his life sentence. He
37:58
was. Seventy. And
38:01
in a final twist, John Lewis,
38:03
the prosecutor and the Berman case
38:05
said that because Durst was a
38:08
feeling that verdict at the time
38:10
of his death under California law,
38:12
his conviction will be fake. Robert
38:20
Durst. They be gone. But
38:23
the mysteries remains. Coming
38:27
off. A missing
38:30
teenagers. Are.
38:33
Good or. Raptors.
38:51
Have all the places Robert Durst
38:53
wander. This was not just a
38:56
favorite that now the setting of
38:58
a lingering mystery California is Lost
39:00
Coast He ninety Ninety Seven. A
39:03
pretty teenager named Karen Mitchell was
39:05
helping out at her at any
39:07
Casper shoe store. I
39:09
did not ever need Robert Durst
39:12
that my manager. She said she
39:14
remembered him because. He just drop
39:16
as a woman. From
39:21
mobile. Of Math Robert Durst said
39:23
at any. See. Often helped
39:25
you Ricans homeless population. People.
39:28
Among whom Bob was known to Mexico.
39:31
We can't know for sure, but
39:33
we do know she was involves
39:36
neighborhood more than once. Sang
39:38
is to go to Trinidad on
39:40
the bus. I mean they could have
39:42
mats. definitely a possibility. see like unusual
39:45
people seem like Topic today and Top
39:47
Top. For
39:51
those, he vanished thera unless the shoe store
39:53
to walk to a job at a nearby
39:55
daycare center where she'd arrange to have any
39:58
pick her up as the worse and. As
40:00
I came down, I had this weird
40:02
feeling like something was off. It
40:05
was. Karen never made it
40:07
to work. Her mother, Mary
40:09
Casper, lived in Los Angeles. No
40:12
forgetting what that phone call was like. We
40:15
drove from Southern California
40:17
up here, and I remember
40:21
hanging flyers at the
40:23
rest stop with my daughter. I just feel
40:25
like it's not happening right now. How
40:28
could this be? Karen, where
40:30
are you? A
40:35
massive search produced no sign of her.
40:38
Though there was one curious lead,
40:40
a witness who said
40:42
he saw a young woman get into
40:44
a car with an older man on
40:46
this busy Eureka Road. The
40:48
witness worked with a police artist to produce this,
40:51
but nothing much came of it. At
40:53
least not back then. It
40:55
was fast. And then Matt Birkbeck,
40:57
who authored a book on Durst called
40:59
A Deadly Secret, got a tip from
41:02
some independent investigators also working the
41:05
case, a possible connection. There were
41:07
credit card records that placed
41:09
Durst in the Eureka area the day that
41:11
this girl disappeared. The
41:13
transaction was just off the coast in Trinidad, maybe
41:16
20 minutes or so by
41:18
car, in that spot where the
41:20
witness saw a girl picked up on the road in
41:22
Eureka. And
41:25
then before the trial in Galveston,
41:28
Birkbeck heard this. I
41:30
have a really good source that I was close to
41:32
the defense team. And I was told that Durst was
41:34
extremely concerned about Karen Mitchell and was so concerned he
41:36
thought he was going to get charged. Durst
41:39
brought this up on his own with
41:41
his defense attorney? Yes. And Dictigarin
41:43
apparently said to him Bobby was worried about one case at a time.
41:47
Not true, said Dictigarin. I've
41:49
never had any concern about it. Did
41:51
Bob? No. But
41:55
when Durst was arrested in New Orleans, the
41:58
case was reborn. Mills
42:00
was the Eureka police chief at the
42:02
time. Robert Durst is a
42:04
person of interest in this case. He's definitely in
42:06
the mix. He is in the mix, someone
42:09
that we will consider as part
42:11
of our larger investigation. The
42:14
chief was not alone. The
42:16
FBI and the Humboldt County DA were
42:19
investigating a possible Bob Durst connection, too.
42:22
However, Durst was not the only person
42:25
of interest. There were five
42:27
others. The evidence,
42:29
the circumstantial evidence, is
42:31
just not there at this point. That
42:34
old composite sketch, for example, could
42:36
this be Robert Durst? The
42:39
chief isn't quite sure it's
42:41
particularly accurate. Looks
42:43
very similar. Were you impressed by the similarities?
42:46
I'm impressed by the similarities, but my
42:48
questions are being able to
42:50
recognize somebody in a very small space
42:52
and window, and then being able to
42:55
recount that in a
42:57
description that's pretty precise. That
42:59
sketch? Ridiculous, said Durst
43:01
attorney Dick DeGaren. I know Bob pretty
43:03
well. I doesn't look anything like him.
43:06
It looks like Mr. Potato Head. So
43:11
who was that witness of 18 years ago? Would
43:14
he still remember? The cops
43:16
hadn't spoken to him recently, so we
43:19
found him, riding
43:21
his tractor in the green hills
43:23
above Eureka. Randy
43:25
Gomes, an Army veteran
43:27
local carpenter. Did he remember?
43:31
I looked right at him because I was
43:33
yelling at him. Yelling at him because that
43:35
guy cut him off when he stopped his
43:37
car to pick up a teenage girl. You
43:40
know, and I eyeballed him all
43:42
the way around as I was coming around the car.
43:45
Gomes insisted the girl got into the
43:47
car willingly as if she knew the
43:49
man. So now, 18 years
43:52
later, we showed Gomes his sketch
43:54
and a picture of Robert Durst.
43:57
What is your gut reaction when you see those two
43:59
photographs together? I believe that's
44:01
the man that I saw. So
44:03
how sure are you, you got it right? I'm
44:05
positive, and my heart, I know I have
44:07
it right. And Gomes was
44:09
fairly certain he said the girl who got in
44:11
the car looked like a photo
44:14
the police showed him of Karen Mitchell.
44:17
But it was her, because she, we
44:19
made eye contact. But,
44:24
issues. There's no
44:26
proof that it was Karen Mitchell who got into
44:28
the car. And
44:31
Bob Durst's eyes were not blue.
44:35
And, said Chief Mills, Gomes
44:37
didn't come forward till months after the
44:39
incident. What we don't want
44:41
to do is just take something that's, you
44:43
know, sensational and plug that person into
44:46
the midst of an investigation that
44:48
may or may not have anything to do with him. But
44:51
the investigation continues. And
44:53
some, like Birkbeck, believe
44:56
there may be more. I've
44:58
never said definitively that he was a serial killer. What
45:01
I said was that there's so much
45:03
out there about him that
45:05
clearly there's something going on here. And
45:08
that law enforcement needs to look into it. And
45:10
thankfully, they are doing it now. Waste
45:14
of time, said Dick DeGaren. Well,
45:17
there's no evidence. And
45:20
to think, you know, they
45:23
have to have a theory that he's some kind of
45:25
serial killer. He's not a serial killer. But the notion
45:27
of Robert Durst as a serial killer has come up.
45:30
Guy who does... It sells magazines. It sells
45:32
books. It causes people to turn on their
45:34
TVs. A
45:40
long missing wife, a dismembered neighbor,
45:42
a murdered friend. This
45:45
is how Robert Durst is defined now. Where
45:48
did it all go wrong? All
45:51
that power, privilege, money? It's
45:54
been decades since that Dr. Warren
45:57
Bob's hostility issues could lead to
45:59
personality decay. composition. Is
46:01
that what happened? To
46:07
his friends Emily and Stuart Altman, Bobby
46:09
Durst was a good person and loyal friend
46:11
for more than 40 years. Though
46:16
Emily, painful as it was,
46:19
worried that Bobby Durst may have been
46:21
the friend she never knew. After
46:24
all... I
46:26
can't understand harming a human being, okay? Doesn't
46:30
make sense to me. I
46:32
don't know if I could forgive that, and
46:34
I wish I could, and I'm struggling
46:36
with that. I don't know. I
46:42
don't know. That's
46:47
all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks
46:49
for joining us. You
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