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Durst, 75, the enigmatic subject of the popular
HBO documentary "The Jinx," was charged with the murder of Susan
Berman in 2015, a day after that broadcast aired its final
episode.
The six-part miniseries investigated Durst's ties to Berman's
slaying, his wife's unsolved 1982 disappearance and his 2003
acquittal in the slaying and dismemberment of a Texas neighbor.
In the closing minutes of "The Jinx", Durst, the heir to a New
York real estate fortune, is heard muttering to himself
off-camera, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of
course." The documentary has provided grist for prosecutors even
as defense attorneys have sought to keep the footage out of
court and discredit the production as biased against their
client.
Prosecutors say Durst fatally shot Berman, a 55-year-old writer
and the daughter of an organized crime figure, in Los Angeles in
2000 because of what she knew about the death of his wife.
Berman was found shot to death execution-style in her home a few
months after it was revealed that police in New York had
reopened an investigation into the disappearance and presumed
slaying of Kathleen Durst, who was a medical student in New York
when she vanished.
Durst has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges
stemming from Berman’s death. He also has denied having anything
to do with the disappearance of his wife, whose body was never
found. He has never been arrested or charged in that case.
In 2001, Durst, who was living at the time disguised as a mute
woman, was arrested on suspicion of killing and dismembering his
elderly neighbor, Morris Black.
Durst admitted during trial that he killed and carved up Black,
but a jury acquitted him of homicide after he argued it was an
accidental shooting in self-defense. He spent about three years
in jail for related minor charges.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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