Real-estate mogul's son is arrested before his 'killed them all' comment airs on documentary
Robert Durst, the wealthy son of a real-estate mogul, was arrested on a murder charge on Saturday, a day before the final installment of an HBO documentary broadcast what appeared to be an inculpatory comment.
In the sixth episode of the documentary The Jinx, a microphone captures Durst talking to himself in the bathroom, report the New York Times and the Washington Post. “What the hell did I do?” he asks. “Killed them all, of course.”
The recent arrest at a New Orleans hotel was for the alleged 2000 killing of a friend, Susan Berman. But she is not the only Durst acquaintance whose fate raised suspicions, the stories say. His first wife disappeared in 1982, and his neighbor in Texas was fatally shot and dismembered in 2001. He was tried for the Texas slaying but was acquitted in 2013 after claiming he killed in self-defense.
Durst’s “killed them all” comment was recorded because he was still wearing his microphone when he entered the bathroom. HBO staffers were packing their equipment at the time, and his recorded comment wasn’t discovered for more than two years, the Times says.
Legal experts told the Times it’s unclear whether Durst’s statement could be admissible in court, since he had an expectation of privacy in the bathroom.
Durst’s lawyer, Chip Lewis, told the Washington Post that Durst has “maintained his innocence for 10 years now. Nothing has changed.”
Lewis offered an explanation for Durst’s comment in an interview Jeanine Pirro on Fox News, Mediaite reports. “My overarching thoughts are I was a bit underwhelmed, given the lead up and the build up to this new development,” he said.
Pirro reacted with disbelief, spurring this response: “Honestly, you and I are very, let’s say, flamboyant people who speak our minds often,” Lewis said. “Your honesty would lead you to say things under your breath you probably didn’t mean.”
