In truly incredible news, an alleged murderer admitted his decision to appear in a 2015 documentary series about his alleged murders was a mistake. Can’t help but think you’re right on the money there, champion.
During the murder trial of 78-year-old suspected serial killer Robert Durst – who is alleged to have murdered three people between 1982 and 2001 – on Tuesday, he said that his appearance in HBO’s The Jinx was a “very, very, very big mistake”. Quite likely because it led to his arrest by the FBI a day before the series’ finale, and to his current trial.
The six-episode series investigates the unsolved disappearance of Durst’s first wife Kathie in 1982, the execution-style killing of writer Susan Berman in 2000, and the death and dismemberment of Durst’s neighbour Morris Black in 2001.
It includes archival and new interviews, news footage, police footage, evidence, and interviews with Durst himself that his lawyers warned him against doing. The finale gave us the famous off-camera hot mic moment where Durst says “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course” to himself in reaction to the evidence that pins an anonymous note about Susan Berman’s body location on him.
He was previously acquitted of the murder of Morris Black, and also pled not guilty to the murder of Susan Berman in 2018.
Six years since the series landed and Durst was arrested on a first-degree murder warrant, Durst tried to explain that the hot mic moment didn’t pick up everything he muttered to himself in the bathroom.
“What I did not say out loud, or perhaps I said very softly, is ‘they’ll all think I killed them all of course’,” he said.
He also said that he had gotten himself a subscription to HBO specifically to watch The Jinx, but after the penultimate episode aired, he bought a gun with the intent to take his own life, and fled to New Orleans.
On top of all of this, Durst also testified that he would lie to get out of trouble, and had previously lied in sworn testimony. He also said that if he had killed Berman, he would lie about it.
Oh boy.
