The millionaire killed people with impunity. He was betrayed by going to the toilet

In 1982, the wife of multimillionaire Robert Durst, beautiful medical student Kathleen McCormack, disappeared. In 2000, his friend Susan Berman, the daughter of a Las Vegas mafioso and a screenwriter who was not particularly successful in Hollywood, was murdered. When Morris Black’s desecrated body was found a year later, a man who was his neighbor was brought to trial. And it wasn’t even the fact that he rented a rather dingy apartment disguised as a woman that was the strangest thing. It turned out to be Robert Durst, the owner of a fortune worth tens of millions of dollars, whom some suspected of being involved in the previous tragedies, and who, for unknown reasons, chose to hide in a small town rather than live in luxury in Manhattan.

Prosecutor: I predicted this would be the biggest thing since the OJ Simpson case

When “Cursed” premiered, it was a six-episode miniseries. At the time, I predicted it would be the biggest thing to come to my office since the OJ Simpson case

– says prosecutor John Lewin, dealing with unsolved cases from years ago, in the first episode of the second series of the documentary. Like millions of people around the world, every week he watched another episode of the series in which Robert Durst, acquitted in the murder of 71-year-old Black, decided to tell his version of events. What I write about in the text is really only a small part of what the filmmakers showed in the HBO series.

Why did Durst choose Jarecki ten years ago? In 2010, the feature film “All That’s Good” with Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst premiered, the script of which was inspired by real events. He talked about Kathie’s disappearance and – as the filmmaker said – he did not clearly indicate that Durst was involved. He claimed that he thought Robert Durst was likeable, and this was one of the reasons why the millionaire decided to give an interview – despite his second wife and lawyers advising him against doing so – to Jarecki. In the first six episodes of “The Cursed”, the director repeatedly maintains this opinion.

A disappearance, a murder and a typo. Warning: spoilers

I am marking spoilers just in case, because I am revealing some details and phrases in this story, although almost 10 years have passed since the premiere of the last episode of the first series of “Cursed”, and the document was talked about all over the world. Moreover, I have the feeling that knowing these facts will not negatively affect the viewing of Durst’s entire twelve-episode story. The ones I mention are only part of what has happened over four decades.

“Cursed” received, among others, Emmy for best documentary or factual series, he also received many awards for editing. Because the editing here is truly phenomenal. In one of the first episodes, we see the filmmakers inform Durst that his microphone is still collecting and recording sound, even though the questioning has already ended. This seemingly insignificant information will become extremely important a few episodes later.

The filmmakers talk not only to Durst himself, but also to police officers, prosecutors, journalists, jury members and Kathie’s family. They have a huge amount of archival materials, including hearings. Each of these cases was extremely mysterious and received a lot of media attention. Kathie was supposed to be seen in New York after she left the Durst family estate, where her husband stayed. The next day she was supposed to call the university to say she wasn’t feeling well and… from then on there was no contact with her. For years, Kathie’s mother and brother, as well as Kathie’s entire family, suspected that something bad had happened and had something to do with the Dursts’ marital problems. However, they had neither a body nor any evidence of Robert’s involvement in the disappearance.

It was similar in the case of the death of Susan, Robert’s long-time best friend. The woman shot in her own home left no traces of a struggle, and no valuables were missing from the house – the house was very modestly furnished. What interested the police and the prosecutor’s office included: a letter sent to the police address, which indicated that they would find a body in this particular house, as well as the time when the tragedy occurred. The murder happened just after years later, when Durst once again appeared in the investigators’ circle of interest in connection with Kathie’s disappearance, and they now wanted to question Susan… However, they could not even prove that Robert Durst was in Beverly on those days Hills, although he came to California.

“There you have it. They caught you!” How filmmakers led to another trial

With a net worth of approximately $100 million, Durst could afford to hire the best lawyers, and that’s exactly what he did when he was arrested in connection with the murder of Morris Black. Everyone was surprised when, after being released on bail of $250,000 (which was not a high amount for him, to be honest), he disappeared and stumbled into a supermarket. A rich man wanted on an arrest warrant, despite having $500 on him, stole plasters, a newspaper and a sandwich from the store. It was as if he wanted to get caught.

I will not describe the details of the trial here, I will only mention the verdict, shocking for some and expected for others. Robert Durst, although he admitted to dismembering and trying to drown Black’s body, was acquitted of killing his neighbor. Images from the courtroom, combined with interviews of the filmmakers with the lawyers involved in the case, provide incredible knowledge about the complexity of the law, but also about the tricks used by lawyers and prosecutors to achieve their goals. And there’s even more of it in the second series!

The acquittal was not the end of the story. In the fifth episode of the 2015 production of “Cursed”, we see a surprising twist. Jarecki comes into possession of a letter sent by Durst to Susan Berman, which he addressed with an identical typo in the address as the sender of the message about the body, sent years earlier to the Los Angeles police station. When the director confronts Durst with the two envelopes, relying on expert opinion, Durst cannot tell which envelope is which, but still does not admit to committing the crime. Viewers in 2015 hold their breath and have to wait a week for events to unfold.

In the second part of the documentary, which premiered a few weeks ago on HBO (and HBO Max), Jarecki shows, among others: as the sixth episode of the first “Cursed” is watched together by Kathie’s family, one of the policemen dealing with Durst and the prosecutor who unearthed the case at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. It’s a scene that evokes great emotions because what they saw on the screen shocked everyone.

Robert Durst goes to the toilet at the end of the interview with Jarecki. Once again, the filmmakers haven’t cut off his microphone yet. Suddenly you hear:

There you have it. They caught you! What a disaster… What the hell have I done? I killed them all, of course.

“Five words” – this phrase appeared immediately in the news (in English he said: “Killed them all, of course”). It was a huge shock, but not for the police. She was ready to arrest Durst – which was not that easy, after all, he also watched the HBO documentary!

Robert Durst and friends

– We want to put closure to her disappearance. We could hold a memorial service because we’ve been holding off on it until now. Because it would be like giving up, Kathie’s brother said 16 years ago. Now Jim McCormack’s wife says:

All these years Jim had been obsessed. It was difficult, but even family and friends emphasized: What he is doing is right. He wants justice for Kathie.

He adds that now he also works for his mother, who died before what happened was revealed. Meanwhile, in the Kathie case, after 40 years, investigators still had no strong evidence, Durst could not be tried a second time for Black’s murder, but now they could try to hold him responsible for the death of Susan Berman.

It took another five years to gather evidence, so Durst’s trial did not start until March 2020. John Lewin and his colleagues – who repeatedly emphasize the prosecutor’s great commitment – wanted to prove that the suspect was a liar and a murderer. Let us emphasize how hard investigators working on all Durst cases have fought for justice for the victims and their families over the years.

Prosecutor John Lewin HBO Max promotional materials

With the help of his second wife, Debrah Charatan, the accused millionaire assembled a defense team. It included a lawyer who had previously acquitted him in the 2003 murder trial of a neighbor in Galveston, Texas. Dust was counting on the same outcome several years later.

In Jarecki’s 2024 documentary, we again listen to comments from lawyers and the press, Kathie’s family, but also Durst’s friends and family. We can observe how over the years Durst has created a network of people supporting him, some of whom were extremely loyal to him until the end. Many remained silent for years, even though they had doubts. His second wife did not want – as in the first series – to speak to the camera, so the filmmakers only had available materials. And, as they try to show, she may have been more involved in all of Durst’s affairs than it might seem. We watch videos of their visits and listen to phone calls made while Durst was in prison.

Finally, we also see the testimony of Durst himself – which is unusual because in murder cases the accused almost never decides to testify. Only the prosecutor questioned the suspect for nine days! The judge admits to the camera that he has never experienced anything like this before. How Robert Durst explained, among others, with typos in the letter and words in the toilet, you can see on the screen.

“Suspect” has never been an ordinary true crime series. In the second part, we follow the investigators’ actions in detail, and new people decide to speak out. For obvious reasons, Durst himself is not among Jarecki’s interlocutors this time. None of his siblings want to talk to the director, although the filmmakers show, among others, materials from their first(!) hearings, which took place many, many years later. The word “monster” is mentioned… Neither in 1982 nor later did the Kathie McCormack family receive verbal, financial or any other support from the unimaginably wealthy Dursts.

In October 2021, Robert Durst was sentenced to a mandatory life sentence for first-degree murder. He soon contracted the coronavirus in prison and died on January 10, 2022, while filming the documentary. Jarecki did not stop working and shot one more very important episode. This will be available on HBO Max from May 27. All previous ones can now be found on the website.