Robert Durst, the real estate heir accused of murdering his friend and former employer Susan Berman, said in court that he regretted appearing on the incriminating HBO docuseries The Jinx.
As The Wrap reports, Durst was testifying Tuesday, August 17th, when he said his decision to appear on the series was a “very, very, very big mistake.” Famously, the final episode of the show featured audio of Durst on a hot mic ostensibly confessing to not just Berman’s murder, but two other murders, when he said, “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”
During his testimony, Durst claimed that there was a misunderstanding behind that infamous quote, saying, “What I did not say out loud, or perhaps I said very softly, is, ‘They’ll all think I killed them all of course.’”
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Durst also said in court that he’d subscribed to HBO so that he could watch The Jinx, and that he fled to New Orleans with a gun after the show’s fifth episode, which contained its own bombshell: A note Durst had written to Berman in handwriting that matched the writing on a letter sent to the LAPD alerting them to Berman’s dead body. While testifying Monday, August 17th, Durst admitted for the first time to writing the letter to the LAPD, and acknowledged, “It’s very difficult to believe, to accept, that I wrote the letter and did not kill Susan Berman” (per The New York Post).
Durst has pleaded not guilty to Berman’s murder. His trial finally began this year after being delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. He was arrested in 2015, the day before the finale of The Jinx aired.
The Jinx offered a broad overview of Durst’s life and the alleged crimes he’s been linked to. Prior to being accused of murdering Berman, Durst was investigated for a potential role in the disappearance of his wife, Kathie Durst, in 1982; her body, however, was never found and Durst was never actually charged. In 2000, it was alleged that Durst was connected to the murder of his friend and neighbor, Morris Black, and while Durst admitted to dismembering Black he said he did so in self-defense; ultimately, he was convicted only of evidence-tampering and bail-jumping.