It was one of the most jaw-dropping moments ever captured in a docuseries. In the finale ofThe Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, its titular subject unwittingly blurted out what was tantamount to a confession, caught on his hot lapel mic. But long before that bombshell, directorAndrew Jareckiwas just as curious as the rest of us about the dark truth behind real estate heirRobert Durstwhen he directed a 2010 film loosely based on his lifecalledAll Good Things, which starredRyan Goslingin the leading role.
After Durst himself viewed the film, he and Jarecki and Durst began communicating regularly, which led to Durst consenting to be the subject of an HBO docuseries that spanned production for several years, resulting in multiple sit-down interviews. InThe Jinx’s final episode, Jarecki, who had been looking into the unsolved murder of Durst’s longtime friend Susan Berman, confronted Durst with incontrovertible evidence of his involvement, which would back him into a corner andseemingly fluster him to the point of a complete confession. Ahead ofThe Jinxairing its final episode (for the moment), Durst was arrested in 2015 and convicted of murder, spending his last remaining years in jail on a life imprisonment sentence until his death in 2022.
The Jinx: The Life And Deaths Of Robert Durst
Filmmaker Andrew Jarecki examines the complicated life of reclusive real estate icon Robert Durst, the key suspect in a series of unsolved crimes.
Who Was Robert Durst?
Robert Durst wasthe oldest son of Seymour Durst, a New York City real estate magnate worth billions of dollars. When he was just a boy, he witnessed his mother, Bernice, up on the roof of the family’s mansion just seconds before she fell to her death. While her death was initially suspected to be a suicide, it was ultimately ruled an accident.
That childhood trauma would shape the young Durst, who grew into a mercurial and easily agitated young man. After he married Kathleen McCormack in 1973, their marriage was fraught with tension and arguments. When she disappeared one day in 1982,Durst was widely thought to be somehow responsible, but McCormack’s body was never found, so no charges could be filed against him. During his time, Durst became the black sheep of an affluent family. When he was passed over for the CEO position in favor of his younger brother, Douglas, he left the family business altogether. He would go on to live off the family trust, never really holding down a job or establishing any career.
While living incognito, posing as a mute woman in Galveston to avoid authorities, Durst wasarrested for the murder and dismemberment of his elderly neighbor, Morris Black, in 2003. He spent millions hiring the best criminal defense attorneys in Texas, claiming self-defense, and a jury ultimately acquitted him of the murder charges, though Durstpled guiltyto two counts of bail jumping and one count of evidence tampering for Black’s dismemberment. However,Durst would later be arrested in 2015in connection with the 2000 death of his friend Susan Berman, likely in part because of the evidence that Jarecki uncovers and presents in the finale ofThe Jinx.
‘The Jinx’ Ends With Robert Durst’s Infamous Confession
For all of his faults, Durst was a smart and calculated man. Jarecki wisely appealed to Durst’s lofty opinion of himself to establish a rapport with his subject,even claiming at one point during the docuseries that he genuinely liked Durst. Durst had a way of compartmentalizing the atrocities he had committed and witnessed, and he had been successful in eluding justice for over thirty years when he sat down for what turned into the final interview of the docuseries. Both men had agendas they were looking to get out of the making ofThe Jinx. Durst wanted to see just how far he could take his ruse, believing that he was too smart to be caught, whileJarecki was compiling evidence that would prove that Durst had killed Berman. This leads to a chilling finale and the unveiling ofthe infamous “cadaver note.”
In the docuseries' final interview, Jarecki has obtained an envelope addressed to Susan Berman where the “Beverly” in Beverly Hills is misspelled “BEVERLEY” in block letters. This is crucial because, in ananonymous letter addressed to the Beverly Hills Police Departmentthat informs them of a “cadaver” at the residence of Susan Berman, Beverly is misspelled the same way, in the same block of uppercase letters. A forensic document expert informs Jarecki that the two letters had to have been written by the same person. When Jarecki presents evidence of the matching handwriting, the eccentric but flatDurst becomes visibly flusteredas he denies penning the letter. At this point, the interview is halted, and Durst requests to use the restroom.
One scene earlier in the docuseries features Durst mumbling about how he’s been phrasing certain responses to Jarecki’s questions. A producer reminds him that everything he is saying is being picked up on a hot mic that he is wearing on his lapel. It’s a moment that foreshadowsthe infamous and unforgettable final sceneof the six-part docuseries.When Durst excuses himselfto use the hotel room facilities,he begins mumbling to himself, unaware that everything he says is being recorded while the mic is still pinned to his collar. At one point, he says clearly, “There it is, you’re caught… What the hell did I do?… Killed them all, of course.” These are the final words in the docuseries, as the picture slowly fades to black.
Durst was later apprehended in New Orleans and arrested for Berman’s murder just a handful of days beforeThe Jinx’s finale premiered on HBO, althoughthe LAPD claimedany connection between the docuseries airing and the timing of the arrest was purely coincidental. However, Jarecki continued documenting events pertaining to Durst’s arrest and his later years in prison, and the result is set to premiere on HBO later this month,titledThe Jinx — Part Two.
The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durstis available to stream on Max in the U.S.The Jinx — Part Twopremieres April 21 on HBO and Max.
