Particle.news
Download on the App Store

How a Hot-Mic Moment in The Jinx Reshaped the Robert Durst Case

The off-camera mutterings triggered renewed investigations, leading to a 2015 arrest followed by a 2021 conviction.

Overview

  • Producers uncovered a 1998 letter from Durst to Susan Berman that misspelled Beverly as "Beverley," matching the anonymous 2000 "cadaver" note that led police to her body.
  • After being shown the letter, Durst was recorded in a bathroom saying, "There it is… I’m caught… What the hell did I do? …Killed them all, of course."
  • Durst was arrested in 2015 as the documentary’s finale aired, having been on the run in Texas disguised as a mute woman and detained after shoplifting a chicken sandwich.
  • A jury convicted him of Berman’s murder in September 2021 and he received a life sentence; prosecutors then filed charges in the 1982 disappearance of his wife, Kathie McCormack.
  • Prosecutors said Berman had received $50,000 from Durst and was poised to tell police she helped cover up Kathie’s death; Durst died in custody in January 2022.