The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst

It won't be the death chamber,

and it might not even be prison.

Robert Durst could soon be back on the street.

- I think it's horrible. - I, I can't believe he got off.

My take, this is scary,

that this guy is going to be free,

just based on what he did with the body, et cetera.

And he's a possible suspect in two other murders?

It was utter disbelief. I mean, utter disbelief.

The New York Times , generally not known for their

ironic humorous take on things,

"New York City Real Estate Heir Is Acquitted of Murder in Texas.

Durst, Who Cut Up a Body..."

Ha ha ha! "Argued Self-Defense."

That's as close as The New York Times will ever come

to literally just making a joke on the front page.

That's like The New York Times just going,

"Can you believe this?"

Nothing happens the way it's supposed to happen

when it comes to Bobby Durst,

and I've become accustomed to

expecting things not to make sense.

You chopped up your neighbor. Tell us about that.

Well, he raged at me and, as I was defending myself,

I fell, and accidentally, uh, chopped him up.

And of course, The New York Post

strikes a more cautionary pose.

"Run For Your Lives."

Murder 1, you know, we're gonna go,

"Murder 1, this is a slam dunk."

That's the phrase that was used

by the Galveston Police to me in person.

"Slam dunk, Jim."

There are some people that, no matter how much

money they threw at the case,

were convicted and shouldn't have been.

And there are people that escape responsibility

because they're able to mount a really effective defense.

Do I think it's unfair? Yeah, I do think it's unfair.

But, we are in a capitalistic system,

and the people that make the money can drive the Cadillacs,

and people that don't make as much money

have to get... Buy a used car.

Did you have anything to do with Susan Berman's death?

Did you murder your wife?

Whether it's the LAPD bringing him to trial,

whether it's Westchester County District Attorney's Office

bringing him to trial,

whether it's the FBI bringing him to trial,

whether it's the security guard at Disney World

bringing him to trial, I really don't care.

I hope they get a conviction.

I hope if they, if whoever prosecutes him,

I hope they get a conviction.

Because I really believe our society is much safer

with him behind bars without him roaming around.

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There are times when I'm in a situation

where I, I will have people staring at me.

I can tell they're talking about me.

And they're telling somebody else that, you know, I'm me.

There's a lot of people out there

who think I killed my wife, that I killed Susan Berman,

that I intentionally murdered Morris Black.

"And it's quite possible that

he's killed a whole slew of other people."

That is what I would think if I was

as familiar with the media as I am about me.

Hello.

Oh, Nicky! How are you?

Can I have a name for the drink?

Bob.

And you got a tall Americano, right?

- Yes, we do. - And what do we owe you?

$5.44.

Thank you.

The whole Bob Durst headline

had absolutely no affect on the Durst Organization's ability

to work and thrive in New York.

Douglas Durst is the chairman of

the Durst Organization, one of the most powerful companies

in Manhattan real estate for almost a century.

This past summer, the Port Authority

awarded the Durst Organization the right to take over leasing,

management, and operation of the Freedom Tower.

Bob's case, it's like something that's over there

and totally separate from the Durst Organization,

because there's a whole generation of people that don't,

have never had contact with, with Bob.

Bob was more, like, on the periphery from my memory.

He was, you know, like my mom's older brother.

Except for those first few months in early '82,

when my aunt was missing and it was in the papers.

And I guess it was on TV or whatever.

Um, it was just not talked about at all.

And, you know, I was 11 when that happened.

Later on in my twenties it was like, "Oh, and by the way,

"your uncle, Robert Durst, might have

something to do with her disappearance."

So that's like, "OK."

I mean, I, I don't know how one is supposed to react to that.

I feel the way I reacted to, which made sense at the time,

was, you know, my parents were like,

"Look, there's nothing we can do,

and we just don't talk about it, whatever."

And I don't blame them for doing that or not doing anything.

But I'm not happy about the fact that it's 30 years later,

and there's a Berlin Wall of silence.

Unfortunately, there is no haven from

what's going on with my brother,

as it's in the papers quite frequently.

But it's not something that we discuss,

and not something that we have any involvement in.

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I knew as soon as the verdict came down in Galveston

that I couldn't get the closure

that I wanted for Kathleen's family.

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That then put it back on the front burner

in terms of, "OK, guys.

"Let's regroup, find out what we've got.

"Find out if we can get anything else,

and where we go from here."

We really wanted to try to figure out if there was anyone

from in the family who'd break and give us something.

One of the things that always bothered me about the case,

I mean, here is Seymour Durst, one of the 5 most powerful

real estate people in the city,

and his daughter-in-law goes missing.

And there's not one hint of it in the police files,

that this is a big, gigantic case.

There's no interviews with anybody from Bob's family

in the original case folder, which is kind of strange.

You know, if Seymour Durst is worth

a couple hundred million dollars, you want to find out

what he thinks about his daughter-in-law missing.

Was your dad engaged in any way

when Kathie disappeared?

Did he do anything?

Oh, he, he, um,

really, really wanted to leave it to me.

Do you think that, that Seymour ever thought

that you might have had something to do

with her disappearance?

I haven't the faintest idea.

I highly, highly, highly doubt it,

but Seymour's thoughts were inscrutable.

10, 11 weeks after the case began, I received a call.

And a male voice on the other end, "Hi, Mike."

And I said, "Who's this?" "This is Nick."

And I said, "Nick who?"

And he says, "Nick Scoppetta."

"Bob Durst, you know, really appreciates

"the work that you're doing and is very satisfied.

"But, you know, Bob is a very busy guy,

"and that I would appreciate that all,

all other communication going forward you do through me."

And that's the classic lawyering up.

Now, if you've got, you know, nothing to hide,

and you've dropped your wife off at the train station,

why would you go out and hire a criminal defense attorney?

Nick Scoppetta was your lawyer

to defend you from the potential of accusations.

He was my lawyer, but he was

supposed to find Kathie Durst.

I mean, if he could find Kathie Durst,

there'd be no accusations.

Was he supposed to find Kathie?

Yes. It was the whole intent of it.

Do you think that Nick did work

to try to find Kathie?

Yes! He brought in a private investigator

who used to be a cop in, or used to be

a big cop in that precinct.

What was the name? Ed Wright.

Hello.

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Ed Wright was able to get lots of stuff from the police.

He knew the police. The police liked him.

He was able to get information

that was theoretically unavailable.

Who thought what? Who said what?

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