HBO no! Slay tycoon blames movie
Millionaire real-estate heir Robert Durst admitted he was “stupid” to participate in an HBO documentary that appeared to implicate him in the 2000 murder of his friend, according to new evidence.
In a recorded jail phone call played Friday in a Los Angeles court, Durst was heard telling his pal Nathan Chavin that “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst” is what landed him in prison in 2015.
Unknowingly wearing a live microphone during the documentary, Durst was recorded muttering, “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”
Shortly after the damning remark aired, Durst was arrested in the yearsold shooting death of his close friend Susan Berman in Los Angeles.
The kooky cross-dresser, 73, has also been long suspected of murdering his first wife, Kathie, in 1982. Her body was never found.
Chavin, 72, took the stand this week as part of a hearing to record testimony from witnesses who are old or who fear for their safety, in case they’re not able to testify at Durst’s trial, which won’t begin before next year.
Chavin testified that he stonewalled authorities for seven months after Berman’s death. But he eventually told prosecutors that Durst admitted to him in 2014: “I had to. It was her or me. I had no choice.”
On cross examination, Durst’s lawyers confronted Chavin with transcripts of him denying that Durst had indicated he killed Berman, suggesting that Chavin made up the story.
Chavin said he struggled to tell authorities about the alleged confession because of loyalty to his longtime friend Durst.
A day earlier, Chavin testified that he believed Durst confided to Berman that he had killed Kathie.
“Susan said to me, ‘Bob killed Kathie,’ ” Chavin recalled.