With Robert Durst on his way to Los Angeles to face first-degree murder charges for the killing of his friend Susan Berman, many questions remain unanswered in the wake of the spectacular finale of the HBO documentary series The Jinx. At the very end of the episode, Durst can be overheard talking to himself about “killing them all” – the three people he is suspected of murdering over a period of decades.
Here are the five of the most intriguing questions:
1. Is this case now a “slam dunk”?
No. “Slam dunk” was the term used by prosecutors in Galveston, Texas, who couldn’t get a murder conviction for the 2001 killing of Durst’s roommate Morris Black even though Durst admitted firing the fatal shot and dismembering the corpse with an axe and a bow saw. The same lawyer, the formidable Dick DeGuerin of Houston, will be leading Durst’s defence this time.
As far as we know, investigators still can’t place Durst in Los Angeles on the day Berman was shot in her Benedict Canyon home, and they can’t trace the bullet or the murder weapon back to him.
The handwriting evidence unearthed by the film-makers – an address written by Durst in the same block letters and with the same misspelling of Beverly Hills as an anonymous note sent to the police – is likely to be subject to a legal fight. Often, handwriting evidence is not even admitted and is rarely, if ever, the linchpin on which a case rests.
Durst’s bathroom confession is similarly problematic. His lawyers can argue he was throwing out scenarios of what people might say, not admitting to anything.
2. Did the film-makers withhold evidence from the authorities to maximize the impact of the show and prevent any spoilers?
The producers of The Jinx, Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling, said on Monday they handed over the envelope and the bathroom recording “months ago”. Jarecki also told CBS’s This Morning it was “many months” after their final interview with Durst that they even stumbled on the audio from the bathroom. The most likely timeframe for that last interview was late 2013. Some have questioned whether the sound crew could have missed the bathroom confession when it was made, especially since Durst had previously spoken into a “hot” microphone without apparently realizing he was still being recorded. Jarecki and Smerling have since stopped answering questions about this. They said in a statement shortly after the CBS segment aired:
Given that we are likely to be called as witnesses in any case law enforcement may decide to bring against Robert Durst, it is not appropriate for us to comment further on these pending matters.
3. Can it be a coincidence that Durst was arrested on the eve of the show’s finale?
No. But there may be law enforcement reasons for that, not just media rollout strategy reasons. One of the investigators interviewed in The Jinx argued that Durst was most dangerous when backed into a corner, and the Los Angeles authorities may have been legitimately worried how he would react to the finale, especially since he left his home in Houston and checked into a New Orleans hotel under an alias.
Laurie Levenson of the Loyola law school in Los Angeles, who knows the prosecutor personally, said to the Guardian: “Here’s a guy who’s acting strangely, using a false ID. From prosecutor’s perspective, if you think he’s done three murders and he’s about to go over the edge, you want to stop him before he does another.”
That said, it is possible the prosecutors were content to work on the case behind the scenes until the documentary aired, marrying their own desire for discretion with the film-makers’ desire for maximum publicity at the right time. “Everybody’s scratching each other’s back,” Levenson said.
4. Why has everyone stopped talking?
Short answer: because nobody wants to be responsible for blowing this case. The Los Angeles district attorney’s office has not said one word, and is unlikely to for the time being except in court. The Los Angeles police department issued a short statement on Sunday defending the decision to charge Durst but has refused to be drawn into specifics. The statement said: “As a result of investigative leads and additional evidence that has come to light in the past year, investigators have identified Robert Durst as the person responsible for Ms Berman’s death.”
Susan Berman’s friends have initiated conversations only to shut them down in a hurry. Lynda Obst, a veteran Hollywood producer interviewed for The Jinx, offered to talk to the Guardian, but then changed her mind in a hurry after a phone conversation with Jarecki.
Presumably, others have kept quiet on instructions from police investigators who have reinterviewed them.
5. What new evidence can the police still hope to dig up, almost 15 years after the Berman murder?
The lead prosecutor, John Lewin, is a cold-case specialist. According to Professor Levenson, DNA technology has advanced enough since 2000 to open up new avenues of investigation in itself.
The documentary is likely to shake loose new witnesses and fresh insights, the reliability of which is likely to be highly variable. It remains to be seen if Durst will talk in custody; prosecutors will certainly try to get him to say more.
