March 18--REPORTING FROM NEW ORLEANS -- Los Angeles Police Department detectives say several handwriting experts link Robert Durst to an anonymous letter tipping authorities to the slaying of writer Susan Berman in 2000, according a search warrant made public on Wednesday.
An anonymous note was sent to Beverly Hills police at the time alerting them to "a cadaver" in her house.
That letter is at the center of an HBO documentary series about Durst, who was charged Monday in Berman's killing.
The HBO filmmakers uncovered a second letter that Durst admitted writing to Berman. That letter had a similar block style printing as the cadaver letter and contained the same misspelling of "Beverley." The filmmakers at some point provided that information to Los Angeles police.
According to the search warrant, the LAPD had examined the letter several times over the last 14 years.
In 2001, a handwriting expert said it was "highly probable" that Berman's manager, Nyle Brenner, wrote the cadaver note.
A year later, detectives and an handwriting expert went to Texas to meet Durst and his attorneys as well as a defense handwriting examiner. Durst provided writing samples, the warrant said.
The LAPD's expert concluded it was probable that Durst wrote the letter and that Brenner did not, according to the warrant. Later, an expert from the California Department of Justice confirmed those findings.
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FOR THE RECORD
2:09 p.m.: An earlier version of this story provided an incorrect timeline of the various handwriting analysis of the records. Analysis in 2001 pointed to Nyle Brenner. Analysis in 2002 pointed to Durst and eliminated Brenner.
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Last year, detectives began to look more closely at the handwriting analysis, speaking to the supervisor for the expert.
The warrant said that the supervisor acknowledged "she did not perform technical peer review and basically 'rubber stamped" the 2001 analysis linking the letter to Brenner
In November, Los Angeles County prosecutors and LAPD detectives consulted with independent forensic examiner Lloyd Cunningham, who "submitted a detailed report stating that he identified Robert Durst and eliminated Nyle Brenner as the author of the cadaver envelope and note," the warrant said.
A second expert reviewed Cunningham's findings and concurred that Durst wrote the note, the warrant said.
When asked about the fingerprint analysis contained in the warrant, Durst attorney Dick DeGuerin said in an email: "Junk science and a bathroom soliloquy? We're ready for trial."
The warrant said investigators were looking for evidence he might have been trying to flee the country to avoid arrest or prosecution. The document also sought evidence of "obtaining false identifying information."
According to the search warrant, FBI investigators had reason to believe Durst was about to flee the country.
They note that Durst had a net worth of $100 million and that he withdrew $9,000 over the course of 35 days since last October
When Durst was arrested at a New Orleans hotel on Saturday, investigators discovered he had rented the room under a false name, Everette Ward, and a matching fake Texas identification card.
Confronted by an FBI agent about the fake card, Durst said, "That's pretty good," according to the warrant.
Investigators also recovered cash from the hotel room: $42,631, mostly $100 bills packed in small envelopes, according to the search warrant.
They also recovered a number of items from the room that indicated Durst was preparing to flee: his birth certificate and passport, UPS documents and tracking numbers "for a shipment of a large sum of cash monies," a rubber mask and a .38 revolver with one spent shell casing and four lives rounds.
Items seized from his Houston apartments Tuesday included CDs, more than a half dozen credit cards, checks from seven different banks, a cellphone, court documents, photographs and two books about his wife's disappearance, "Without A Trace" and "A Deadly Secret."
The eccentric real estate heir was in a Louisiana jail Wednesday that treats the most severely mentally ill inmates, said an attorney for the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office.
"He's suicidal," said Blake Arcuri, an attorney who represented the Sheriff's Office in the case.
Arcuri said that when Durst's attorneys opposed the transfer to the sheriff's facility at a state prison in St. Gabriel, La., Tuesday, he submitted Durst's medical records, which were sealed, to the court.
He said all inmates undergo medical exams when they're booked, but he could not comment on specifics in Durst's record because of privacy laws.
"If he gets cleared, he'll come back" to the jail where he was held, Arcuri said, adding, "he is not getting treated differently than any other inmate. This is not a media circus."
Arcuri said mental health issues that prompted Durst's transfer are unrelated to whether he is competent to stand trial.
Arcuri said he had not been notified of any appeal by Durst's attorneys of the court ruling that allowed for his transfer late Tuesday. Staff at the Louisiana Supreme Court said they had not received an appeal.
The move -- which was approved after much legal wrangling -- came on the same day that Durst's legal troubles played out in several jurisdictions across the country, including a police raid at his Houston residence and the announcement by Eureka, Calif., police that the 71-year-old may have information about the disappearance of a teenage girl there nearly two decades ago.
"We are very interested in any information Mr. Durst may have in connection with the disappearance" of Karen Mitchell, said Eureka police Capt. Steve Watson, who did not identify Durst as either a suspect or person of interest in the 1997 case.
Meanwhile, New York authorities remain interested in Durst as they continue to unravel the mystery of what happened to his first wife, Kathleen, who disappeared in 1982.
FBI agents arrested Durst on Saturday in a New Orleans hotel at the behest of Los Angeles officials. Police in L.A. said they had uncovered new evidence linking Durst to the Benedict Canyon slaying of Berman, a writer and filmmaker. On Monday, Durst was charged with one count of murder.
But when agents arrested Durst, a search of his room uncovered a revolver and a stash of marijuana, leading to charges in New Orleans that are complicating Durst's transfer to L.A. His extradition will be delayed for at least five days as authorities in New Orleans determine how to deal with the lesser allegations there.
Suspicions about Durst exploded into a national sensation as they played out in a six-part HBO series, "The Jinx." Agents took Durst into custody the day before Sunday's finale, in which Durst uttered a possible confession after the filming stopped but his microphone continued recording.
"Killed them all, of course," Durst muttered after stepping away from the set.
The role of the documentary in assembling evidence against Durst could complicate a criminal trial, but LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said Tuesday he was confident that the prosecution would not depend on the broadcast.
"It is a unique set of circumstances," he said. "But our case is independent of the documentary. Our case will stand on its own."
Detectives had actively investigated Berman's death for nearly 15 years, Beck said. Its resolution had been delayed by the "legal maneuverings" of Durst and his attorneys as well as unrelated prosecutions in other states, he said.
The chief declined to discuss details of the ongoing investigation, telling reporters that he did not want to jeopardize the case by making statements to the media.
"We are glad that we have finally come to a point where we can request Mr. Durst be extradited to California, to Los Angeles, so he can face a jury of his peers in the homicide of Susan Berman," Beck said.
The charges in New Orleans relate to an earlier case, in which Durst was found guilty of skipping bail. That felony conviction bars him from carrying a gun, according to court papers. He's also charged separately with having the gun in combination with a "controlled, dangerous substance" -- legal parlance for the marijuana found in his room.
The maximum penalty for these charges is a $10,000 fine and five to 10 years of hard labor, according to court papers.
In L.A., Durst could face the death penalty for the murder charge with special circumstances. The indictment alleges that Durst lay in wait for Berman and that he acted to prevent her from speaking to police about the disappearance of Kathleen Durst.
An attorney representing Durst, Dick DeGuerin, gave mixed signals about whether he would resist his client's extradition to Los Angeles.
Durst appeared briefly in court Tuesday, shackled and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and rubber sandals on bare feet. During the proceedings, Durst sometimes glared at the prosecutor. At other moments, he appeared to smile and talk to himself.
Orleans Parish Assistant Dist. Atty. Mark Burton asked Orleans Parish Magistrate Harry Cantrell Jr. to detain Durst for five days, "until a hearing to determine whether bail can be set, given his flight risk."
Cantrell suggested a Friday hearing, but Burton said a longer delay would be needed to assemble relevant evidence.
Cantrell also directed authorities to provide Durst with hydrocodone, a powerful opiate, as necessary for pain. The exact nature of the accused killer's medical condition became a subject of dispute over his housing.
Durst was notified early Tuesday that he was being transferred to an Orleans Parish sheriff's facility at a state prison about an hour away -- a facility that's designated for inmates with "acute medical conditions" in accordance with a federal consent decree.
Durst's attorneys fought the transfer, calling him competent and suffering from only Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism that he was diagnosed with as a child.
"He does not have an acute medical or mental condition," DeGuerin said, noting that his client's competency "is not in question."
But the attorney for the Sheriff's Office, Arcuri, disagreed, arguing that Durst's acute medical and mental health issues required him to be transferred, and that being held at the remote facility would not violate his constitutional right to an attorney. Durst could consult with his attorneys by phone or in person at the jail next to the courthouse.
"I can have him transported over to the jail so they can meet with him daily," Arcuri said.
The magistrate sided with Durst's attorneys and ruled against a transfer to the state prison, but the Sheriff's Office appealed. Late Tuesday, a three-judge appellate panel reversed the earlier decision and allowed the transfer to proceed.
Police executed search warrants at Durst's Houston home Tuesday afternoon, but it was unclear who ordered the searches.
Louisiana State Police spokeswoman Trooper Melissa Matey said the warrants were not connected to the drug and weapons charges Durst may be facing there, and referred all questions to the LAPD.
Cmdr. Andy Smith, the LAPD's chief spokesman, declined to comment on the searches or confirm if they were ordered by the department.
And the 1997 disappearance of Karen Mitchell -- who is formally classified as a missing person but whose vanishing is believed to involve foul play -- emerged as possibly involving Durst.
For several years, Durst had a home in Trinidad, about 20 miles from Eureka, and he was known to frequent other spots around Northern California. Watson, the Eureka police chief, said that he did not know the specifics of the Mitchell investigation but said that the department is working with the FBI and Humboldt County district attorney's office.
In 1982, Kathleen Durst vanished after she expressed the desire for a divorce. She had been fighting with her husband the night she disappeared, according to a good friend, who said Kathleen Durst was worried about what her husband might do.
Berman had acted as an "informal spokesman" for Durst, giving reporters his side of the story. Durst and Berman went to school together at UCLA.
Berman died from a single gunshot wound to the head. Durst was residing in the L.A. area, but police said at the time that he was not a suspect.
Less than a year later, Durst turned up in Galveston, Texas, in connection with the killing of an elderly neighbor, Morris Black. Black's dismembered body, in several plastic bags, was discovered in the waters offshore. A trail of clues led to Durst's arrest.
The real estate heir quickly posted bail and, according to police, went on the lam. He was arrested soon after in a Pennsylvania grocery store, where police said he was caught shoplifting a chicken sandwich and a bandage, despite having $500 with him. Durst was returned to Texas, where he claimed he inadvertently shot Black while struggling to wrestle a gun from the man.
The 2003 trial was a spectacle in which his attorneys argued that after the killing, a previously undiagnosed mental condition propelled Durst into a traumatized state similar to an out-of-body experience. The trial was capped by four days of testimony from Durst, in which he claimed he had no memory of cutting up Black's body.
MORE:
Key characters you should know about
Timeline: The twists and turns of Robert Durst
UPDATES
2:09 p.m.: New chronology of events added and correction.
1:06 p.m.: This story was updated with details from the search warrant about concerns that Durst might flee the country.
11:50 a.m.: This post was updated with information about handwriting analysis.
11:02 a.m.: Updated with new detail.
It was first published at 8:32 a.m.
