02x01 - Why Are You Still Here?

[bunniefuu]

Please hold while we attempt
to connect your call.

Have a seat right there.

- Here?
- Right there.

We'll give you the...
We'll give you the comfier seat.

I'm... John Lewin.

I'm a... I'm a deputy DA.

Do you mind if... Mr. Durst or Bob?
You tell me.

- Bob is fine.
- Okay.

So, Bob, basically,
I'm from Los Angeles County

and I'm here to... to speak to you.

What I do, I do cold m*rder cases.

I'm surprised
there are that many of those

that you have a full-time job
working on them.

There's a certain image

even as... as a seasoned prosecutor

you have of... of a k*ller.

You can't help yourself.

And it's not Bob.

Before we... we start...

I wanna let you know
that I feel like I know you.

Now, I've never met you.
I feel like I know you very well.

You know, I know
it's... it's probably a very

you know, uncomfortable day
for you right now.

And if there's anything
that I ask you

that you... that you don't
wanna answer...

I won't answer it.

Okay.

Many times in Bob's life,
in custody, outta custody

Bob has an option.

One door is keep your mouth shut
and don't say anything

and one door is talk.

Bob always goes into the talk door.

Always.

Detective Whelan... Mike's gonna
advise you of your Miranda rights.

And are...
Can we... Are you cold?

- Can we get you somethin'?
- It is a little cold in here, yeah.

Do you want us to get you a blanket?

Yeah.

Here you go.

Do you want anything to drink?

Some coffee?

Coffee would be great.

Okay, only two rules on the coffee.

One, you can't throw it
at either one of us, at any of us.

And you can't throw it
on the computer.

- Fair enough?
- Very fair.

Okay, here you go. All right.

The reason I like cold cases
is because people think they b*at it.

I love being able to swoop in

and to basically be able to say

"Yeah, no, you didn't b*at it.

You walked around for a long time.

You got a life to live
you didn't deserve.

But eventually,
you gotta pay the piper."

LA County Deputy District Attorney
John Lewin

has spent decades prosecuting

complicated circumstantial
m*rder cases.

The idea that it's not necessarily
typical for a filmmaker

to call me up going

"Yeah, we've got evidence."

It's more than
not necessarily typical.

It's... I mean, unheard of.

Again, I've done this a lotta years

with a lotta interesting cases,
and that just doesn't happen.

I love circumstantial cold cases

and my expertise
are circumstantial no-body cases.

So I knew all about Bob Durst.

Bob's wife Kathie had disappeared
in Westchester back in 1982.

His best friend Susan Berman
had been m*rder*d in 2000.

And finally,
his neighbor Morris Black

was k*lled and dismembered
in Texas in 2001.

Well, nothing can be done
about Morris Black.

He's already been acquitted.

Westchester has never done
anything on Kathie Durst.

There are issues.

I don't think
there's anything to go there.

The one to look at
is the Susan Berman case.

It kinda offended me

as a detective

that this person

was able to get away

with three murders

because of all the privilege,
money, power he had.

Homicide detectives have a saying...

"We work for God."

We try to get justice for the victim
and his or her family.

So John Lewin and I started working
on the case together.

We had a board.

On the board,
we had the plan of action...

and people to be interviewed.

We ended up interviewing
close to maybe 300 people.

I'm trying to put this case together,
myself and detectives.

And here's the problem.

If we contact these witnesses
and it gets back to Bob

Bob is gonna take off
and we're not gonna see him again.

So I knew it was going to be a race

to get as far as we could
before The Jinx came out.

Just before The Jinx is unveiled

Bob is living in Houston.

He's still flitting
around the country

but his permanent address

is more or less in Houston.

So he was completely free, right

- at that point...
- Absolutely.

And I think
he would be free today

if he had just kept his trap shut.

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths
of Robert Durst

is a new six-part
HBO documentary series.

It details the case of the heir

to a wealthy New York
real estate family.

When The Jinx came out,
it was a six-part miniseries.

And my prediction was

"This is going to be
the biggest thing

to hit my office since OJ."

The multimillionaire
real estate heir Robert Durst

in a new HBO documentary

he's answering all the charges
for the first time.

What do you think at the end?

Do you reach a conclusion?

Well, I think that

what the audience will find
when they get to the end of this

is that they're not
scratching their heads.

When they get to the end
of six episodes

they will know what happened.

who has been pressing, as you know

to see the finished episodes.

And he was sorta saying

"We're curious about
whether you come to the conclusion

that he's guilty or he's not guilty.

But obviously, there's a concern

that there could be a prosecution,
as a result of this

and we are, you know, very keen
to see it as soon as possible."

I mean, I said to him,
"Well, I know for sure

they'll let me show you one

you know, episode one,
tomorrow or whatever."

And he said, "Well, then I might
as well just wait for Sunday."

A teenage boy fishing in the shallow
waters off Galveston, Texas

stumbled on the gruesome
remains of a m*rder.

The Jinx started airing in February.

As each episode aired

Bob was watching
from his home in Houston.

And he and I spoke
after every episode.

Bob got away with murdering Kathie.

I need to know
what happened to Kathie.

These are my notes
from this time period.

I'd get his reaction.

"Hey, Charles Bagli.
It's Robert Durst.

The second episode...

I don't have anything
to say about it.

We've heard Kathie's family saying

'Why won't he tell us
what he did with her?'

On and on. As if they actually
expect me to say

'I put her over there
near the lamppost.'"

Beverly Hills Police Department
received a letter in the mail.

The envelope was addressed,
"Beverley Hills Police"

and the note read, "Cadaver."

Can you think of a reason

why somebody might write
a note like that?

I can't imagine.

By the third episode,
he was thinking

"I'm in pretty good shape."

"What else can he put
in those final episodes?"

So let me see the letter.

And, I mean,
of course, I told you this, but...

He showed me a letter
from Bob to Susan.

The address written on the front
is exactly like the Cadaver Note

down to the misspelling
of "Beverley."

So when Bob saw his letter on the TV,
he got very nervous.

This seems to be proof positive
that he k*lled Susan.

That is evidence.

When I called him
after the fifth episode

there was a change in Bob.

He was clearly now worried.

"No, I'm sorta busy right now.

Let me get back to you,
say, Wednesday. Bye-bye."

And I thought to myself,
"Holy sh*t. He's gonna run."

In this past Sunday's show

the discovery of a potentially
blockbuster piece of evidence

- Susan Berman...
- March 2015...

we got evidence from FBI

that Robert Durst was on the run.

We also got evidence

that he was doing
what's called money structuring.

He was withdrawing
$9,000 almost daily.

When you withdraw cash money
over $10,000

banks are required to report
to the federal government

as a suspicious activity,
and he was trying to avoid that.

He was making withdrawals of $9,000.

Why would he want that cash
unless he was gonna run?

And if he left the country

went to some country
we didn't have an extradition treaty

we would have a very difficult time
of bringing him back.

And my captain told me

"Whatever you do,
don't let Bob Durst get away."

When it came time to track him

I was brought in to help

with the technical side of that

where we were able
to get up on his cell phone.

We got his cell phone records.

LAPD was able to obtain a wiretap

which allows us to see the numbers

calling into and out
of Bob's cell phone.

The last cell tower
that I was able to map

put him heading eastbound
on Interstate 10

leaving the area of Houston.

So we realized his phone
had been turned off

and then it wasn't active
for several hours.

LAPD, the FBI in LA, us in New York

we were all really pushing.

We were like, "We need
to get him in custody right away."

Our greatest concern came true,
and that was scary.

Bob has always seemed to have been

one step ahead of everybody
for the most part.

And this was just
a kinda déjà vu moment.

So we had to scramble
to get a search warrant

for his apartment in Houston.

We went to search the apartment,
and we got the surveillance.

We sent a team of four detectives
to his apartment...

and we did a search there.

His phone was gone.

He left his checkbooks
and credit cards in there.

Clearly, he was not gonna use them
'cause we would have tracked it.

There was some evidence of him
taking stuff out, or somebody else.

But apartment was cleaned.
It was cleaned out.

Okay.

My name is Chris Lovell.

C... C-H-R-I-S, L-O-V-E-double I.

In one of the more

surprising verdicts

in recent court history

a jury in Galveston, Texas today

found a wealthy man innocent
of murdering another man

even after he admitted
he cut up the victim's body

and disposed of it.

Chris Lovell was one of the jurors
in the Galveston case

that immediately befriended Bob.

As soon as the trial was over

they formed a relationship.

I think he was enamored with Bob

because Bob is incredibly wealthy.

He was hoping that would provide
some financial rewards.

With what was presented to me

absolutely, positively,
a hundred percent.

With what was presented to me.
Yes, sir.

I've never seen or heard of a juror

forming a relationship
with a defendant after trial.

But then, most defendants
aren't extremely wealthy

with sort of a celebrity status.

I think that Bob trusted Chris

and I think that Chris Lovell
will do whatever Bob says.

I didn't set out to be his...

Robert Durst's friend.

It just kind of evolved into that.

I just set out to get some...
some questions answered in my mind.

But it has evolved into a friendship

and... and I don't have a problem
with him at all.

It is astounding that 12 years
after a m*rder trial

one of the jurors is helping Bob

make his getaway.

That apartment was sanitized.

We did not find
any critical evidence.

There was a box on top of the bed
in the bedroom.

In that box, there was mementos...

Susan Berman's photos,
Kathie Durst's photos.

To this day, I think it was staged
for him to say that

"I cared about these people."

But he was sort of playing games.

I'm sittin' there,
listening to the wiretap Saturday

before the last episode
of The Jinx aired.

And I hear a phone call
come into Bob's cell phone.

Hello, you've reached
the Jitterbug voicemail for...

Bob.

And I could hear Bob trying
to log into his voicemail

using his PIN number.

So it's like beep... beep.

And he was unsuccessful.
He was actually getting frustrated.

sh*t.

No.

So I knew it was Bob.

So I quickly ran the number
that was calling into his voicemail

and it came back to
the JW Marriott in New Orleans.

FBI office in New Orleans
responded there

to attempt to locate Bob.

Special agent checked
with the hotel register.

There was no Bob Durst
registered at the hotel.

So he decided to set up surveillance.

Sure enough,
about three hours later...

Bob walked in.

It just seemed like
everything was colliding.

It was all coming to a head at once.

One of the FBI agents said,
"Robert Durst?"

And Bob kinda stopped.

So they started talking to him.

And then a woman is walking by,
a guest in the hotel...

and she said,
"Oh, is that Bob Durst?"

She had just been watching The Jinx

so she recognized him.

You can't make this stuff up.

But Bob is now famous.

As good as Bob can be
or as lucky as Bob is

about evading capture

you know, he screwed up
and... and we caught him.

I was contacted and I was told,
"Okay, he's been arrested."

The FBI agents asked Bob
if he had any ID...

so he took them up to his room.

When they end up going into the room,
they find dr*gs...

a bunch of money...

a loaded firearm...

and a map of Cuba.

There was also
a very expensive latex mask.

Did you ever have an opinion

about what the mask
was gonna be for?

Did he ever express that?

Do I have an opinion?

The mask was gonna be used
to disguise himself

to flee the country,
is what I believe.

It... it was not Halloween.

The plan was Bob
was gonna take off for Cuba...

never to return.

And of course, that didn't happen.

We all knew you were gonna flee
at some point.

I mean, I assume
that you're not denying

that you were
in the process of fleeing.

I'm not denying
I was in the process of...

Yeah, right. And I think the reason
you're not doing it is

you know it's obvious there's...
let me go another way.

Why are you still here?
How come you're not in Cuba?

I don't get it.

I had made arrangements.

I had considered the possibility.

I had looked here and looked there.

But I had never really said,
"You know what?

They're gonna come after me.

I've gotta get far away
where they can't get me."

I guess, inertia.

I just didn't really... really think

that I was gonna end up arrested.

Being a fugitive
was... was not something I did well.

Authorities arrested Robert Durst

in New Orleans, Saturday

on a Los Angeles County warrant.

Tonight, Robert Durst is behind bars

arrested overnight in the lobby
of a New Orleans hotel

accused of k*lling a female friend
in Los Angeles 15 years ago.

The investigation got a boost

thanks to new evidence revealed
in a documentary series

that Durst willingly participated in.

Last night's arrest comes
just hours before tonight's finale.

The director promises
tonight's final installment

will answer questions people
have been asking for decades.

That night after Bob's arrest

we all went to a screening
for the families of the victims

at your house
for the last episode of The Jinx.

It was kind of like
a meeting of an old club.

You had investigators, prosecutors.

You had witnesses.

And then you had Kathie's family

Jim McCormack, his wife Sharon

and their daughter

who was the spitting image of Kathie.

You gave us a call to screen
the final episode of The Jinx.

The sixth episode.

I knew that you had
something special to show us.

Also there was Jeanine Pirro

the former DA

in Westchester County

and Cody Cazalas

the detective who had carried

the case in Galveston.

So there's dozens of people

riveted by what's unfolding
on the screen

and what the final episode
will reveal.

Oh, God, the "B" is exactly the same.

Son of a bitch.

He actually told me he was in Madrid.

And as the episode progresses...

the room got quieter and quieter.

So...

so obviously, I wanna ask you
about the Cadaver Note.

The famous Cadaver Note.

Can you read me the spelling of...

- "Beverley Hills..."
- "Beverley Hills Police

1527 Benedict Canyon, Cadaver."

So you wrote one of these,
but you didn't write the other one.

I wrote this one, but I did not write
the Cadaver one.

And can you tell me
which one you didn't write?

No.

I am going to go use the restroom,
which is right here.

Or maybe this is the bathroom.

- Yeah, that's...
- You're right. This is the bathroom.

Oh, my God.

- Honey.
- Holy sh*t.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

"k*lled them all."

I heard it,
and then it kinda settles in.

You'd hate to use the word "closure"

'cause we still had
a long road to travel.

But at least for that point in time,
we finally had closure

that he was finally
admitting the truth.

Yeah.

Oh, it's definitely a confession.

I mean, right, Cody?

Yeah.

- They can use that?
- Yeah. He wasn't in custody.

Still had the mic on.

It doesn't matter.

He wasn't in custody.

It was not an interrogation.

And then, all of a sudden,
it seems to be everywhere.

Real estate heir Robert Durst

admitting to, quote...

"k*lling them all."

Robert Durst said he k*lled them all.

They are the five words
everyone is talking about this week.

"k*lled them all, of course."

k*lled them all.

k*lled them all.

"Of course, I k*lled them all."

For the first time,
it came out of his mouth

what I have felt for a long time

in my heart.

The revelation was like something
we've been waiting for for 33 years.

Well, they got him.

Durst was arrested on Saturday

the day before the shocking finale
of that documentary series.

You know, I... I've seen...

I've seen all the interviews
that you did with Andrew.

So the whole long weekend

when I did the interviews
for The Jinx...

- Yeah.
- I was on meth.

The whole time, I was on meth.

And when I looked
at the little pieces of it...

I was like, I... I just...
it was... should have been obvious.

Surprised my lawyer
let me go ahead with it

'cause it just... I looked like
there was something going on.

Well, so, Bob, 'cause
before you go any further on that...

certain things I know.

And you seem like a straight sh**t.

I assume you would prefer
that I be a straight sh**t

- and not a bullshitter, right?
- Sure.

Okay, I'm a straight sh**t.

What you just told me is bullshit.

I'm not trying to say
that my answers were wrong.

I'm just trying to say I was
gah... gah during the thing.

I... think that what I said
were the correct answers

to... to questions.

And, you know,
there begins this conversation

that sounds almost like
a plea bargain.

You know, it's... it's...
like I said before

this is all voluntary.

- It's com...
- No, I hear you

and I have no problem
with what you're saying.

Okay.

But what's going
through my mind is...

- if I tell you what I know...
- Okay.

that answers your questions

what can you possibly do for me?

Okay, let me... I'll...
I'll... I can tell you, Bob...

I'm very willing to talk to you.

And as I said, I'm 72.

You know what I want, correct?

Yes. You'd like some details
from me if I knew...

- Yes.
- about where Kathie's body is.

And about what happened
to Susan. Those...

And about what happened
with Susan.

And... and you would agree that
you're in the position if you want

to tell me more
than you have so far...

About that,
I'm not about to go that far.

- Okay.
- But...

Well, but wait a minute.
You're telling me though...

Then I wanna understand
when you're saying

"Tell me what..."

Well, you asked me what I thought
you wanted to hear.

I think what you wanted to hear

to make Ann McCormack happy
is, "What did you do with Kathie?"

Right.

And I think you want me to go
through details of... of Susan.

- I do.
- Okay, so now...

what would I ask for?

- Tell me.
- If I tell you those things

- I'm pleading guilty.
- Okay.

And I'm pleading guilty

I'm gonna be going back
to Los Angeles, to California

and doing my time.

Well, I... now, I've got a question.

Is there, so, for instance,
something that...

And I... and I...
that I would have to see is

would it be better doing your time
in a different place?

- Are you better doing it...
- Yes...

That's just what we're getting to.

- Okay, tell me.
- What could you do?

Well, I don't know
what the question is yet.

And... and I will tell you
that after New Orleans

I was very annoyed

because I felt at the end
of that interview

that I was ten minutes away
from a confession.

When we... sit down
to do an agreement...

And I would expect by Monday

I will have chosen a lawyer
in Los Angeles...

And over time, what I've realized is,
and as a big football fan...

I was down at the five-yard line.

But I was never going to
get that confession.

See, I'm not about
to... say to you...

What is your name again?

- John.
- John.

I'm not about to say to you

"John, this is it,"
without my lawyer being here.

Okay, okay. Well, listen,
and that's... and that's your right.

And you realize, "Oh, okay.

It wasn't that I was so great
getting down to the five-yard line.

It's that he really
wasn't playing any defense

and he's not gonna let me
get into the end zone."

So are you willin' to talk to me
after court today?

- Sure.
- Okay, all right.

We'll head to court.

And he said he would talk to me.

And of course...

that didn't happen.

So now, Bob was in custody
in New Orleans.

And who was the first person
to fly down to New Orleans

and visit Bob in jail?

Hi.

Hi.

How ya doin'?

Doin' all right. How are you doing?

I'm doing fine.

I'm sorry. This is the way

they do visitation here.

Debbie served

as Bob's wife

confidante, and advisor.

You see me in my jumper?

No, I can barely.

Hold on a second. Let me stood up.

Okay, I see it.

I see it.

Ai-yi-yi.

You actually look pretty good.

Thank you.

Your hair looks very bushy,
by the way.

Nah, it's just hair, you know?
You know I have a lotta hair.

Bob got from Debbie a safe harbor

a place that he could always go

where there were no questions asked.

He had absolute trust in her.

What I would like to do going forward

to pay my bills

and spending the money
on the legal defense

sell the apartment complex,
sell the two condos.

Yeah. And I think you should keep
your apartment in Houston.

And if you... I think
the thing you should sell here

is the apartment building.

The... the real estate
in the Hamptons

has that gone up much?
Is that way up?

Crazy.

So if we have that today to sell,
what would we ask for it?

I don't know.
It's probably worth twenty.

Interesting.

So the second person
to visit Bob in New Orleans

might have been d*ck DeGuerin.

One of the same lawyers
that got him off in Texas.

Once Bob was arrested...

I got to New Orleans

as quickly as I could

which was about the next day.

And that's when I first saw Bob.

Bob saw my dedication
to his defense in Galveston.

Bob Durst is not guilty of m*rder.

It's hard to argue with success.

Will the defendant please rise?

We, the jury, find the defendant,
Robert Durst, not guilty.

Bob Durst didn't buy
his way to freedom.

It wasn't his money
that influenced this... this jury.

It was the facts,
or the lack of facts.

I understand that you want
d*ck DeGuerin on your team.

I don't blame you.

He... did wonderful things
for you in the past.

Bob did have this infinite trust
in DeGuerin.

So he authorized d*ck
to assemble a defense team.

d*ck DeGuerin reaches out
to a friend, David Chesnoff.

A very prominent figure in Las Vegas.

He is the go-to guy for any celebrity

any professional athlete

any bad guy that gets into trouble.

He is very adept
at making problems go away.

Chesnoff's a brilliant lawyer.

He's a strategically-thinking lawyer.

I've always been interested in
fighting for the underdog.

In the old days, if you were

a celebrated person

you got breaks.

Now, if you're a celebrated person,
it's worse.

The more famous you are,
the tougher it is.

It's like a populist thing.

Their chance to get even
with the rich person.

I think we had a hell of a team.

We had one goal,
and that was to defend Bob Durst.

I met this David Chesner,
and he... seems very bright.

I think the team
that you have is great.

So there are now prominent lawyers

assembled for Bob's defense team.

Were you also listening to his calls
from prison at point, from jail?

When Bob got arrested in New Orleans

he made repeated calls.

I listened to every call there.

When he was in Louisiana,
he was a nonstop talkfest.

From the moment Bob
was arrested in New Orleans

he was reaching out to old friends

looking to see who can he rely on.

He was seeking both emotional support

and to see who would be on his side.

The people around Bob helped him

whether it was consciously
or unconsciously

go on for so many years
without consequence.

I like to think
that if a good friend of mine

is suddenly implicated

in one, two, three murders

that I would recoil from that.

But who knows until you're tested?