A film director who caught New York real estate scion Robert Durst on a hot mic apparently admitting to multiple murders said he felt “sad” over the chilling TV moment.
“The Jinx” director Andrew Jarecki reflected on the alleged 2015 confession ahead of the release of “The Jinx: Part Two,” which follows on from Durst’s ensuing arrest, conviction and 2022 death behind bars at age 78.
“The journalist part of me was thinking, ‘This is one of the greatest moments of my life,’” Jarecki told the Financial Times. “But another part of me felt sad that this incredible charade this man had persisted with for years was all coming down to this terrible moment of truth.”
Durst’s apparent confession came after filmmakers for the HBO series showed him a letter — written in his own hand — that seemed to implicate him in the murder of his friend, Susan Berman, the outlet said.
Prosecutors said Durst killed his long-time confidant in 2000 to keep her quiet about a false alibi she provided after Durst’s first wife Kathie McCormack disappeared in 1982. He was charged in McCormack’s death shortly before he died but never stood trial, and he was acquitted after claiming self defense for the 2001 killing and chopping up of his neighbor Morris Black in Galveston, Texas.
Durst got up and went to the bathroom after he saw the document tying him to Berman’s execution-syle murder — and there, a hot mic recorded him saying: “There it is, you’re caught … What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”
Jarecki said that when they showed Durst the letter, he was “closer than he’d ever been to blurting it out.”
“And then what happens? We finish the interview, shake hands, and he goes to the bathroom and immediately says: ‘There it is, you’re caught,’” Jarecki said, according to the FT.
“Durst just had this compulsion to confess. And it was tragic, you know?”
The 2015 documentary series shocked its viewers — and won an Emmy for its work.
Cops arrested Durst for Berman’s murder the day before the final episode aired.
The letter was a key piece of evidence that led to his conviction on first-degree murder charges in the 2021 trial, the outlet said.
The courts sent him to jail for life, without the possibility of parole.
But a year later, Durst died in a prison hospital — just as he was about to be tried for the McCormack’s disappearance in Westchester County.
The original “Jinx” series weaved together decades’ worth of Durst’s misdeeds — and was centered in interviews with the eccentric heir himself.
The six-episode sequel will cover what happened to the killer from the 2015 finale to his death seven years later — including his arrest, prison stay and conviction.
The filmmakers will also be “uncovering hidden material, Durst’s prison calls, and interviews with witnesses who had not come forward until now,” according to RadioTimes.
His second wife Debrah Lee Charatan, a much-discussed figure from Part 1, will also return.
“Thematically, this season is about complicity,” Jarecko told the Financial Times.
“While we were making the first season, the same question came up: how do you kill three people over 30 years and get away with it?” he asked.
“As we got deeper into it, we realized it takes a village,” he continued. “We were not dealing with Bob Durst the lone wolf, because he was surrounded by all these people.”
The new series premieres April 21.
