REAL estate tycoon Robert Durst appeared to accidentally confess that "he killed them all, of course" in the final moments of The Jinx documentary that ultimately led to his sentencing.
The 78-year-old was convicted of first-degree murder for shooting Susan Berman at point-blank range in the back of the head inside her LA home in December 2000.
Prosecutors argue that he carried out the slaughter to stop Berman from talking to cops about the mysterious disappearance of his first wife Kathleen McCormack.
The woman, known as Kathie, vanished from New York in 1982 where she'd lived with the tycoon.
Kathie’s body was never found and he wasn’t charged with any crime.
Years later, Durst was tried for the murder of Morris Black but he claimed self-defense and was acquitted.
Durst was living in hiding and had even disguised himself as a woman when cops found Black's body parts floating in the waters of Galveston Bay, Texas in December 2001.
The tycoon was arrested on a warrant for Berman’s death in 2015 – on the same day the final episode of The Jinx, A HBO documentary series, about him aired.
In the final moments, Durst whispered to himself: “What the hell did I do? Killed them all of course.”
Durst could then be heard realizing his own alleged slip: "There it is. You're caught."
He branded participating in The Jinx a "very, very, very big mistake".
Durst was sentenced to life without parole after being convicted of first-degree murder for shooting Berman.
The jury also found him guilty of the special circumstances of lying in wait and killing a witness.
The charge carries a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.
The wheelchair-bound Durst was portrayed during the trial as an elite and a narcissist who thought he was above the law.
Durst's defense tried a last-minute attempt for a retrial and are expected to appeal.
'NARCISSIST'
But Judge Mark E. Windham, denied that request before announcing the sentence, citing an “overwhelming evidence of guilt,” according to the New York Times.
During the trial, he sensationally admitted he wrote the famous “cadaver” note that he sent to police after finding Berman dead in 2000
He said that he had initially lied because it made him look guilty.
The tycoon added: “I have difficulty believing it myself. It’s very difficult to believe, to accept that I wrote the letter and did not kill Susan Berman.”
Durst said that he had planned a Christmas “staycation” with Susan.
Recalling his version of events, Durst said he let himself in with the key she mailed him and then found her bleeding on the floor.
He said: “I did a double-take when I saw Susan. I shouted ‘Susan!’ a couple of times, then I quickly ran to the bedroom where she was. Her eyes were closed.
“I put my hand over her face to see if she was breathing. It felt cold. Then I grabbed her by her arms … her head just hung down. I could see that her hair was in some kind of liquid.”
Durst claimed he tried to call 911 but the phone was not working, and he feared being found by neighbors with the body.
He left the house and stopped at a payphone two miles away on Sunset Boulevard, but he got cold feet when an operator answered.
'RECOGNIZABLE VOICE'
He said: “I decided I did not want to give them my name. I was aware that my voice is very recognizable even without a name.”
Instead, he scrawled the word “cadaver” and Susan's address on a scrap of paper and mailed it to the Beverly Hills Police Department.
Durst reportedly stormed out of an interview after being confronted with a letter he allegedly wrote to Susan in 1999 containing the same misspelling of “Beverley” as on the cadaver note.
The note was a crucial part of the LAPD investigation for nearly two decades, reports the Los Angeles Times.
In 2002, detectives obtained a handwriting sample from Durst under a judge’s order.
He scribbled the words “BEVERLEY HILLS POLICE”, “1527 BENEDICT CANYON” and “CADAVER” for comparison with the text in the cadaver note.
His attorneys tried for years to have the cadaver note disallowed as evidence but appeared to concede he penned it in pre-trial papers in 2019.
'I HAD NO REASON'
During the trial, Durst claimed he knew Susan was cooperating with a fresh police inquiry into Kathie's disappearance but she was not blackmailing him.
He testified: “Someone must have had a reason, a motive, whatever, to kill Susan Berman. I had no reason to kill Susan Berman.”
Durst was also previously tried for the 2001 murder of Texas neighbor Morris Black, but he claimed self-defense and was acquitted.
He reportedly skipped bail in Texas and was caught shoplifting a chicken sandwich in Pennsylvania.
Durst is worth $65million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
The Durst family fortune is estimated to be worth well over $5billion thanks to their leading property business the Durst Organization.
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