The saga of Robert Durst gained notoriety thanks to his odd presence and history as presented in The Jinx on HBO. The true crime documentary series came at the perfect time for more reasons than one, not only trailing the success of Netflix’s Making A Murderer but also leading to the arrest of Durst on the day the finale aired . It was that episode where Durst was confronted with new evidence, leading to his odd bathroom “confession” that was caught on a hot microphone.
Durst was arrested on March 15th 2015 in a New Orleans hotel room, carrying “a false Texas ID, stacks of $100 bills, bags of marijuana, a .38-caliber revolver, a map folded to show Louisiana and Cuba and a flesh-toned latex mask with salt-and-pepper hair” and admittedly ready to flee. It was one of the oddest chain of events seen in a while, but now its a little odder thanks to Durst’s interview with the Los Angeles Deputy DA according to The Hollywood Reporter:
Durst, 73, told Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney John Lewin that he took meth during his interviews with the filmmakers and had smoked pot every day of his life.
The 110-page interrogation was included with a motion by the prosecution ahead of Durst’s trial for the murder Susan Berman, part of an attempt to have the judge appoint a “special master” to sift through boxes of documents that may be protected by “lawyer-client confidentiality” according to The Hollywood Reporter. All of it just adds more to the already odd nature of Durst’s character, referencing his interview on The Jinx and leaving Deputy District Attorney John Lewin surprised:
“You saw the envelopes. How come you didn’t … leave then?” Lewin asked Durst. “It’s mind-boggling to me.”
“I guess inertia,” replied Durst. “I just didn’t really, really, really think that I was gonna end up arrested.”
Lewin apparently did everything he could to coax a confession from Durst during his interrogation, dealing him some praise for being “the most interesting suspect he’d ever investigated.” He also wanted to know why Durst had agreed to sit down with Andrew Jarecki and the other folks behind The Jinx, providing a quote that would leave anybody scratching their head.
“I wanted them to see the whole thing,” said Durst. “That they would see me as an acceptable human being, as opposed to all this other stuff.”
I’m not sure I could go back to re-watch The Jinx, but this is the kinda stuff that plants the seed inside. A preliminary hearing is still being discussed, with lawyers agreeing to convene in February. Durst pled not guilty at his arraignment in early November.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)