1. She had
everything to live for,
Copy !req
2. and yet she just disappeared.
Copy !req
3. Now new and alarming questions
are being raised
Copy !req
4. about what happened to a young
wife and medical student
Copy !req
5. here in New York
some 20 years ago.
Copy !req
6. Two decades later,
Kathie Durst is suddenly
Copy !req
7. more than a memory,
thanks to a tip
Copy !req
8. from a defendant
in an unrelated case.
Copy !req
9. I had arrested an individual
named Timothy Martin.
Copy !req
10. And Timmy was arrested for
Copy !req
11. several counts
of public lewdness.
Copy !req
12. He was basically
exposing himself to women.
Copy !req
13. He was convicted,
and shortly before sentencing,
Copy !req
14. his attorney contacted me
and stated that
Copy !req
15. Timmy wanted to
sit down with me and talk to me
Copy !req
16. about some information
he had on an old murder
Copy !req
17. that occurred up here
in Northern Westchester.
Copy !req
18. What he stated was that
he had heard that there was
Copy !req
19. a young woman named Kathie Durst
who was murdered by her husband
Copy !req
20. at their cottage
up in South Salem.
Copy !req
21. I remember that day
the little, red light
Copy !req
22. was flashing on my
answering machine,
Copy !req
23. and I hit the button
and it was Joe Becerra.
Copy !req
24. And he said, "We're looking
into the Kathie Durst case."
Copy !req
25. My heart almost stopped.
Copy !req
26. Explosion. This whole set of
fireworks that went out
Copy !req
27. that was like hope
has been regenerated.
Copy !req
28. We were, like, stunned.
Copy !req
29. I mean, you know,
it's, you know, it's,
Copy !req
30. don't forget it's almost
20 years after the fact.
Copy !req
31. And all of a sudden,
Kathie's disappearance
Copy !req
32. may be close at hand
in terms of a solution.
Copy !req
33. These two guys
pulled up in a car,
Copy !req
34. and they came onto the property
and said they were detectives
Copy !req
35. and could they come in and look
at something in the house
Copy !req
36. and ask me a couple questions.
Copy !req
37. They looked into a closet,
and they took a shelf down
Copy !req
38. and they started pulling things
out and dug back to an area that
Copy !req
39. I didn't even know
existed in my house.
Copy !req
40. I guess they were looking for
a weapon or, you know,
Copy !req
41. bloodstains or something.
Copy !req
42. No one had ever
searched the house.
Copy !req
43. No one had ever attempted
to search the house,
Copy !req
44. search the lake,
search anywhere else.
Copy !req
45. I mean, it was very telling
that there was a whole area
Copy !req
46. that needed to be investigated.
Copy !req
47. That this case
was not investigated
Copy !req
48. the way it should have been.
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49. No one even looked at it.
Copy !req
50. You know, starting at
square one.
Copy !req
51. Is Robert Durst a suspect?
Copy !req
52. We're not ruling him in
and we're not ruling him out.
Copy !req
53. He certainly was
a person who had
Copy !req
54. the most information
about Kathleen Durst.
Copy !req
55. So, you hear
about this investigation.
Copy !req
56. You read the article.
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57. And it blew me away.
Copy !req
58. Absolutely, totally
blew me away.
Copy !req
59. I'd never heard the name
Jeanine Pirro before.
Copy !req
60. And I was told
about Jeanine Pirro.
Copy !req
61. Has higher aspirations.
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62. Wants to run for
something big statewide.
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63. I wasn't the least bit concerned
about the details.
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64. The divers searched the lake
until you're blue in the face.
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65. You took a wall
out of the house. Ridiculous.
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66. What were
the divers for?
Copy !req
67. Obviously, they were
looking for body parts,
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68. looking for something that
can be used as evidence.
Copy !req
69. But what they don't announce
is what they found.
Copy !req
70. Uh, nothing
of evidentiary value.
Copy !req
71. I remember being disappointed,
uh, you know,
Copy !req
72. that nothing came up
in the search.
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73. But it also piqued my interest.
Copy !req
74. Because I knew,
based upon whether it was
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75. the inconsistent statements
or, you know,
Copy !req
76. the prosecutors, or the cops,
Copy !req
77. that there was
something more here.
Copy !req
78. My name's Ed Murphy.
I'm a senior investigator
Copy !req
79. with the Westchester
District Attorney's Office.
Copy !req
80. I've been in law enforcement
approximately 40 years.
Copy !req
81. Now with the case
being reopened,
Copy !req
82. and it's being looked at again,
Copy !req
83. certain things come
to the surface.
Copy !req
84. And the decision was made
by my office
Copy !req
85. to explore this
and see what we can do.
Copy !req
86. So, we went back
and we re-interviewed
Copy !req
87. everybody who was interviewed
20 years prior.
Copy !req
88. When I started
speaking with Kathie's friends,
Copy !req
89. they all said to me that
I should speak to Susan Berman.
Copy !req
90. That she was a very close
friend of Bobby's.
Copy !req
91. That they were close
since college.
Copy !req
92. That when Kathie went missing,
Copy !req
93. she protected Bobby
from the press.
Copy !req
94. And they basically told me
if anyone knows anything
Copy !req
95. about Kathie's disappearance,
it would be Susan Berman.
Copy !req
96. Susan and I would spend
a lot of time together,
Copy !req
97. we could talk, we had
the thing in common,
Copy !req
98. both of her parents died
when she was young,
Copy !req
99. and I had one parent die
when I was young.
Copy !req
100. And her background?
Copy !req
101. Rich, Las Vegas,
mobster father.
Copy !req
102. This happy,
little girl was 5 years old
Copy !req
103. when this snapshot was taken.
Copy !req
104. Her mother had been
a tap dancer,
Copy !req
105. but gave it up when she married.
Copy !req
106. Her father was rich and powerful
and doted on his only child.
Copy !req
107. That little girl today
is Susan Berman.
Copy !req
108. And she's the author
of "Easy Street."
Copy !req
109. You grew up
to age of 21
Copy !req
110. not knowing that
your dad was a gangster.
Copy !req
111. How'd you finally
find out?
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112. A friend at UCLA,
Jane, asked me
Copy !req
113. if I'd seen
a certain crime book
Copy !req
114. that just came out.
Copy !req
115. And I said, "No."
Copy !req
116. And I ran to the store
in Los Angeles and looked,
Copy !req
117. and there was
my father, described as
Copy !req
118. an ex-con from Sing Sing
Copy !req
119. who'd kill a man with
one hand behind his back.
Copy !req
120. He was tied in
with the so-called
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121. "Murder Incorporated."
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122. After all, he was
a bank robber
Copy !req
123. at one time,
you know.
Copy !req
124. So...
Copy !req
125. She was
quite proud of him.
Copy !req
126. And he was bigger than life.
Copy !req
127. So, yes, she does,
yes, she deified him.
Copy !req
128. She even had his mug shot framed
in the living room.
Copy !req
129. Something happened
when she met Bobby Durst.
Copy !req
130. It was like "Here's a man
as powerful as my father.
Copy !req
131. "He is connected.
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132. "He has money.
Copy !req
133. "He can always get
out of trouble.
Copy !req
134. And he needs me."
Copy !req
135. And she always used to say,
"He needs me."
Copy !req
136. "We have a special friendship."
Copy !req
137. MALE REPORTER: 19 years ago,
Robert Durst told police
Copy !req
138. he had driven his wife
from their country house
Copy !req
139. in South Salem, New York,
to this nearby train station,
Copy !req
140. where she boarded
the city-bound train,
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141. headed for their
Manhattan apartment
Copy !req
142. and a busy week
at medical school.
Copy !req
143. But no one close to Kathie
would see her again.
Copy !req
144. "The beautiful wife
of a wealthy Manhattan
Copy !req
145. real estate developer
has disappeared."
Copy !req
146. "There has been no trace of
sandy-haired Kathleen Durst, 29,
Copy !req
147. "since January 31, when she
returned to her penthouse
Copy !req
148. "after a weekend in the country.
Copy !req
149. "The doorman at
37 Riverside Drive
Copy !req
150. "saw her arrive home
that Sunday evening
Copy !req
151. and go to her apartment."
Copy !req
152. This would not be information
gleaned from the police.
Copy !req
153. We wouldn't give that out.
Copy !req
154. It's being fed to the newspaper
at that time
Copy !req
155. from the Durst side.
Copy !req
156. When Kathie disappeared,
I saw the media was calling.
Copy !req
157. I told Susan, "I got a call from
this reporter and this reporter.
Copy !req
158. Could you call them back
and you just handle it?"
Copy !req
159. Since she was a writer,
Copy !req
160. she was used to dealing
with the press.
Copy !req
161. Susan took it upon herself
to become his spokesperson.
Copy !req
162. She was facilitating a
story that established the fact
Copy !req
163. that Kathie arrived
in Manhattan alive.
Copy !req
164. Bob and Susan were in
a concerted campaign
Copy !req
165. to plant these ideas out there,
Copy !req
166. and already people are starting
to pick up on them.
Copy !req
167. So, it becomes that much
more difficult
Copy !req
168. to find out what
really happened.
Copy !req
169. If you reconstruct
the case of Kathie,
Copy !req
170. there were several people
who saw Kathie
Copy !req
171. when we know she was dead.
Copy !req
172. And she was heard from
Monday morning.
Copy !req
173. Mrs. Durst was a fourth year
medical student
Copy !req
174. here at the Albert Einstein
College of Medicine,
Copy !req
175. and she was to have
a clinic class that morning,
Copy !req
176. but she called up saying
she wasn't feeling well
Copy !req
177. and she wouldn't be in that day.
Copy !req
178. And as far as police know,
that's the last time
Copy !req
179. that anyone
had contact with her.
Copy !req
180. The dean
at the medical school,
Copy !req
181. obviously somebody was, um,
Copy !req
182. assisted Mr. Durst
in calling him.
Copy !req
183. Well, sitting here today,
it's, it,
Copy !req
184. my, my money would be
that it was Susan Berman.
Copy !req
185. In our minds, Kathie
made it to Manhattan.
Copy !req
186. So, with luck and a little bit
of... cunning,
Copy !req
187. it slipped through.
Copy !req
188. He got that one
past us, I guess.
Copy !req
189. I think we all know now,
30 years later,
Copy !req
190. that anything Bob says you have
to question, you know.
Copy !req
191. I don't think they
thought that way then.
Copy !req
192. You want to talk
about the guts of our case?
Copy !req
193. The guts of our case is that
Copy !req
194. Kathie Durst and Bob Durst
were married.
Copy !req
195. The marriage spun
out of control.
Copy !req
196. Became increasingly volatile.
Copy !req
197. We found out she
asked him for a divorce.
Copy !req
198. Got a divorce attorney.
Copy !req
199. That prior Thursday
before she went missing,
Copy !req
200. Kathie's attorney
told her that Bob Durst
Copy !req
201. had turned down their request
for an agreement on a divorce.
Copy !req
202. So, 3 days prior
to this, you know,
Copy !req
203. Bob's turning down
this settlement
Copy !req
204. that she wants in this divorce,
Copy !req
205. and they're going
up there together.
Copy !req
206. At the time
of her disappearance,
Copy !req
207. they were together in the
upstate house in South Salem.
Copy !req
208. And there is no evidence,
credible evidence,
Copy !req
209. that she ever left South Salem.
Copy !req
210. I don't know
how he killed her, but
Copy !req
211. I don't think she ever got on
a train, that's for sure.
Copy !req
212. Did you have
anything to do
Copy !req
213. with the death
of your wife?
Copy !req
214. I don't know
that she's dead.
Copy !req
215. Do you think that it's
possible that she's alive now?
Copy !req
216. It's possible.
Not likely.
Copy !req
217. It's not what I think.
Copy !req
218. I think she's almost
definitely dead.
Copy !req
219. But I don't know
that she's dead.
Copy !req
220. So, to put
a finer point on it,
Copy !req
221. did you have
anything to do
Copy !req
222. with the disappearance
of your wife?
Copy !req
223. No. I don't know
where she is.
Copy !req
224. I don't know
what happened to her.
Copy !req
225. I don't know how
it happened to her.
Copy !req
226. I had nothing to do
with what happened to her,
Copy !req
227. except very, um, obliquely
or whatever you would...
Copy !req
228. It was a bad marriage
and that was at least half,
Copy !req
229. probably a lot more,
my fault.
Copy !req
230. But other than that,
I had nothing to do with
Copy !req
231. what caused her
or what happened
Copy !req
232. to her disappearance,
in her disappearance.
Copy !req
233. When he gives his
original statement to the police,
Copy !req
234. he leaves the car at home.
Copy !req
235. Doesn't bring it into the city.
Copy !req
236. Doesn't have the car
the day
Copy !req
237. he reports her missing,
you know?
Copy !req
238. Maybe he was afraid
to have the car there,
Copy !req
239. because they might want
to search it or look at it.
Copy !req
240. He probably took Kathie,
put her in the trunk of the car,
Copy !req
241. and got rid of her somewhere.
Copy !req
242. We did some phone record
sweeping, and we found that
Copy !req
243. some of the phone records show
that the Durst Organization
Copy !req
244. got collect phone calls
from Ship Bottom, New Jersey,
Copy !req
245. on Tuesday, after
Kathie's disappearance.
Copy !req
246. We were able to track down
where those calls came from.
Copy !req
247. And there was a coin-operated
phone in the laundromat.
Copy !req
248. Now, how do we know that
Bob Durst made those calls?
Copy !req
249. Well, one of the things we know
is that there are only
Copy !req
250. two people who made collect
calls to the Durst Organization.
Copy !req
251. We know that from
the people who worked there.
Copy !req
252. And one of those people
was Bob Durst.
Copy !req
253. The other person was Seymour.
Copy !req
254. So, Seymour undoubtedly wasn't
in Ship Bottom that day.
Copy !req
255. You used to
call the office collect.
Copy !req
256. Oh, all the time.
Copy !req
257. Tell me about that.
Copy !req
258. I would call
the office collect.
Copy !req
259. Why did you do that?
Copy !req
260. I didn't want
to pay for it.
Copy !req
261. Let Seymour pay for it.
Copy !req
262. The only reason
I'm calling is
Copy !req
263. because he wants me
to call.
Copy !req
264. There were a series
of collect calls
Copy !req
265. made from Ship Bottom,
New Jersey.
Copy !req
266. That's on
the coast somewhere.
Copy !req
267. Yeah. So, there
are 3 calls made
Copy !req
268. to the Durst Organization
from Ship Bottom.
Copy !req
269. Now, you were
the collect call guy,
Copy !req
270. so, I think
the speculation is
Copy !req
271. "Well, Bob must have
made those phone calls."
Copy !req
272. Except Bob didn't
make those calls.
Copy !req
273. Bob was not
in Ship Bottom.
Copy !req
274. Can you think of
any reason why
Copy !req
275. these phone calls,
these collect calls,
Copy !req
276. would be made to
the Durst Organization
Copy !req
277. during the day?
Copy !req
278. I have no idea
who made the calls.
Copy !req
279. Were there other people
that you knew of
Copy !req
280. that would make collect
calls to the company?
Copy !req
281. Several. Yes.
Copy !req
282. Yes.
Copy !req
283. Executives?
Or family members?
Copy !req
284. Somebody had a,
had a beach house
Copy !req
285. and was calling
and, and getting
Copy !req
286. one of the receptionists—
not the usual receptionist—
Copy !req
287. to accept the calls.
Copy !req
288. That had
happened periodically
Copy !req
289. that spring and summer
and fall.
Copy !req
290. Make no mistake, we went
digging looking for a body.
Copy !req
291. I mean, you know, we know
that he was in New Jersey
Copy !req
292. within a couple of days
of her disappearance.
Copy !req
293. Do you have any thought
about where she is?
Copy !req
294. About where her body might be?
Copy !req
295. I have no idea.
Copy !req
296. Wouldn't know how to begin.
Copy !req
297. Wouldn't know if her body, if
she was dead, I would not know
Copy !req
298. if her body would be
in the State of New York,
Copy !req
299. or in the State of New Jersey
Copy !req
300. or in the Northern Hemisphere,
or anything like that.
Copy !req
301. If you go to Ship Bottom
Copy !req
302. and the area surrounding
the Pine Barrens,
Copy !req
303. you see ample, ample real estate
Copy !req
304. where he could have
dumped the body.
Copy !req
305. It's actually a place
where mob bosses
Copy !req
306. used to order that
bodies be dumped.
Copy !req
307. And what connection is that?
Well, Susan Berman,
Copy !req
308. who was very friendly
with Bob at the time,
Copy !req
309. had a lot of connections
Copy !req
310. and a lot of friends
in organized crime.
Copy !req
311. I would say
that Susan would do anything
Copy !req
312. to help her close friends.
Copy !req
313. No matter the situation.
Mm-hmm.
Copy !req
314. She was—she was loyal.
Copy !req
315. I think she was a loyal soul
to the end.
Copy !req
316. What was your
relationship with Susan Berman
Copy !req
317. over all those years?
Copy !req
318. When Kathie disappeared,
Copy !req
319. initially the first
several years,
Copy !req
320. Susan was living,
still living in New York.
Copy !req
321. And I saw her frequently
in New York.
Copy !req
322. Then she moved to Los Angeles.
Copy !req
323. I went online
and I traced Susan Berman
Copy !req
324. from Beekman Place
all the way out
Copy !req
325. to Benedict Canyon
in California.
Copy !req
326. I gave the police
a map to her door.
Copy !req
327. And I said, "Whatever you do,
interview this woman.
Copy !req
328. "She knows more than
she's saying.
Copy !req
329. "She's a good friend of Bob's.
Copy !req
330. Maybe she won't tell you
anything, but maybe she will."
Copy !req
331. We had a conversation
in which I said, "Susan,
Copy !req
332. "did you see the piece
in the "New York Times"
Copy !req
333. about Kathie Durst's
case being reopened?"
Copy !req
334. And she said, "Julie,
don't talk to me about that.
Copy !req
335. "I don't want
to talk about that.
Copy !req
336. They're out to get Bobby."
Copy !req
337. That's what she said.
Copy !req
338. Did you have contact
with Susan around that same time?
Copy !req
339. Yes.
Copy !req
340. What did she say,
if you remember?
Copy !req
341. She wrote, "Oh, Bobby.
This is terrible for you.
Copy !req
342. I hate that you have
to go through this."
Copy !req
343. But you heard from her
that she had been
Copy !req
344. contacted by the police?
Copy !req
345. Yes.
What did she say?
Copy !req
346. "The Los Angeles Police
contacted me.
Copy !req
347. They want to talk to me about
Kathie Durst's disappearance."
Copy !req
348. Something happens
to Susan then.
Copy !req
349. Oh, not long after that,
Susan Berman was murdered.
Copy !req
350. Around Christmas of 2000.
Copy !req
351. Yeah, I was going
to Europe for,
Copy !req
352. like, 3-ish weeks
for the holiday.
Copy !req
353. And my, I had no parking
in my neighborhood,
Copy !req
354. so, I parked my car
in the garage,
Copy !req
355. and Susan kept her car here.
Copy !req
356. And we hung out
and sort of exchanged
Copy !req
357. gifts and cards
and well wishes,
Copy !req
358. and then the taxi came and, you
know, we said, "I love you,"
Copy !req
359. and I got in the taxi and left.
Copy !req
360. I met her at 13.
Copy !req
361. She, uh, had started
dating my father.
Copy !req
362. We moved in with her, uh,
Copy !req
363. I want to say, like, a year
into their dating.
Copy !req
364. Because of how light,
happy, joyous, quick,
Copy !req
365. brilliant, aware she was,
Copy !req
366. daily life was
fascinating and fun.
Copy !req
367. She laughs a lot.
She laughed a lot.
Copy !req
368. And, um, you know,
frivolously spent a lot.
Copy !req
369. And everything could be
turned into a story.
Copy !req
370. She came alive
for those few years
Copy !req
371. that she became their mother.
Copy !req
372. It was, it was just,
it was wonderful to see.
Copy !req
373. When the relationship of their
father's was breaking up,
Copy !req
374. both of these kids,
willingly and together,
Copy !req
375. made the declaration
that they are choosing
Copy !req
376. to live with their mother Susan.
Copy !req
377. When I called and she didn't
pick up Christmas Eve,
Copy !req
378. obviously I didn't know what,
but something was wrong.
Copy !req
379. Well, I called because
Copy !req
380. she was late for dinner
by a half-hour,
Copy !req
381. and she was always
very, very punctual
Copy !req
382. when it came to
little family dos.
Copy !req
383. I said, "Susie.
It's Deni.
Copy !req
384. "Um, I hope you didn't confuse
tonight with tomorrow night.
Copy !req
385. "I've got kookooroo.
We're waiting for you.
Copy !req
386. "Tommy's hungry.
Mom's hungry.
Copy !req
387. Where are you?"
Copy !req
388. So, then the phone did pick up.
Copy !req
389. It was a man's voice.
Copy !req
390. I said, "Who's this?"
Copy !req
391. He said, "Detective..."
Copy !req
392. I didn't even hear his name.
Copy !req
393. I heard the word "detective"
Copy !req
394. from the L.A.
Police Department.
Copy !req
395. "On December 24, 2000,
Copy !req
396. "West Los Angeles
patrol officers
Copy !req
397. "responded to a radio call—
Copy !req
398. Open door at 1527
Benedict Canyon Drive."
Copy !req
399. "The officers, upon
arriving at the scene,
Copy !req
400. "observed the rear door
standing open,
Copy !req
401. and entered the residence."
Copy !req
402. "The officers discovered
the victim's body
Copy !req
403. "supine on the floor
of a bedroom
Copy !req
404. located in the southwest
portion of the residence."
Copy !req
405. "The victim had sustained
a gunshot wound to the head.
Copy !req
406. Paramedic pronounced death
at 13:48 hours."
Copy !req
407. The first thing I remember was
the condition of the house.
Copy !req
408. Uh, it was, uh, pretty barren.
Copy !req
409. I think all the furniture
that was in there
Copy !req
410. was things that people
have loaned her.
Copy !req
411. There was no carpeting
on the concrete floors.
Copy !req
412. There was no heat
in the residence.
Copy !req
413. And there's no
drawers overturned.
Copy !req
414. Nothing had spilled out.
Copy !req
415. Everything is intact.
The computer is there.
Copy !req
416. The front door was
secured with deadbolt locks.
Copy !req
417. There was no evidence of
any kind of forced entry.
Copy !req
418. Which meant to me,
or indicated to me,
Copy !req
419. that whoever killed her
had probably
Copy !req
420. been let in by Susan Berman.
Copy !req
421. I'm in an office
waiting to interview someone.
Copy !req
422. And I look at "The Daily News,"
Copy !req
423. and there's this tiny, little
story out of L.A.
Copy !req
424. that Susan Berman was
found shot dead in L.A.
Copy !req
425. And I almost
fell out of my chair.
Copy !req
426. I just sat straight up
and I wanted to leave.
Copy !req
427. That was probably
the only time in this case
Copy !req
428. that really, really
took my breath away.
Copy !req
429. I was standing up when
I answered the phone.
Copy !req
430. I felt my knees get weak.
Copy !req
431. Because I, it was like,
I told them, "Go out there."
Copy !req
432. When I heard
that Susan had been murdered,
Copy !req
433. the first person I thought of
was Robert Durst.
Copy !req
434. Because we were about
to speak with her.
Copy !req
435. Susan Berman
wasn't just killed.
Copy !req
436. I mean, it was execution.
Copy !req
437. Her death is a very
questionable death,
Copy !req
438. not just in terms of the fact
that it was a homicide,
Copy !req
439. but the timing is
extremely curious.
Copy !req
440. How did you react when
you heard about Susan's murder?
Copy !req
441. I felt terrible
for Susan.
Copy !req
442. I was astonished
that they were
Copy !req
443. putting all this together
that I did it
Copy !req
444. or I caused it
to be done.
Copy !req
445. Did you have anything to do
with Susan Berman's death?
Copy !req
446. I had nothing to do
with Susan Berman's death.
Copy !req
447. Did you have
any theory yourself
Copy !req
448. of what might have
happened to Susan?
Copy !req
449. No.
Copy !req
450. Does it make sense
to you that there were
Copy !req
451. people that suspected
you of having...?
Copy !req
452. Oh, sure.
I mean, because
Copy !req
453. she was my spokesman.
Copy !req
454. All of a sudden,
she's dead
Copy !req
455. right after
Jeanine Pirro's
Copy !req
456. doing the investigation
of me.
Copy !req
457. Mm-hmm.
Copy !req
458. That I shut her up.
Copy !req
459. She wrote about mobsters,
Copy !req
460. and she was
the daughter of one.
Copy !req
461. So, when author Susan Berman
Copy !req
462. was found dead of a single
gunshot wound to the head
Copy !req
463. at her Benedict Canyon home
on Christmas Eve,
Copy !req
464. all of the obvious
questions came up.
Copy !req
465. Mostly "Was it
a mob-style hit?"
Copy !req
466. We were surprised
to learn that Robert Durst
Copy !req
467. was not a suspect
in Susan Berman's murder.
Copy !req
468. The LAPD was looking at mob
connections of that murder.
Copy !req
469. Susan Berman's
business manager said that
Copy !req
470. she had been working on
television projects
Copy !req
471. about the mob's days in
Las Vegas when she was killed.
Copy !req
472. She did talk to me about
something she was working on
Copy !req
473. that I think was not
a screenplay.
Copy !req
474. I think it was
a journalism story.
Copy !req
475. And I think that
it involved the mob.
Copy !req
476. "Something big."
Copy !req
477. She was going to blow the socks
off of something.
Copy !req
478. "Something big was
going to happen."
Copy !req
479. And I said, "Well, what?"
Copy !req
480. "Well, I can't
talk about it now,
Copy !req
481. but something big is
going to happen."
Copy !req
482. PADDEN, SR.: I was
suspicious right away.
Copy !req
483. Back of the head.
Copy !req
484. That's traditional
in mob killings.
Copy !req
485. The Beverly Hills
Police Department received
Copy !req
486. a letter in the mail.
Copy !req
487. The envelope was addressed
"Beverly Hills Police."
Copy !req
488. Beverly is spelled wrong,
Copy !req
489. spelled with LEY
instead of just LY.
Copy !req
490. And the note read,
"1527 Benedict Canyon,"
Copy !req
491. and the word "Cadaver."
Copy !req
492. The letter was
postmarked the day before
Copy !req
493. the discovery of
the victim's body.
Copy !req
494. That letter says a lot.
Copy !req
495. It gets mailed to
a police department,
Copy !req
496. so that somebody would
come and find her body
Copy !req
497. so it's not sitting there,
decomposing, rotting away.
Copy !req
498. I mean, it's somebody that
obviously cares about her.
Copy !req
499. So, we eliminated the mafia
being a possible suspect.
Copy !req
500. So, what do you
think about this?
Copy !req
501. About this note?
Copy !req
502. I mean, does this note
mean anything to you?
Copy !req
503. Yeah, I mean,
that's her address.
Copy !req
504. Block letters so somebody
was hiding their signature.
Copy !req
505. And they spelled
"Beverly" wrong.
Copy !req
506. Can you
think of a reason
Copy !req
507. why somebody might
write a note like that?
Copy !req
508. I can't imagine.
Copy !req
509. Can't imagine.
Copy !req
510. One of the speculations
is that
Copy !req
511. if it was somebody
that liked her,
Copy !req
512. they wouldn't want her lying
around in her house.
Copy !req
513. You know, if she had to
die, she shouldn't die...
Copy !req
514. If somebody liked her,
why kill her?
Copy !req
515. And now you're taking
this big risk.
Copy !req
516. Which big risk?
Copy !req
517. You're writing
a note to the police
Copy !req
518. that only the killer
could have written.
Copy !req
519. One of the things
that we confiscated
Copy !req
520. was Susan's
computer hard drive.
Copy !req
521. And we found a ledger,
Copy !req
522. of names of people
that had sent her money.
Copy !req
523. She was reaching out to past
Copy !req
524. business associates
or friends for money.
Copy !req
525. PADDEN, JR.: She started
having money problems.
Copy !req
526. She was months behind in rent.
Copy !req
527. You know, she's going
to get through this.
Copy !req
528. She has deals that, uh, were
looking good with, you know,
Copy !req
529. different projects
there in Hollywood.
Copy !req
530. Susan wrote
a lot of screenplays.
Copy !req
531. She had a lot of meetings.
Copy !req
532. And she had so much
faith in herself.
Copy !req
533. She really did.
Copy !req
534. Um, but none of the screenplays
ever got bought.
Copy !req
535. Being a woman,
Copy !req
536. being an older woman
in this young industry
Copy !req
537. just was hard
and getting harder.
Copy !req
538. She was
in desperate straits.
Copy !req
539. So, Susan in desperate straits
Copy !req
540. was very different than
the Susan that I knew.
Copy !req
541. People do things that...
their relationships change.
Copy !req
542. Susan could manipulate,
for sure.
Copy !req
543. She was a good manipulator
Copy !req
544. and could manipulate
for things that she wanted.
Copy !req
545. There was indications
that she had received
Copy !req
546. a couple checks
from Bobby Durst.
Copy !req
547. Susan was tough.
Copy !req
548. And it, you know, it probably
would not have scared her to,
Copy !req
549. I'm not saying
"threaten blackmail,"
Copy !req
550. but to suggest,
"I can really use..."
Copy !req
551. You know? "And wouldn't it
do us both some..."
Copy !req
552. I could see it.
Copy !req
553. Was there anything that
Susan knew as your confidante
Copy !req
554. that you would have been uncomfortable
with her telling the police?
Copy !req
555. Well, we had lots
of private things,
Copy !req
556. but none of it had
anything to do with Kathie.
Copy !req
557. I mean, when Kathie was,
you know, going bananas,
Copy !req
558. we would talk about Kathie
all the time.
Copy !req
559. I couldn't imagine her talking
to the police about that,
Copy !req
560. just sitting here
right now.
Copy !req
561. But "If the police
want to talk to me,
Copy !req
562. "I'm just going to
talk to them.
Copy !req
563. Is that all right?" And, like,
that was the conversation.
Copy !req
564. "Do whatever you want."
Copy !req
565. My name is Sareb Kaufman.
Copy !req
566. Um, Susan Berman was my mother.
Copy !req
567. There's just one request
that I would like to make,
Copy !req
568. which is that we keep
the best in mind,
Copy !req
569. and try not to dwell too much
on the sadness of these events.
Copy !req
570. People were
flying in for the memorial,
Copy !req
571. and it was expected Bobby
was going to be there.
Copy !req
572. I believe he was
in L.A. at the time,
Copy !req
573. but he didn't come
to the funeral—
Copy !req
574. to the memorial service.
Copy !req
575. Yes. He called me.
Copy !req
576. I found the call
a little bit threatening,
Copy !req
577. to tell you the truth.
Copy !req
578. Um, he said...
Copy !req
579. I, I don't recall
what he really said.
Copy !req
580. You know, I don't recall what he
gave as the reason for the call.
Copy !req
581. It could have been
something like
Copy !req
582. "Just checking in with you."
Copy !req
583. Never interested in me
for one second.
Copy !req
584. Bobby called.
And why wouldn't he call?
Copy !req
585. He was her best friend—or
one of her best friends.
Copy !req
586. And we commiserated with that.
Copy !req
587. "My God, isn't this awful?"
Copy !req
588. Maybe he did, now that
you're saying that.
Copy !req
589. He was trying to, to make
allies in Susan's camp.
Copy !req
590. For what reason, I'm not sure.
Copy !req
591. Maybe, you know,
to keep us from
Copy !req
592. talking to the cops,
which we already had.
Copy !req
593. I, I have no idea.
Copy !req
594. But he definitely was
trying to, to, um,
Copy !req
595. find out where
he could find allies.
Copy !req
596. It was shortly after.
Um, I, I forget if
Copy !req
597. he called me or I called him.
Copy !req
598. I mean, there, it was a point
where I was kind of
Copy !req
599. going through her Rolodex
and just letting people know.
Copy !req
600. This was kind of again, like,
I was calling the reporters,
Copy !req
601. I was calling,
you know, the police.
Copy !req
602. He was obviously very
sympathetic and, you know,
Copy !req
603. sad to hear about it,
and asked what he could do.
Copy !req
604. And then it was
around that time
Copy !req
605. that people were starting
to talk about him as a suspect.
Copy !req
606. But it never made sense to me.
Copy !req
607. Not for even a second.
Copy !req
608. I knew how Susan
felt about him.
Copy !req
609. Sareb and Bobby
became very close
Copy !req
610. right after Susan died.
Copy !req
611. Which was a problem, because
Copy !req
612. the rest of us... you know,
Copy !req
613. felt that we were living
in different realities.
Copy !req
614. When people try to explain to me
the predominant theory as to,
Copy !req
615. "Hey, his wife went missing,
and, you know,
Copy !req
616. plenty of people
think he killed her"
Copy !req
617. and "Hey, look, they just
opened up this case
Copy !req
618. "just, you know, a month before,
Copy !req
619. two months before,
isn't that curious?"
Copy !req
620. And "Hey, there's no such
thing as coincidence."
Copy !req
621. Um, it, I first say, "Of course
there is coincidence.
Copy !req
622. There's always coincidence."
Copy !req
623. Yes, he is
a part of the list,
Copy !req
624. because he would have
been allowed in.
Copy !req
625. He, you know, she would have
turned her back on him,
Copy !req
626. you know.
Copy !req
627. But, uh, nothing else make,
makes sense to me on that.
Copy !req
628. I can see how
a young person,
Copy !req
629. who had just lost
his mother figure
Copy !req
630. and he was
starting out in life,
Copy !req
631. would like to believe
in a multimillionaire
Copy !req
632. who could be his good friend.
Copy !req
633. Well, no, it wasn't...
I mean, well,
Copy !req
634. he hid, well, he basically
in a conversation
Copy !req
635. that we had had at some point,
Copy !req
636. again it came up,
I hadn't gone to college.
Copy !req
637. He asked me, "How much
would it cost for you to go?"
Copy !req
638. And so I, you know, I told him,
"About 200,000."
Copy !req
639. It was a little padded,
admittedly, but not by much.
Copy !req
640. I mean, it was tuition, living,
being able to focus.
Copy !req
641. He said, "I'll give you
$25,000 a year for 4 years."
Copy !req
642. On his
next trip around,
Copy !req
643. Bob said he wanted
to have dinner.
Copy !req
644. We did not.
Copy !req
645. We did not have that dinner.
Copy !req
646. Because apparently
shortly thereafter,
Copy !req
647. he was on the run
for the, uh... well,
Copy !req
648. at the time it was arrested for
Copy !req
649. murder and dismemberment
of a body.
Copy !req
650. So, he missed the dinner.
Copy !req
651. Galveston Police are convinced
Copy !req
652. 58-year-old Robert Durst
killed and dismembered
Copy !req
653. his 71-year-old-neighbor
Morris Black,
Copy !req
654. then threw his body parts
into Galveston Bay.
Copy !req
655. I spent
one night in prison.
Copy !req
656. I had been told by
the detective that, uh,
Copy !req
657. "You've been charged
with murder.
Copy !req
658. Bail has been set at $250,000."
Copy !req
659. And I didn't think that when
you were charged with murder—
Copy !req
660. I mean, I didn't know nothing,
but you, you can't give
Copy !req
661. someone charged
with murder a bail,
Copy !req
662. because they're going to
run away, of course!
Copy !req
663. But was your intention
when you put up
Copy !req
664. the $250,000
to run away?
Copy !req
665. Oh, good-bye, $250,000.
Copy !req
666. Good-bye, jail.
Copy !req
667. I'm, I'm out!
Copy !req
668. Manhattan
real estate heir Robert Durst
Copy !req
669. back in custody.
Copy !req
670. Busted while trying
to shoplift a $6.00
Copy !req
671. chicken salad sandwich
at a Pennsylvania market.
Copy !req
672. I went into the Wegmans
to do grocery shopping,
Copy !req
673. get the newspaper.
Copy !req
674. I don't know what gave me the
idea that I should shoplift.
Copy !req
675. To see if I could get away
with it, or whatever it was.
Copy !req
676. But I decided
rather than to pay,
Copy !req
677. I was just going to take it.
Copy !req
678. And as I was leaving,
Copy !req
679. the, the two security people
were out front,
Copy !req
680. and they have to talk to me.
Copy !req
681. We're sorry.
You'll have to come with us.
Copy !req
682. Blah blah blah.
Copy !req
683. Idiotically, I went with them.
Copy !req
684. Um, and I was arrested.
Copy !req
685. Durst was wanted
for murder in Galveston, Texas,
Copy !req
686. and he's a suspect for
murders in Los Angeles
Copy !req
687. and Westchester County,
New York.
Copy !req
688. What about
Susan Berman?
Copy !req
689. Did you have anything
to do with her murder?
Copy !req
690. Why were you bald?
Copy !req
691. I was on the lam.
I was trying to disguise myself,
Copy !req
692. and that worked real good.
Copy !req
693. Did you shave
your eyebrows?
Copy !req
694. Everything.
Copy !req
695. Why?
Copy !req
696. It looks more like a,
less like me.
Copy !req
697. You, you look like a,
you look weird
Copy !req
698. with your eyebrows shaved
in addition to your head.
Copy !req
699. And that
was intentional?
Copy !req
700. Yeah! How do you accidentally
shave your eyebrows?
Copy !req