Robert Durst’s murder trial begins today in Los Angeles where prosecutors will try to prove the real estate scion is a cold-blooded killer.
The jury of eight women and four men was sworn in ahead of the trial expected to last through the summer for the 76-year-old charged with murdering his close friend Susan Berman, 55, at her Beverly Hills bungalow just before Christmas in 2000.
Durst achieved worldwide infamy through the 2015 HBO documentary series The Jinx where he appeared to confess to killing Berman, his first wife Kathie Durst and neighbor Morris Black.
He was captured by microphone after the interview muttering off-camera to himself: ‘There it is, you’re caught,’ and ‘What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.’
The triple murder suspect has been awaiting trial in the medical ward of Los Angeles Twin Towers Correctional Facility where DailyMailTV got an inside look of how he has kept his mind off his present woes with classic literature, highbrow magazines and advertisements for his favorite food spots.
Robert Durst’s trial began Wednesday in Los Angeles for the murder of his friend Susan Berman in 2000. He’s pictured in court during the opening statements
Durst allegedly admitted to his friend Susan Berman that he had killed his first wife Kathie (pictured together) and feared Susan would tell police
DailyMailTV obtained photos of the 76-year-old’s jail house hospital room =littered with classic literature, highbrow mags and advertisements for his favorite food spots
Novels piled high in one corner of the cell include Tolstoy’s War and Peace, a classic which tells the story of five Russian aristocratic families in the Napoleonic era
Durst’s only access to light from the outside world is a narrow window above his urine-stained hospital bed, which is flanked by a breathing apparatus
Investigators have long suspected that Durst murdered his first wife Kathie Durst, who disappeared in New York in 1982 and her body has never been found.
His friend Susan Berman was found slain just before Christmas 2000 a couple of months after police in New York were reported to have reopened an investigation into the fate of Durst’s first wife Kathie.
Prosecutors argue that Durst killed Berman to silence her from telling investigators what she knew about the disappearance of his wife.
The wealthy real estate heir has denied killing his wife or Berman, but later admitted to killing and dismembering neighbor Morris Black in Texas in 2001 but was acquitted in 2003 after claiming he acted in self-defense.
The wealthy real estate heir admitted killing and dismembering neighbor Morris Black (pictured) in Texas in 2001 but was acquitted after claiming he acted in self-defense
Black’s gruesome death was discovered when body parts washed up in Galveston Bay before cops worked out that Durst had been posing as a woman to avoid police inquiries.
The jury is expected to hear testimony from a mutual friend of Durst and Berman. Nathan ‘Nick’ Chavin testified in pretrial hearings that Durst admitted to him that he killed wife Kathleen Durst and that Berman was terrified of him because of it.
Chavin claims Durst told him about Kathleen’s alleged fate: ‘I had to. It was her or me. I had no choice.’
Durst’s only access to light from the outside world has been a narrow window above his urine-stained hospital bed, which is flanked by a breathing apparatus, DailyMailTV can reveal in exclusive photos.
Novels piled high in one corner of the cell include Tolstoy’s War and Peace, a classic which tells the story of five Russian aristocratic families in the Napoleonic era.
Durst’s personal library also features Moby-Dick and, bizarrely, three separate copies of Sapiens, a history of humanity by Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari.
British historian Richard Crowley’s book 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West and copies of The Economist, New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Texas Monthly magazines can also be spotted.
Stamps are stuck to the wall above the books, while cut-outs from the New York Times and the New Yorker’s pages decorate the wall closest to Durst’s bed together with pictures of happier times.
One page on the wall is the Times’ obituary of San Francisco private detective David Fechheimer from April 3, 2019, which mentions how the investigator handled a case involving Durst.
The first New Yorker cover of 2019, which features artwork titled ‘Out in the Cold’ by cartoonist Harry Bliss inspired by the Puck building in SoHo, is also featured.
Investigators have long suspected that he also murdered his first wife Kathie Durst, who disappeared in New York in 1982. Kathie’s body has never been found and Durst has never been charged or convicted of his first wife’s murder (couple above in their wedding photo)
Susan’s friend Rich Markey also blasted Durst (pictured in a 2001 mugshot) – describing the murder suspect as a ‘sick narcissistic monster’
In opening statements Wednesday, prosecutors argued Durst killed his close friend Susan Berman before New York police could interview her about the 1982 disappearance of his first wife
Photos of a young Robert Durst and Susan Berman are shown during opening statements in the Durst’s murder trial Wednesday
An ad for specialty food store Zabar’s, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan hangs close to another ad for the Lupe Tortilla chain of Tex-Mex restaurants in Texas.
The reminders of good food are in sharp contrast with the grim-looking jail chow seen by Durst’s bed – boiled eggs, corn flakes, apple sauce, crackers, apple cranberry juice and milk.
A Twin Towers jail booking document obtained by DailyMailTV shows that Durst weighed a mere 150lbs last summer.
Gourmet emporium Zabar’s – which has featured on shows such as Friends, Sex and the City, The Simpsons, The West Wing and Seinfeld – is closely linked to the Durst dynasty.
Durst’s brother Douglas – who runs the Durst family’s business empire – was once in business with the Broadway delicatessen’s heir Eli Zabar.
Durst has been ill since suffering esophageal cancer in 2007 and more recently was hit by hydrocephalus, a build up of fluid on the brain.
One page on the wall is the Times’ obituary of San Francisco private detective David Fechheimer from April 3 this year, which mentions how the investigator handled a case involving Durst. An ad for specialty food store Zabar’s, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan hangs close to another ad for the Lupe Tortilla chain of Tex-Mex restaurants in Texas
Durst’s personal library also features Moby-Dick and, bizarrely, three separate copies of Sapiens, a history of humanity by Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari
The reminders of good food are in sharp contrast with the grim-looking jail chow seen by Durst’s bed – boiled eggs, corn flakes, apple sauce, crackers, apple cranberry juice and milk
His trial was due to start in Los Angeles in September, but was postponed after defense lawyers raised concerns over the volume of evidence in the case.
Durst’s second wife Debrah Lee Charatan was sued in 2017 by Kathie Durst’s family for allegedly helping to cover up what happened to her.
A source close to Susan Berman’s family, who asked not to be named, expressed dismay at the prospect that he may never face trial.
They said: ‘It’s disgusting how long it is taking to bring him to justice.
‘Isn’t he just going to croak within the next year in an orange jumpsuit? That’s probably the only justice we are going to get.
‘He’s going to die in an orange jumpsuit in a four by six jail cell with no privacy.
‘Even his wife wants him to die so she can have full control of his money and doesn’t have to spend it on legal fees.
‘He’s behind bars but his money can still buy him all this postponement and privilege in jail.’
Susan’s friend Rich Markey also blasted Durst – describing the murder suspect as a ‘sick narcissistic monster’.
Durst with wife Kathleen who disappeared from their shared New York apartment in 1982
Former Hollywood producer Markey, now 70, went for a movie and dinner with writer Susan the day before she was shot dead on December 23, 2000.
Rich told DailyMailTV: ‘He murdered a friend of mine and he murdered two other people as well. I don’t have any doubt about that now.
Knowing now what he we know about his history, he’s a sick guy. Being an extremely wealthy guy gave him the freedom to get through life without having to reveal his dark side.
‘Now everybody knows his dark side, we’ll see what happens to him.
‘He’s already served his time in hell, he’s got $100million that are worth nothing to him while he sits in jail.
‘He’s a monster. What he did to that guy in Texas was monstrous.
‘He killed his wife and Susan, the two women that were closest to him. That’s as monstrous as it gets.
‘He is so narcissistic that what matters to him is truly the only thing that matters.’