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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRobert Durst, Subject of HBO Documentary on Unsolved Killings, Is Arrested
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/nyregion/robert-durst-subject-of-hbo-documentary-on-unsolved-killings-is-arrested.html?smid=tw-bna&_r=0Robert A. Durst, the scion of a New York real estate family, was arrested on Saturday in New Orleans on a warrant from Los Angeles County, according to the police.
For years, questions have swirled around Mr. Durst about the unsolved killing of a close friend and confidante in Los Angeles 15 years ago, and about his first wifes disappearance in 1982 and the shooting and dismemberment of a Texas neighbor in 2001.
HBO has been airing a documentary about Mr. Durst, and the final episode is scheduled to be shown Sunday night.
The details of the warrant were not released on Sunday morning. A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department said the warrant was issued by the Los Angeles Police Department. Officials did not immediately return calls for comment.
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malaise
(269,157 posts)in a supermarket or something like that?
frogmarch
(12,158 posts)went into a drugstore, exposed himself and peed on a rack of candy. Then he calmly walked out of the store and nonchalantly strolled away, down the sidewalk. He later turned himself in to the police, but I didn't hear anything more about it except that he was awaiting trial for criminal mischief.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)frogmarch
(12,158 posts)probably really is, but he knew what he was doing when he murdered those people.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)had his entire life. What a piece of work.
I hope her family ruins him in a civil suit. Fuck him!
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)PCIntern
(25,582 posts)Last edited Sun Mar 15, 2015, 11:53 AM - Edit history (1)
the documentary is absolutely frightening.
Just watched 3 parts very early this A.M., have watched a total of 5, and was wondering what was going to happen with the L.A. case
fast answer.
You almost couldn't script this as it is because it would be rejected as impossible to believe that this guy could get away with this for as long as he has.
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)...enough people believe it. Kinda like that Drew Peterson - sociopathic, ex-cop (but, I repeat myself) scum.
PCIntern
(25,582 posts)he reminds me of the old MAD Magazine parody of The Rifleman: Peaceloving guy who has to kill so many people that he's stacking bodies for half the episode. Funny show, horrifying reality.
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)killing in California.
montanacowboy
(6,101 posts)This snake has murdered three people and is an arrogant prick with cold black eyes. Entitled 1 percenter; the HBO doc is excellent and shows his absolute disdain for anything not Park Avenue. Law enforcement bent over backward NOT to investigate this family of billionaires when his wife went missing. I hope this bastard finally gets what is coming to him. I vote for the death penalty.
PCIntern
(25,582 posts)it came to light that no one in law enforcement had questioned the Durst family.
montanacowboy
(6,101 posts)The doorman at their condo said as much, but the police said she was seen returning - she never got on the train, she was already dead. Family owns half of Manhattan real estate.
PCIntern
(25,582 posts)that the perp got to create a myth which was perpetuated by law enforcement and the media. Imagine if some poor slob tried that crap: my wife got on a train and went home. Someone saw her. Case closed. NOT!
NJCher
(35,730 posts)Such deference.
Cher
zappaman
(20,606 posts)But he apparently wears some sort of contacts that make cause the eyes to look like that and the weird blinking.
But the dude is a sociopath for sure...
Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)A predator.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)I saw a documentary on him a couple of months ago and could not believe that he got away with MULTIPLE murders, any one of which with the same evidence, would have put someone who didn't have his money, away for a long time.
He is clearly crazy and a threat to society from what I saw.
Maybe they will finally get him for the murder of that beautiful young woman and the cover up murders he got away with also.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)I'm fascinated with this case, but don't get HBO.
How are they presenting it? The article says it's a documentary, but it's appearing in episodes?
I'm also wondering how it might be available for streaming.
Glad he's been arrested on charges of first degree murder, and being held without bail.
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)NJCher
(35,730 posts)as each episode is 45" long. That's about the actual content that you get on an hour-length show.
Cher
Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)Fascinating.
I remember when he was tried for murder in Galveston many years ago, and he allegedly chopped up his neighbor, and was acquitted. He paid Dick deGuerin $1.6 million for his defense. I don't know how much he paid Mike Ramsey. They are two of the best defense lawyers in Houston.
Last week's bombshell was a letter that Susan Berman's stepson had. The envelope was from Robert Durst
to Susan Berman, a few months before she died, from a single gunshot to the back of the head, in 2000. The handwriting on the envelope matched a note that the Beverly Hills police had gotten with her address and the word "cadaver", telling them to go to that address and find her dead body. The person that wrote the envelope and the note misspelled "Beverly" as "Beverley" both times.
Susan Berman was an old friend of Durst's. She had extracted $50,000 from him to live on. People have speculated in the show that he might have killed her so that she didn't spill his secrets.
Apparently the Los Angeles police took note of that show and the envelope and note and decided to arrest him.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Looks really fascinating. Directed by guy who directed Capturing the Friedman's, another amazing documentary.
I wonder why this guy Robert Durst would agree to 20 hours of interviews with the director?Maybe hubris. Or maybe attempting to deceive in the hopes of keeping people off his trail?
Or maybe when the producers approach him they tell him look we're gonna do something showing you committed these murders any way. You should tell your side of the story. Probably a combination of all three.
Another thing I read, from NY Times article reviewing the doc. This guy admitted to killing & chopping up the body of a neighbor, and was acquitted by a jury. Whoa! Like how the heck did he get an acquittal? Now I'm completely hooked, & look forward to watching this entire series. It looks riveting.
Also really intriguing how a documentary can lead toward justice. Much like the Thin Blue Line led to acquittal and I think a conviction of another man, or how the Paradise Lost docs led to reversals & releases. Only in this case it looks like this doc may lead to this Durst creep going to prison, perhaps for the rest of his life. Documentaries can provide so much great investigative journalism.
PCIntern
(25,582 posts)very well done
Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)Haven't seen them. That's good that investigations were commenced because of those movies.
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)I read about Damien Echols in a Buddhist magazine. He became a Buddhist and it was very interesting.
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)I'm glad they were released, but I think it's pretty crappy that they had to say they were guilty in order to get out. Arkansas too embarrassed to admit that they totally screwed up the case, I guess. Plus, they must not have wanted to compensate them for all the lost years.
missingthebigdog
(1,233 posts)Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Miskelley entered Alford pleas. An Alford plea is a plea of innocence, with an acknowledgement that the prosecutor could likely get a conviction.
It does deprive them of compensation, but I think it is widely known that Arkansas screwed it up. Their release is evidence of that.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)Self defense. They believe the reason he went back and got the head he'd disposed of was because he'd actually shot him in the back of his head.
There is speculation that both his neighbor and old friend Susan were killed was because they knew too much and we're trying to extort money.
He actually contacted the filmmaker and suggested the interviews himself. Amazing ego, huh?
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Yeah, quite an ego.
Regarding the self-defense strategy, I'd be interested in hearing how he convinced the jury that the killing was justified. I haven't seen the documentary yet. I imagine they get into that in detail.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)but a scuffle and accidental shooting. But they were saying since its Texas he could have gotten away with anything.
The weird thing is that he did get convicted of cutting up the body, but it's a much lesser crime and short sentence.
I think he was so paranoid and cheap about money, he really couldn't handle being blackmailed. He had to kill them.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Now I understand what you meant by the castle reference. The idea (deriving from common law) that 'A man's home is his castle.' I'll remember not to visit that guy's house! Or the home of someone I don't like, who might have a bunch of guns.
Thanks bettyellen. Have a great evening.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)NJCher
(35,730 posts)I thought Jeanine Piro had the best answer to that question, the question everyone is asking. She said that she believed Durst enjoyed "pushing the envelope."
If you think about it, it makes sense. After all, the guy has no career, no nothing in his life, really. He's reportedly only mildly autistic, so he can still find a way to get into relationships, although as you heard him talk about them in this documentary, you can see that ultimately, it's all about Bobby Durst and no one else. For example, he complained about having to visit his mother-in-law, a woman he characterized as being a "Yankee Magazine" reader. He then went on to complain that she, therefore, liked to talk about things like canning, something he wasn't interested in. C'mon, you can't indulge your mother-in-law in a discussion about something she enjoys? On a visit you probably make only once or twice a year? What kind of person are you, anyway?
Answer: narcissist.
Piro continued, saying that the reason he agreed to the documentary was that he enjoyed the thrill of being able to elude the law. She summarized that "now the envelope may push him back." I presume that is a reference to the ending of the next trial, when the judge opens the envelope with the jury's findings.
Another possibility might be that she was referring to the two envelopes he addressed that had "Beverley" mispelled. Yes, indeed, those two envelopes pushed him back.
In regard to your other question: This guy admitted to killing & chopping up the body of a neighbor, and was acquitted by a jury. Whoa! Like how the heck did he get an acquittal?
He got the acquittal through a clever defense strategy that was once used by Clarence Darrow, the famed attorney who represented Eugene V. Debs. In this particular case and strategy, though, Darrow represented Loeb/Leopold. This strategy recognizes the contribution to the proceedings that the jury will want to make. If the defendant goes into the case saying yeah, I did it, but do me a favor and let me have life instead of the chair, the jury will get very little satisfaction in that. There will be no feeling of having contributed, and after all, those jurors are there at no small sacrifice to their personal lives, time, etc.
So instead, what the clever attorney will do in a case like this is go in saying yeah, I did it--but there were extenuating circumstances. Such circumstances are always something like abuse, or some other such thing. In this case, the extenuating circumstance was a fight over a gun. This allows the jury the feeling of having deliberated and issuing what they see as a just decision.
Re this strategy, it is also currently being used by the attorney in the Boston bombing trial that is going on now.
Cher
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)makes sense. The books The Falcon and the Snowman and Flight of the Falcon, about a guy who sold US nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union, goes into that intriguing question too. It was also a movie starring Sean Penn. The latter book discusses how he got caught after he was on the run. He was lonely. He told his story to a bartender he befriended and she reported it. The book talks about how nearly everyone needs to talk with another human being about something. Even people on the run or who might have difficulty forming bonds. When you add in someone with secrets involving crimes, they may have a pretty strong desire to talk about it with someone. Not to say everyone who kills someone does this, obviously. But with many, it's a compelling desire.
The human desire to talk, perhaps if only to have someone listen, is so strong that it can override many other things that could seem rational to the outside observer. In addition to pushing the envelope and the envelope pushing back (a great analogy!) there may even be some conscience involved, in terms of wanting to talk or wanting to get caught. Or perhaps wanting to find out what prosecutors might have in order to stay a step ahead. Or even to justify the killings in one's own mind and to others. I think if you add that to all the stuff Jeanine Piro mentions, and that you mention, it starts becoming more clear as to why he started talking.
Regarding the defense strategy, thanks for the excellent explanation. That makes perfect sense from a defense standpoint. The Phil Spector defense was very similar. I'm sure there are many other cases too where that strategy is used. Particularly when it's obvious that the defendant committed the killing.
I don't quite understand how the Boston bombing defendant is using that strategy. It's hard to wrap my head around it. Is he claiming he set the bomb down but didn't intend to harm anyone? Or what? Can you (or anyone reading) explain that a bit further?
NJCher
(35,730 posts)They are going to blame it on the brother, saying he was a Svengali who had the younger brother under his spell.
I love your point about wanting to talk. I think that's an important component of it.
Wish I could stay and talk about this case more: I'm totally enthralled with it, being a true crime addict, and I can't wait until Wed., when HBO runs the last episode again!
But I have to go make dinner. Hmmm, maybe I can find a podcast about this to listen to while I make tomato sauce, ya' think?
Cher
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Enjoy making the tomato sauce & have a great dinner & evening. Hey, I'll bet there is some podcast on this somewhere out there!
Princess Turandot
(4,787 posts)a slightly built seventy-something who had over a dozen family members get orders of protection against him at one point last year, simply because he was caught dallying on the block that they live on in Manhattan. Kind of an actual Grim Reaper.
B Calm
(28,762 posts)I watch way too much TV.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)I don't get hbo. Is there a streaming service for it?
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)Oklahoma_Liberal
(69 posts)The entire thing is great television. The last 5 minutes are far beyond great.
wheniwasincongress
(1,307 posts)Is he considered a smart guy? How do you consider his intelligence? (just curious)