Millionaire Robert Durst's arrest in New Orleans for the murder of friend Susan Berman, 15 years ago in California, was the latest twist in the life of a man surrounded by wealth and death. Now, in his only network TV interview, attorney Dick DeGuerin tells 48 HOURS that he's eager to go to court and the prosecution has a "weak circumstantial evidence case" against Durst.
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Erin Moriarty and
48 HOURS have new details in the investigation of the murder of Berman and the unsolved disappearance of Kathie Durst in "The Bizarre Saga of Robert Durst" to be broadcast tonight, March 21, 2015 (10:00 PM ET/PT) on the
CBS Television Network.
DeGuerin claims that Los Angeles prosecutors have already begun the battle with a questionable tactic - interviewing Durst, while knowing he had an attorney that was not present. "A prosecutor came out here and took him aside and, you know, questioned him for three hours," DeGuerin says, adding he was "astonished" by the move.
The interview is another piece in the headline grabbing case that
48 HOURS has been reporting on for more than a decade; digging into the life of a millionaire from a prominent New York family who once admitted to killing a neighbor and chopping up the man's body. But there's more, the story of Robert Durst includes allegations about his missing wife, his alleged ties to the murder of Berman and the police who have spent years trying to solve the case.
"I think people are fascinated by wealth, by strangeness and by mystery," DeGuerin tells Moriarty. "And I think that this case has all of those things."
"I'm confident I know who killed her," says retired Los Angeles Detective Paul Coulter, who had been chasing Durst since the year Susan Berman was found murdered. "I'm pretty confident," Coulter adds, "it's Bobby Durst."
Berman was a vivacious and talented writer with everything seemingly going her way until she was found in 2000 shot dead in her home. She was the daughter of a well-known Las Vegas mobster, which initially led police to think she was a victim of a mob hit.
At the time of Berman's death, Durst was hiding out in Galveston, Texas, to avoid then-Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who wanted to talk with Durst about the 1982 disappearance of his wife. In Texas, Durst took on the identity of a mute woman.
Durst and Berman were friends and she publicly defended him from allegations that he knew more about his wife's disappearance than he had told police. Durst wasn't considered a suspect in Berman's death until nine months later when he was involved with the death of Morris Black in Galveston. Durst maintained he accidentally killed Black in self-defense. He then cut up Black's body. A jury eventually acquitted him of murder.
Durst was arrested March 14, 2015 in New Orleans after a six-part
HBO documentary on the case that raised questions about a handwriting sample, as well as audio recorded during a bathroom break where Durst is heard saying, "I killed them all."
DeGuerin calls the handwriting evidence "junk science" and offers some possible suggestions about the meaning of what Durst was saying on the bathroom audio. "I think it was great drama," DeGuerin says of the audio. "But it's not the truth." He also maintains that if there were physical evidence tying Durst to the Berman murder it would have come out 15 years ago.
Durst is "not suicidal," but does have some serious medical issues, says DeGuerin. "He's in good spirits and I think he's eager to get to California and prove his innocence," DeGuerin tells Moriarty.
"He's not enjoying it," DeGuerin says of the media attention the case has garnered. "But, he's reconciled to the fact that we're going to go to California and we're finally going to put to rest all the rumors that have been flying around him for 15 years."
Prosecutors, however, think otherwise. Do they have enough to convince a jury that Durst had a hand in Berman's death?
Moriarty and
48 HOURS tell Durst's story through new interviews with DeGuerin; Coulter; Katie Durst's brother, Jim McCormack; Los Angeles Times writer Jack Leonard; Forensic Psychiatrist Dr. Alexander Sasha Bardey; New York Magazine writer Lisa DePaulo; and Berman friend Steven Silverman. The broadcast also features interviews with Berman's friends, Galveston investigators and others.
48 HOURS PRESENTS: "The Bizarre Saga of Robert Durst" is produced by Chuck Stevenson, Judy Rybak, Liza Finley, Greg Fisher and Lisa Freed. Al Briganti is the executive editor. Susan Zirinsky is the senior executive producer.
Chat with members of the
48 HOURS team during the broadcast on Twitter and Facebook. Follow
48 HOURS on Instagram. Listen to 48HOURS podcasts at Play.it.
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