It seems some serial killers want to get caught. Or they really like playing with fire. On Saturday, 1%er and suspected triple-killer Robert Durst of NYC's famous Durst real-estate family was arrested in New Orleans to be extradicted to Los Angeles on a murder charge. Durst's story is so bizarre, it has inspired a feature film ("All Good Things"), two separate Law & Order episodes and finally a six-part HBO documentary ("The Jinx") that concluded last night. To summarize, Durst's first wife Kathie went "missing" in New York in 1982 and has never been found. His friend and one-time defender Susan Berman, a mobster's daughter, was shot execution-style in Los Angeles in 2000 shortly after NY prosecutors reopened the case of the missing wife and wanted to reinterview Miss Berman. Durst was proven to be in California at the time of Berman's murder. It is this crime for which Durst has finally been arrested But the third killing may be the weirdest. In 2001 Durst, living under an alias, killed and dismembered his neighbor Morris Black in Galveston, Texas. Durst would occasionally pretend to be a mute woman (this cross-dressing stuff played prominent roles in both L&O episodes). After body parts in black garbage bags were found floating in Galveston Bay, the police found in one of them a newspaper with Black's home address on the mailing label, which is how they found the crime scene. Black's mysterious "female neighbor" had fled the state, but the cops eventually found that "she" was indeed Robert Durst. Why was a newspaper with an address to the crime scene in one of the bags? Durst got caught on the East Coast when, and I'm not kidding here, he got arrested for shoplifting a sandwich in a convenience store. At the time, he had $500 in his wallet and tens of thousands of USD in the trunk of his car. WTF?! After getting shipped back to Texas to stand trial, he got acquitted (!!) when his lawyers successfully argued self-defense. The head of Morris Black has never been found. Chances are it didn't go into the bay with the other body parts. Would be fascinating to see if it has a bullet hole in the back like Susan Berman's head. Hard to argue self-defense when the bullet goes in the back rather than the front. But the LA district attorneys now think they have enough evidence to go to trial, hence Durst's latest arrest. But it looks like Durst wanted to get caught ... or am I overanalyzing this whackjob? BTK was free and clear until he came out of hiding to criticize a book that was written about him. Then he got caught. Ted Bundy deliberately moved from Colorado to Florida (where he was caught and executed) precisely because Florida at that time had the highest rate of executions. Do these guys have secret death wishes, or do they just like playing with fire?
Yes I saw that. Very amusing. They say no publicity is bad publicity if you're in showbiz but I'd bet Fred isn't thrilled to have his name associated with the Bobby Durst circus. Speaking of which, what do you think of New Orleans holding up the extradition so they can get their own bite of that tasty Robert-Durst crime pie? Comes off as picayune and small-time, or is that just me?
Nothing wrong with that, although I'm sure that's a big part of the fascination with this case. Not that many 1%er serial killers in the books AFAIK. But murderer or not, it is hard to sympathize with somebody who shoplifts whilst driving around with more cash in the trunk of his car than most working Americans take home in a year. I guess he was looking to make his cash last as long as possible. LOL Or he was trying to get caught, my original point. Between the shoplifting, the newspaper and the "cadaver note", he was sending up a hell of a lot of red flares for a fugitive on the run.
The cat is clearly mentally ill. having owned property near this guy--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Eleuth%C3%A8re_du_Pont I am well aware of that situation. surf
Now they're just milking it. I wonder how many cold cases California and other jurisdictions hope to clear by placing them all on Robert Durst. http://www.wcnc.com/story/news/loca...etween-robert-durst-charlotte-woman/24991999/
Man, LAW & ORDER has milked this case to the max. The season premiere of SVU is a total ripoff of the Durst case, including dismemberment, cross-dressing (they *LOVE* the cross-dressing ), stupid shoplifting and even an off-camera confession, just like in the documentary. They should be made to pay Durst's legal fees, considering how much they've made off him.