“The Jinx”: Robert Durst’s Confession
This is quite the fascinating clip of Robert Durst (no longer available) talking to himself after taping The Jinx. He forgets to take off his microphone when he goes to the bathroom. Can you imagine the faces of the producers when they go to edit the recording and find this? How I would have loved to been a fly on the wall! To say they were stunned would be an understatement!
This is a golden piece because its almost never that we get to hear a suspected murderer debrief with himself and let out his real thoughts after an interview! And that is exactly what we are hearing. His mind is running through everything that happened and he is having a “wholly shit” moment!
It would be hilarious, if three people hadn’t ended up dead!
Clearly Durst enjoys the cat and mouse game, and outsmarting other people, or he never would have done this interview!
I wish I had HBO so I could have seen this. Unfortunately, I don’t and didn’t see any of this show.
I find the very beginning of this clip the most revealing and damaging when Durst says, “There it is. You’re caught. You are right of course, but you can’t imagine.”
Ouch. I think that speaks volumes of his guilt and involvement.
But in the end when he says, “What the hell did I do?” and he replies, “Killed them all, of course.” Was he flippant or serious? The tone of his voice intrigues me here. Did he kill two out of three? Was someone else involved and hence he doesn’t feel responsible? I found that statement completely intriguing!
I’d like to watch more of him to see his behaviors to see if I can understand the meaning of that last statement better!
ROBERT DURST’S BLINKING: IS IT A TELL?
Robert Durst blinks a lot in the interviews and some have pointed out that its a sign of his lying. It’s a tell. But is it really?
The only way to know is to watch Durst talk–when we know he is telling the truth. When he tells the truth, he shouldn’t do it.
Does he pass this test? My answer to that question is no.
In this clip of him which is full of him squinting/blinking/shoulder shrugging, Durst says, “I did make mistakes.” That would be a true statement, correct?
When he says that, watch him. He does the tic. Again. So it doesn’t seem to support this is a tell. It supports that it is a behavioral tic.
I have only seen one person who had this tell in well over a decade of watching people, so be very cautious when you think a behavior like this is a tell. It probably is not. Blinking occurs for several reasons and you must rule out other reasons before you could ever say this is a clue to deception.
I thought the most telling part was Durst nearly throwing up all over himself when confronted about handwriting…the pulling at his ears, covering his face. That was the “That’s it, I’m caught” behavior he muttered about in the bathroom, even commented on the burping he did. In all the interviews over all six episodes, that was the only time we saw him lose composure. That physical response was the real confession.
You can see the beginning of that response here (but there was a lot more): http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/03/15/the_jinx_finale_robert_durst_says_he_killed_them_all_on_tape_on_hbo_series.html
WOW! Thanks for sharing. My Xfinity online is doing upgrades. WOW.. the belch, the physical response.. wowowowowowoow
I was just coming here to ask if Lies had seen this! How telling is that body language? They show him his letter to Susan Berman with “Beverly” Hills written exactly (in every way including misspelling) like the cadaver letter, and while his voice remains calm and his face remains unemotional, during his response he puts his hands over his face and then appears to almost throw up/burp.
Thanks, River Gal. I think he is admitting he did the murders. I think he is, also, confused about what all he has done. He seems to be having to think real hard to even remember that far back. He knows enough to know that he is caught and in a heap of trouble. I think some of the tics are from medication, so I am not real sure about reading much into them. The letter is very damning in my eyes, maybe, more so than the confession. The confession could be doubted by the jury, thinking he is just being sarcastic. I don’t think so, since he is saying, “He is right. I did it.”
He must like to play with the cops or has just gotten too sure of himself. If he didn’t like to play games with his crimes, he wouldn’t have ever agreed to an interview in the first place. His mind works so differently than most people’s that i doubt we could ever understand it.
OMG, OMG, Did I say OMG? I’m sorry but I am speechless!!!!!
here is the links to all the episodes – hats off to the film makers !
The Jinx-The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (Part 5)
http://vodlocker.com/qb6p541ldosk
http://vidbull.com/km2vwdwh3l8u.html
Search for Kathie Durst continues 33 years after she disappeared in 1982.
The Jinx-The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (Part 1)
http://vodlocker.com/nw33mprflo29
The Jinx-The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (Part 2)
http://vodlocker.com/yig1d9fghnbl
The Jinx-The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (Part 3)
http://vodlocker.com/85fhmhqpxt86
The Jinx-The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (Part 4)
http://vodlocker.com/tfaliusbayxi
The Jinx-The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (Part 5)
http://vodlocker.com/qb6p541ldosk
http://vodlocker.com/r2cgmg8bayhp
I was hoping you’d comment on this. He’s an odd duck with unusual mannerisms, which makes it really difficult to read him. It’s probably an artifact of the lighting, but I found it disarming that his pupils and irises blended together during his first interview, so that they looked like black demon eyes on camera. Extremely creepy.
I agree, Karon, that the letter was more damning than the confession, although the confession made for a jaw – dropping moment for sure. It’s fascinating to bear witness to the moment someone realizes the jig is up, especially after 30+ years of thinking they’ve outsmarted everyone.
re: tone of his last statement: …..could it be that he is getting older (senile) and he is actually reminding himself of the truth… he doesnt ever WANT to be in denial… he is PROUD…
In the beginning of episode 2 he is not blinking or ticking so much. Interesting. I would guess that he is on some serious medications, but have no way to know that. Could the bathroom monologue be used to show he is psychotic and hearing voices? It’s hard to understand how a jury of 12 people acquitted him in TX. He is unbelievably wealthy though… and unfortunately, that often seems to make a big difference. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. It is also interesting that Jeanine Pirro says that his brother Douglas has a lot to answer for.
This man scares the begeezuz outta me!
He scares me, too. People die when he feels that he could be in trouble.
Maybe it was listening in to what he said in the bathroom but I find him creepy as well. I started listening to another video of his but then part way through I decided I don’t want to hear this man anymore.
This time, he is going to prison. He was caught with a 38 revolver and some kind of drugs in New Orleans. He is a convicted felon for cutting up the body of his neighbor, and he could get 10 yrs for being in possession of a gun. Gennine Perro says he was getting ready to escape to Cuba, when they arrested him.
I just heard over the news that he is headed to the psych ward, because they think he may be suicidal. There are questions about his lawyers trying to set him up for an insanity defense. He and the lawyers may realize that they have him, this time. Too much has come out, so insanity may be the only defense. He had illegal drugs on him when he was arrested, and the drugs could be responsible for part of his confusion. He may need help coming down off of the drugs, also. His game with the police has landed him in a whole lot of trouble.
>insanity may be the only defense
One of the many interesting points I learned studying to be a counselor is that insanity is not a mental health diagnosis. There are no mental health standards around insanity. Insanity is a legal term, not a mental health term. To quote Wikipedia:
“Insanity is no longer considered a medical diagnosis but is a legal term in the United States, stemming from its original use in common law.[10] The disorders formerly encompassed by the term covered a wide range of mental disorders now diagnosed as organic brain syndromes, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other psychotic disorders.”
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insanity
Translation: If they go for an insanity defense, the defense is admitting he did it (think about that) but was not fully responsible for his actions and therefore should not bear the full weight of the law. Counseling, psychology and psychiatry (the holy trinity of mental health fields) can come to bear on a person’s condition and mental state, but the legal question of sanity is outside of their areas of expertise.
More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insanity_defense
I fully expect a number of mental health professionals may get involved before the case is resolved. It will be interesting to follow.
You are right, if Durst will allow his legal team to go in that direction. He seems to enjoy paying “cops and robbers” with the police, and he may think he can get off with a hand slap, once again. He may think his money will buy him out of trouble and that he and his lawyers can trick the justice system once again. That he would even go on the Jinx Show and take the risk shows that he can’t take the safer path. He may not be able to stand life when the excitement and danger of playing the game dies down. He, obviously, gets scared when he is in real danger of being caught, but he still has to play the game. This kind of attention may be the only attention that anyone will give him, so he dangles the truth over everyone’s head and keeps them guessing and asking him questions about the crimes.
He must delight in getting by with breaking the rules, such as stealing a sandwich when he has a lot of money on his person. We would be shocked if we knew how his mind works.
He is being looked at, now, in connection with a teenage girl that went missing back in 1997. We will probably never know about all of his crimes.
>We would be shocked if we knew how his mind works.
I think we already have a very good understanding of how his mind works. This is the “I’m better than all you schmucks” personality type. He believes he’s smarter, more clever, (etc) than *all* the rest of us normal folks. This type of person believes they don’t make any mistakes and they can bend the rules to fit them. This personality type usually sees normal life as boring, so they take risks – a lot of risks. The fear that is felt as the police approach is part of the game, but this personality type believes he (or she) is superior to the circumstances or rules or standards of society and they will use their skill and cunning and will get away with murder – literally. This person likes being king of the hill, likes being in control of the situation (and possibly of people), and does all of this for self-aggrandizement purposes. They are absolutely impervious to most forms of counseling or coaching, because they do not believe they have any need to change – ever. From their perspective we (normal people) are the ones who are dumb, uncoordinated, we don’t go after what we want, we don’t have what we want, etc, and (here’s the key point) we are viewed as pawns by this personality type so they get whatever they want from us.
Mary Ellen O’Toole was an amazing interviewer with the FBI for decades (she’s now retired). She would take these types and use their personality to get the info out of them. For example, one time she said to a suspect, “I can only stay here half an hour to interview you because I have an interview at 10:00 with one of the most highly skilled criminals we’ve ever caught.” You can guess where this went – the suspect (#1) started to brag about crimes and such. However, Mary Ellen would leave for her “10:00 interview”, and come back a day or two later. Usually she actually did have to interview a high crime suspect (such as the Green River killer), and one thing these guys could not stand was being second best – even if it was in crime and murder, so they admitted all kinds of stuff to her. Some of it was lies, but a lot was verified and resulted in convictions.
That’s a long way of saying a very highly skilled interviewer might be able to get more info out of Durst, but it seems to be quite a challenge and requires someone like Mary Ellen O’Toole to pull it off.
Russ & Karon, do either of you think when he talking in the bathroom, that maybe he hears voices? Perhaps he is responding to them?
I don’t think he was hearing voices. He seems to be asking and answering his own questions. He does seem somewhat disoriented, though. He could be getting a little senile and having to refresh some of the things he did in his own mind. He was found with some illegal drugs and that could be part of the fuzziness in his thinking. It would be hard to say for sure about how his mind works.
This is so foreign to me, but it is pretty smart of Mary Ellen O’Toole to put these types in second place. I remember how BTK enjoyed the attention from the detectives, who tracked him. He said that he felt such a let-down when they finished their questioning and started ignoring him. He enjoyed relating how he had out-smarted them all those years.
Watch Mary Ellen O’Toole in action as she gets a murder confession from the Green River Killer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQmEM7-hnY8
She really knew how to relate to these killers so they would confess to her. Absolutely mind blowing stuff!
More info from the Smithsonian on how Mary Ellen O’Toole does her questioning to get confessions:
http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/videos/cracking-the-green-river-case/20584
It seems to me that she interviews him as a normal human being with a bit of leading.
It may be similar to what an expert journalist would do.
Is he suffering from a mental disorder(s)? He comes across, to me, as — for lack of a better word — CRAZY. I don’t mean to imply that the guy should be able to use an ‘Insanity Plea’… he knows Right from Wrong… but he seems to be slightly NUTS.
What do you think, Eyes?
**I haven’t been following this case closely, at all, so the possibility of mental disorders might have ready been discussed…
Is he suffering from a mental disorder(s)? He comes across, to me, as — for lack of a better word — CRAZY. I don’t mean to imply that the guy should be able to use an ‘Insanity Plea’… he knows Right from Wrong… but he seems to be slightly NUTS.
What do you think, Eyes?
Have the authorities assessed his “mental faculties”…?
**I haven’t been following this case closely, at all, so the possibility of mental disorders might have ready been discussed…
If you pay close attention, Durst blinks quite a bit even as a child in most of the video clips – though I am not sure if the clips are pre or post his mother’s suicide.; I only took notice of his childhood blinking in the clips post his mother’s suicide.
That said, his father seems to have been a man with quite a bit of issues himself. What father takes his 7 year old to “see” his mom on the roof and asks him to wave – as in wave “goodbye” to your mom?! Add to that that Mom seems to most likely suffered from a mental disorder and may have had post-partum depression, too.
A possible plot twist could be that his brother and father knew he killed his 1st wife. Dad died quietly, and brother knew what he was capable of. The way Durst speaks so matter of fact with regards to his physical abuse, just for starters, paints a clear picture that he’s a sociopath.
I feel for Kathy’s family and friends.
You can watch this and any other TV show or movie on http://www.primewire.ag, it’s free and you don’t have to join. While this moment is the most dramatic, watching the entire interview is so educational as you see true pathology in action.