Robert Durst: From Millionaire to Murderer

Killer Psyche

Wondery | Treefort Media

True Crime, Exhibit C

4.6 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Retired FBI agent and criminal profiler Candice DeLong explores the case of Robert Durst, the infamous New York real estate heir turned convicted killer. From the disappearance of his wife to the gruesome murder of one of his neighbors, mystery and death seemed to follow Durst wherever he went – and somehow, he always managed to keep suspicion at bay. But that all changed when Durst himself decided to tell his own story in the HBO show The Jinx, unknowingly bringing his dark secrets into the spotlight, and ultimately, to justice. Candice examines how a desire for control and an unhealthy dose of narcissism led to Durst’s downfall.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Want to get more from Killer Psyche?
0:02.3	Subscribe to Wondery Plus for early access to new episodes, ad-free listening, and exclusive content you cannot find anywhere else.
0:12.8	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:19.0	A listener note, this episode contains adult content and is not suitable for everyone. Please be advised.
0:32.6	In Edgar Allan Poe's haunting gothic story, The Tell-Tale Heart, a killer commits the perfect crime.
0:43.7	He conceals the evidence, erases his tracks, and escapes suspicion.
0:50.7	But the killer's guilt festers.
0:55.2	The sound of his victim's heartbeat, unheard by anyone else, becomes deafening in his mind.
1:03.8	That relentless pounding drives him to a breaking point, forcing him to confess.
1:15.1	In the end, it is not justice or cunning investigators that undo him. It is his own need to unburden his soul. This brings us to Robert Durst,
1:24.1	born into wealth and power as the heir to one of New York's most prominent real estate
1:30.1	dynasties, he seemed untouchable.
1:34.7	Even after his wife Kathy Durst disappeared under suspicious circumstances in 1982, even after
1:42.4	his best friend, Susan Berman, was found executed in her home, and even after dismembering his neighbor, Morris Black, Durst somehow walked free.
1:55.8	He had outmaneuvered investigators, defied logic, and dodged justice at every turn.
2:05.2	But Durst was not content to leave it at that.
2:09.6	Decades after those crimes, with no one closing in, he did something extraordinary.
2:16.9	He reached out to filmmakers to tell his story.
2:22.1	What followed was a chilling documentary series, HBO's The Jinks.
2:28.6	That seemed at first like an attempt to clear his name.
2:32.5	Durst offered them unprecedented access to his life, his story, and his darkest secrets.
2:41.0	What Durst did not know, or perhaps refused to believe, was that he was not in control this time.
	...

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