In the presentation of the contents of the current season, HBO dropped that there would be new episodes of The Jinx. This left the public baffled since a priori the cult documentary series had said goodbye with a bow: the homicidal confession of Richard Durst, the man under investigation, while he was in the bathrooms with the microphone on. But it seems that there is more since six unpublished installments will be released in 2024.
“At the end of the original series, The Jinx, viewers around the world were stunned to hear Robert Durst utter the words "I killed them all, of course." Hours earlier, according to evidence discovered by the filmmakers, Durst had been detained in the lobby of a New Orleans hotel. “The filmmakers continued their investigation over the next eight years, uncovering hidden material, calls from Durst to jail, and interviews with people who had never come forward before,” HBO Max reports in a press release.
The Jinx, directed by Andrew Jarecki, who creatively headed the project with Zac Stuart-Pontier and Kyle Martin, is considered a fundamental work of contemporary true crime both for the case it covered, the editing work and the results of the investigation, elevating Robert Durst from the status of possible psychopath to black chronicle legend after murdering three people. Of course, he was only sentenced to life imprisonment for one of the crimes.
The first victim of Durst, son of a New York real estate dynasty, was Kathleen, his wife, who he recognized was very controlling and who on January 31, 1982 disappeared without a trace. “I'm afraid of what Bobby will do,” were his last words spoken to a friend. His involvement could never be proven.
In 2000, they found the lifeless body of Susan Berman, a friend of the Dursts who was rumored to know the identity of Kathleen's killer. The police found the body after receiving a note at the police station and found the body with a shot in the back of the head. Durst became the main suspect although at that time the authorship of the crime could not be proven.
And, while living in Texas far from the media spotlights of Manhattan where he was part of the local nobility, he committed another murder. It was 2003, he practiced cross-dressing and, despite being a millionaire, he even stole from local supermarkets. After an argument with his neighbor, Morris Black, he murdered her. He argued that he had acted in self-defense and that he had shot the victim by accident. The jury bought this version of events, even taking into account that he dismembered the body.
Luckily, after the recording of the first part of The Jinx, the producers discovered new evidence in addition to the recording, and he was finally tried for murder. On September 17, 2021, he was found guilty of first-degree murder in Berman's death and is serving a life sentence. So, what will the second part of the documentary series broadcast in 2015 and which won the Emmy for best documentary series hold?
