The finale of Andrew Jarecki's six-part HBO documentary series The Jinx aired last night and, and it ended with (spoilers ahead, obviously) Robert Durst going into a bathroom, not realizing his microphone is still on, and delivering a mumbling monologue to himself in which he possibly admits to all the murders. "There it is. You're caught," he begins, and continues to mutter about the interview that had just taken place, where Jarecki confronted him with seemingly damning evidence—a letter sent to the Beverly Hills Police Department after the murder of Susan Berman in handwriting identical to Durst's. In the bathroom, he finishes, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course." Durst was arrested on Saturday in New Orleans, where it is believed he was attempting to flee to Cuba.
Though there is little debate about what Durst meant by "Killed them all, of course" (you would be hard pressed to find a single person who believes him when he says he's innocent of murder), there has been some debate about the audio clip itself. As Jarecki explained it to the Times:
Near the documentary's end, the filmmakers were packing up their equipment when Mr. Durst asked to use the bathroom. He did not remove his wireless microphone as he closed the door, however, and began to whisper to himself. More than two years passed after the interview before the filmmakers found the audio.
As Gawker's Rich Juzwiak points out, however, something is fishy about that "more than two years," as the timeline is presented in the series. Also, there have been doubts raised about whether the filmmakers, who knew from experience that Durst had a problem with hot mics, would have just stopped listening in the moments after their most crucial interview. This all suggests that it's possible that Jarecki took some creative liberties with the editing, and the timing of the arrest indicates that he may have waited until the most opportune moment to go to the police with his new evidence rather than presenting it right away. On the other hand, Robert Durst is now in custody and Jarecki has one the most satisfying endings to a TV show ever, so maybe it all worked out fine.
· Robert Durst of HBO's 'The Jinx' Says He 'Killed Them All' [NYT]
· The Jinx Finale: Robert Durst Says He 'Killed Them All' [Vulture]
· Watch Robert Durst in The Jinx's Holy Shit Mother of God Final Scene [Gawker]
· What Happened Between Robert Durst's Confession and His Arrest? [Gawker]
· Robert Durst coverage [Curbed]
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