Robert Durst drops new theory at L.A. murder trial, says killer was still in house when he found pal’s body
LOS ANGELES — Robert Durst claimed for the first time Monday that Susan Berman’s true killer was still at her Southern California home when he found her dead body more than 20 years ago.
The millionaire heir to a New York real estate fortune dropped the new theory just minutes before his eighth day of testimony at his trial for Berman’s December 2000 murder ended for the day.
“I arrived at Susan Berman’s house in Benedict Canyon before the killer had left,” Durst told jurors.
“So now you’re saying that the killer was actually in the house while you were there?” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney John Lewin asked, sounding surprised.
“I believe the killer was either still in the house or in the yard when I arrived,” Durst said without elaboration during the marathon cross-examination.
“Mr. Durst, haven’t you testified that Susan Berman’s body was cold?” Lewin asked.
“I did not testify that Susan’s body was cold,” Durst replied.
Lewin then played a clip of Durst’s direct testimony from last week, when Durst claimed he found Berman in a pool of blood, put his hand up to her face “to see if she was breathing,” and noticed “it felt cold.”
“Well, what do you have to say about that?” Lewin asked.
“Her breath, her face felt cold,” Durst said.
“What do you mean her breath felt cold? Was she breathing on you when you got there?” Lewin asked, incredulous.
“No, she was not breathing,” Durst said in his final comments before everyone was ordered back Tuesday.
“I put my hand on her face, and it was cold,” Durst said.
In earlier testimony Monday, Durst admitted he “lied” for years about being in Los Angeles the day Susan died, “right up until the time” his lawyers stipulated in December 2019 that Durst wrote the infamous “cadaver note” alerting police to Berman’s body.
He has pleaded not guilty to Berman’s murder and claims he has no idea who killed her.
According to prosecutors, Durst murdered Berman, his close friend since college, because she had helped him with his alibi after his first wife, Kathie Durst, went missing in New York in 1982.
They claim Durst killed Kathie amid a bitter breakup and was worried Berman might start talking 18 years later amid a renewed investigation of Kathie’s case.
Durst, 78, claims he last saw Kathie getting ready to board a Manhattan-bound train from a station in Katonah, N.Y., the night of Jan. 31, 1982.
She has since been declared dead, but her body was never found.
