The Los Angeles district attorney has reopened its investigation into the 2000 killing of Susan Berman, which may be bolstered by new evidence revealed in HBO’s documentary about her friend Robert Durst, The New York Times reports.
In Sunday’s fifth episode of “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” Berman’s stepson found an envelope with a letter written by Durst to Berman in 1999.
The block lettering on the envelope seems to be identical to an anonymous note sent to the Beverly Hills Police Department on December 23rd, 2000 alerting them to a “cadaver” at Berman’s house; the same day police believe Berman was killed.
Beverly Hills is misspelled as “Beverley” on both notes; the police believe the “cadaver” note was sent by Durst. The evidence suggests Durst knew about Berman’s death on the day she’s believed to have been killed.
Durst said he didn’t have the “faintest idea” who killed Berman, or his first wife, in an interview with the Times last week.
In the HBO documentary, Durst answered speculation that Berman was killed by someone she knew and the person who wrote the cadaver note.
While recognizing that the block lettering was an attempt to disguise the author’s handwriting, he said:
“If somebody liked her, why kill her? And now you’ve taken this big risk. You’re writing a note to the police that only a killer could have written.”
Over the past few weeks, investigators from Los Angeles, the FBI, and New York State Police have interviewed witnesses in New York City about the disappearance of Durst’s wife, Kathleen. They believe Berman’s murder and Kathleen’s disappearance are connected.
“The New York State Police and the Westchester district attorney’s office are still looking into Kathleen’s disappearance,” Joseph C. Becerra, the State Police investigator said. “It’s always been an ongoing case, until there’s a resolution one way or the other.”
The sixth episode of “The Jinx” airs Sunday on HBO.