attack that killed 11 people, including an american soldier. the death toll from hurricane dorian stands at 43 in the bahamas and is expected to rise as search and rescue teams reach the hardest hit areas. now back to dateline. reporter: at the end of the highway to galveston, texas, is a road sign. mile zero, it says. this is where bob durst went to vanish. he had actually moved here just weeks before susan berman s murder. and, initially, he was not a suspect, but he took pains to keep himself hidden, as he told his friends the altmans. nobody would be looking for a robert durst in a $300 a month apartment under an assumed name. reporter: the name of an old high school classmate named
reporter: the altmans shared personal photos and the story of bob they ve lived and breathed, starting with the family disaster that tormented him. his mom committed suicide when he was 7 years-old and it was a devastating experience for bob. reporter: compounded by bob s strained relationships with his brother douglas and his father seymour. but then, in the 1970s, stewart introduced bob to a young woman and this whole twisted tale was set in motion. i was living on east 52nd street on the second floor and kathie was living on the third floor, and bob owned the building. he used to come and collect the rent. reporter: kathie was kathie mccormack, stewart s young and beautiful upstairs neighbor. it was like prince charming and a princess.
but matt birkbeck believes bob s claims about the killing were attempts after the fact to sanitize what the evidence suggests was a brutal murder. it makes no sense. and if you look at the autopsy report it shows that morris had been beaten severely in the upper torso, and he even perhaps suffered a heart attack. so obviously something else was going on. reporter: after his arrest bob called his friends the altmans and tried to explain what happened. he said he went to a fugue state. he was an out of body experience. i it s hard to understand. reporter: charged with murder, bob durst also called his new wife, debrah charatan, who helped arrange $300,000 in cash for bail which he promptly skipped, got a car, and traveled the country sometimes using morris black s i.d. it was weeks later when they finally caught him, shoplifting in bethlehem, pennsylvania.
and a princess. kathie was the love of his life. reporter: the altmans attended their wedding and then a few years later, watched their prince and princess grow apart. she became more independent. yeah. it wasn t the fairy tale anymore. reporter: no. in fact, kathie s brother jim told us it was more like a horror movie. there s a dark side of bob that, you know, was fairly well camouflaged when they were first you know going out and gettin married. but it escalated ultimately into psychological abuse, economic abuse and physical abuse. reporter: remember that doctor s letter warning that the 10 year-old bob suffered from severe hostility issues? kathie gave a copy to her friends including ellen strauss. evidence, she said. just in case. kathie warned all of us that if anything ever happened, look to bob. bob did it.
will the defendant please rise. reporter: the altmans said bob was convinced, 99.9 percent certain that he d be convicted. we the jury find the defendant robert durst not guilty. reporter: the jury took five days to save him from 25 years to life in prison. though he later served a little time in federal prison for skipping bail and dismembering morris black. but by 2005 he was a free man again. now the only person who could catch bob durst was bob durst. coming up, caught off camera and seemingly offguard on the jinx. did robert durst confess? why did he give that interview? thought he d be able to show he s not a horrible person.