Hear his own account of his strange life. The reclusive millionaire has spent much of his life on the road. Where was he . What was he doing . Who was he with . What is a guy of his wealth doing hanging out at a homeless shelter soup kitchen . Suspicions, questions raised anew on the series the jinx. Will there finally be answers . Bob didnt kill susan berman. The twisted tale of robert durst and a new mystery. Where are you . He is definitely in the mix. He is in there. Im lester holt and this is dateline. Here is robert durst, the lost year. There is a letter written more than 60 years ago, a prophecy . Perhaps. A warning, certainly. A doctor writing about a very troubled 10yearold boy suffering from hostility issues. Ably possibly schizophrenia. The troubled little boy . His name is well known. Robert durst. By now you have heard the saga. The disappearing wife, the dead friend, the dismembered neighbor. He has been a subject of several dateline episodes and the star not in the way he intended of hbos the jinx. Nobody tells the whole truth. Do you . Does anyone know the truth about robert durst . The story behind the story. The trail we follow, the revelations we encounter, the personal account he wrote and we were given which have led us into a very weird place, the lost years of the infamous robert durst. The tale is like quick sand. It sucks you in. Bob is endlessly fascinating and always surprises me. He has been elusive, material, sometimes desperate and always in motion. Tonight we will track him, his strange detour off the road and off the grid. A life that no one, not even his family or Close Friends can fathom. He has a good heart. I really think so. We begin with two people who have known and loved the man they call bobby. God father of their son, close friend of more than 40 years, long before the rest of the world heard of him. When did you meet him . We went to high school together. Speaking here for the First Time Since dursts arrest. He has a heart, but its caused me a great deal. Whatever happened to bob, its hard. He often shared personal photos and the story of bob starting with the family disaster. His mom committed suicide when he was 7 years old and it was devastating experience for bob. Compounded by his strange relationships with his brother, douglas and his father seymour in the 1970s stewart introduced bob to a young woman and the 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. Kathie was his young and beautiful upstairs neighbor. Prince charming and princess. But it didnt last. A few years later they watched their prince and princess grow apart. She became more independent, wasnt a fairytale anymore. Kathies brother, jim, told us it was more like a horror. There is a dark side of bob that was fairly well camouflaged when they were first going out and getting married and escalated in abuse. Remember the doctors letter warning the 10yearold bob suffered from severe hostility issues . Kathie gave a copy to her friends including ellen straus, evidence she said just in case. Kathie warned all of us if anything happened look to bob. Dont let him get away with it. Then in 1982 kathie durst disappeared. How did he take it . You know, he asked if we had seen her or heard anything or knew anything . They didnt. No one did. Bob was typically almost detached in his demeanor, i dont know nothing and i dont know anything. Bob denied any involvement in kathies disappearance and still does. At the time he was careful to distance himself from investigators. New york times reporter covered the durst real estate empire for three decades. When kathie vanished bobs protective friend susan berman became his unofficial spokesperson. And susan would call back and say bobs really not feeling right right now. Im going to handle a lot of this. Bob was pretty much we have obtained this, his own accounts, his version of things which he wrote later. Here is what he wrote about her disappearance. After my wife left my compulsive use of alcohol, drugs and food changed from an infreak problem to a daily event. He didnt come into work for about two years. Later when bob began showing up at work again sporadically it wasnt anything like the buttoned up executive. He enjoyed smoking pot in a social situation, burping and farting because it disturbed people and he liked to watch their reaction. These stories about misbehaving, peeing in a waste basket. It gave pause to the family. And it was no great surprise when the family patriarch chose bobs younger brother to run the family business. Did he think to the point that he had a shot at it . He was going for it. That was supposed to be his job. He was upset. It had a devastating effect on bob. That is when bob went off on his own to embark on a strange new life. We wanted to know how and why trouble seemed to be his traveling companion. When we return more mysteries and more question for robert durst and a peek at his new life on the lost coast. Hanging out at a homeless shelter soup kitchen. He bought a house. He hangs out at a homeless shelter . Theres a bazillion ways to top your kids rice krispies. Whats yours . A dash of fruit in their favorite color. A bunch of pineapple cause hey its summer a smidgen of honey in the shape of a flower. A handful of almonds for strong superpowers. Bananas and berries cause the letter b rocks. A little bit of yogurt . A was going to clean better than a manual. He said sure. But dont get just any one. Get one inspired by dentists. With a round brush head. Go pro with oralb. Oralbs rounded brush head cups your teeth to break up plaque, and rotates to sweep it away. 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I hated to have more than a brief conversation with someone because i immediately found myself being asked what do you do . The true answer was nothing. I live off the family estate. Which is true enough but he wasnt exactly titled, either. Bob durst was buying other properties but some of his choices didnt seem to make sense. These arent just homes. We are talking Storage Facilities and p. O. Boxes. What is he doing with these Storage Facilities . The main town is eureka where we discovered bob spent a lot of time in a Second Hand Store primarily for women. I think he wanted to be a Cross Dresser and maybe was experimenting with it. He always came alone. He would buy something pretty plain like this, nothing it wasnt outstanding. And then he would get a shirt and try to match it up and most of the time he couldnt so i would try to help him match. She had seen her share of Cross Dressers but there was Something Different about this one. He wanted to be somebody else besides robert durst. Which might explain another untold story of those years. An odd and sofar unexplained habit of frequenting eurekas needy side. Hanging out at a homeless shelter soup kitchen. He bought a house. He hangs out at a homeless shelter . Hangs out at a homeless shelter. But he was also restless. He was in constant motion whether here or texas or europe or los angeles where he would look in on susan berman who you remember spoke for him who was trying to make it as a Hollywood Screen writer. She and bobby i always felt were very tight. This is Susan Bermans friend. She was very protective of bobby. Susan lived in a slightly run down cottage in l. A. s Benedict Canyon and occasionally bob would stop by but like a gypsy would be gone again sometimes flying back to trinidad where he would question his shuttle driver. He would specifically ask questions about has the Sheriffs Department been out here. In 1997 while bob lived here something did happen. A local teenager named Karen Mitchell vanished after leaving a womens shoe store that later bob was known to frequent. By the year 2000 the case was cold. That is when across the country in new york another case was suddenly hot again, the investigation into the disappearance of bobs wife kathie reopened by West Chester County d. A. Now host of fox news channels justice with judge j nene. I had an instinct. We had evidence that she was battered by him which he has confirmed. It was clear to me that he killed her. The investigation was supposed to be top secret but as we know bob durst found out. He worried. He did. One of her friends, you have met her, ellen straus offered the cops a tip. I begged the police to interview his best friend susan berman. I showed them all my research. I felt susan berman was the key. Always did. And the police did plan on interviewing susan berman. The problem was they just waited a little too long. My first thought was why didnt they listen to me. By the autumn of 2000 West Chester County investigation of kathy durst had been chugging quietly for months. It had been 18 years since kathy disappeared and Public Opinion turned against him unlike before. In 1982 the tone of the publicity was of a scandal about a rich schmuck who had a terrible marriage. In 2000, i was a murderer who everyone disliked. Susan berman kept bad press at bay and now investigators wanted to talk to her. What did bob do then . He got married, not to susan berman but to new york Real Estate Broker. That wasnt a marriage made in heaven. That was clearly a marriage of convenience in that this is bobby durst saying in the event im arrested i have someone to bail me out and handle my affairs. Of course, that is just an opinion. Maybe it was a love match, but it did come with spousal privilege which meant deborah didnt have to talk to the cops about her new wealthy husband. Also reportedly got access to a substantial share of money. Deborah doesnt do anything unless deborah benefits. Character reference im not sure i want to have. She is a savvy business woman. Out in Hollywood Susan Berman was struggling to make it as a screen writer. Things werent quite going as well as she would have liked with her career. For years susan had relied on bob for help and he responded, sometimes with big checks. Two at least were 25,000. It was a call for a kind of thing that went on between them. We got unique insight from a woman who claims she was Susan Bermans closest confident. She told us she knows what susan was thinking. She gave the police many hours of her recorded conversations with susan in which during those last months of 2000 according to Barbara Susan grew increasing lar worried. Did she tell you she was afraid of robert . She did tell me she was fearful of him because i had the feeling she felt afraid of him because she was afraid he would withdraw any help. There was more than that. Susan was afraid of bob, she said, because she knew too much. She knew his secret. Towards the end of her life she was very agitated with him. Would he save her . Susan didnt know, said barbara. And then just before christmas 2000 susan let her know that bob was on the way with money. He said i will bring it. And thats what happened. I cant prove it. L. A. Cops have long suspected bob did go to susans house in l. A. , but not to bring her more money, to prevent her from talking ever. We do know from flight records and bobs personal account that he did go to california. Christmas 2000 robert durst was on the move again. Late december he flew here to eureka, california. He owned a house in this area but recently sold it. He wasnt coming to stay here. He got a car, got inside it, pointed south. He notes the visit to garberville 600 miles from los angeles. After that we cant follow his trail. We know late on december 22 or early the 23rd susan berman was murdered by a bullet to the back of the head at her home in l. A. On the 23rd flight records confirm bob took off from San Francisco on the red eye to new york. Soon after this letter post marked december 23 showed up at the Beverly Hills pd. I call it the cadaver note. The famous note likely written by her killer. Word of Susan Bermans murder travelled fast. It was like oh, my god. My first thought was why didnt they listen to me . They did not interview susan berman in a timely manner. Bob skipped Susan BermansMemorial Service and a few weeks later he surfaced in galveston, texas, another good place to get lost except, of course, trouble found him there. A killing, a dismemberment and an unforgettable acquittal. We all know the story, but not this version. Coming up did robert durst rehearse telling the truth. His wife and friend he would discuss with them whether or not he sounded believable with the story he was telling. Get ready to show your roots with roots touchup from nicen easy. Seamlessly blends with leading shades, even salon shades in just 10 minutes. For natural looking color as real as you are. Show the world your roots with root touchup. At the end of the highway to galveston, texas is a road sign. Mile 0. This is where bob durst went to vanish. He moved here weeks before Susan Bermans murder and initially he was not a suspect but he took ways to leave himself hidden. Nobody would be looking for robert durst. And the name of an Old High School classmate named Dorothy Ciner. In his log he wrote he didnt like wearing a wig. It itched and got in my eyes unless it was on tight which made my head sweat. But the version bob has told over the years believes author doesnt tell the real story certainly not the famous killing of his elderly neighbor or bobs activities in galveston and elsewhere. It was strange him in black among homeless. What is a guy of his wealth and familys influence doing stealing identities . In the spring of 2001 at the same time as he was living in galveston he rented another home in new orleans. We found the place and his old landlord. He was wearing a blouse with a small brassiere, a wig. He lived on the top floor and neighbors often saw him wearing womens clothing. He wasnt a drag queen. He was just in disguise. And then he would fly off somewhere else, new york, california, connecticut, always returning as he carefully noted in his personal account to that apartment in galveston where in september 2001 he shot morris black accidently and in self defense he claimed. And then dismembered the man and threw his body parts into galveston bay. Here is how durst described it, jack daniels, marijuana, bought bow saw, returned for bigger bow saw, could not use saw, went back, first looked at electric saws, bought axe, did it. But believes bobs claims about the killing were attempts after the fact to sanitize what the evidence suggests was a brutal murder. If you look at the autopsy report it shows morris had been beaten severely in the upper torso and suffering a heart attack. Obviously Something Else was going on. After his arrest bob told his friends he tried to explain what happened. He said he went into an out of body experience. Its hard to understand. Charged with murder bob durst also called his new wife who helped arrange 300,000 in cash for bail which he got a car, travelled the country sometimes using morris blacks i. D. It was weeks later he was caught shop lifting in bethlehem, pennsylvania. Well, more than 38,000 in cash was in his car. He was visited in jail. I asked him how he was doing. He said not great. He talked about how he pretty much was going to do maybe suicide. Bob didnt pull that trigger and presents back to texas for trial where his houston attorney provides the defense the murder char charge. It was a simple case of a struggle over a gun and the gun went off. If it truly was self defense then what happened after the killing doesnt change that. Bob wasnt so confident he would get off. In fact, he asked his friends to help him learn more about what life behind bars would be like for him. He thought if we got to know the ins and outs that maybe it would be easier for him once on the inside. Worried about how he would hear his favorite music, for example. He was trying to find out if there was a Radio Station to buy so if he were in jail he could have music that he liked. Bob knew his chances of acquitt acquittal depended on winning the jurys sympathy so for tha