Further evidence seized in Robert Durst murder investigation

ByABC7.com staff KABC logo
Sunday, March 22, 2015
In this Tuesday, March 17, 2015, file photo, Robert Durst is escorted into Orleans Parish Prison after his arraignment in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court in New Orleans.
In this Tuesday, March 17, 2015, file photo, Robert Durst is escorted into Orleans Parish Prison after his arraignment in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court in New Orleans.
Gerald Herbert, File-AP

NEW YORK (KABC) -- Sixty boxes containing phone records, bills, family-trust documents, photographs and transcripts of Robert Durst's 2003 murder trial were seized from the cellar of his friend's house in Campbell Hall, New York.

On March 15, New York State police removed the boxes from the home of Susan T. Giordano, who was reportedly storing Durst's private papers.

The real estate heir was charged in Los Angeles with first-degree murder the following day in connection to the shooting of his one-time friend Susan Berman 15 years ago. Aiding the LAPD, the FBI arrested Durst at a New Orleans hotel on March 14.

Court documents say investigators found him in possession of nearly $43,000 in cash, marijuana, a .38 special revolver with four live rounds, a fake ID and a real passport. Durst was subsequently rebooked on charges of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of a weapon with a controlled dangerous substance.

In court papers filed at the State Criminal District Court in New Orleans Friday, his attorneys, William Gibbens and Dick DeGuerin, said their client was illegally arrested.

The attorneys asked a magistrate judge to schedule a preliminary hearing so that they can prove that there is no probable cause to keep Durst jailed. The judge agreed to schedule that hearing during Durst's bail hearing Monday in New Orleans.

The attorneys say their client's arrest was orchestrated to coincide with the final episode of a six-part HBO documentary series titled "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst." The series profiled Durst's connections to three different murders: his wife Kathleen, Berman and neighbor Morris Black.

In its finale, Durst was heard muttering what sounds like a confession as he stepped away to the bathroom still wearing the live microphone.

"There it is. You're caught!" he whispered to himself. "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."

Kathleen Durst disappeared on Jan. 31, 1982. Her body was never found and she was declared dead in 2001. Her husband was never charged in connection to her disappearance, but four of her friends believe he was somehow involved.

In 2003, Durst was acquitted by a Texas jury for the murder of Black, whose body parts were found floating in Galveston Bay. Durst had fled Texas and was brought back for the murder trial after he was caught shoplifting in Pennsylvania.

During the trial, Durst's lawyers said he killed Black in self-defense, but he admitted to using a paring knife, two saws and an ax to dismember the body and dispose of it.

Durst waived extradition in New Orleans but is being held there on the drug and weapons charges. Those charges, in combination with past convictions, could keep Durst locked up for the rest of his life.

The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report.

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