Robert Durst admits he wrote infamous ‘cadaver’ note

LOS ANGELES (CN) — After years of denial, when Robert Durst resumed the witness stand Monday during his trial for the murder of Susan Berman, he finally admitted he authored an infamous note directing authorities to search the Benedict Canyon home where her body was discovered in 2000.

Durst, 78, said he initially called the Beverly Hills Police Department but quickly realized someone there may recognize his voice, so he instead opted to send a letter. Asked by his attorney, Dick DeGuerin, why he chose to lie for so many years about authoring the note, Durst claimed he was afraid no one would believe that he didn’t kill his longtime friend.

“Because it’s a very difficult thing to believe. I have difficulty believing it myself. That I would write that letter and not have killed Susan Berman,” Durst explained from the witness stand. “I was trying to decide if anyone would believe that I killed Susan Berman, because I had no reason to kill Susan Berman.”

Asked by DeGuerin what he meant, Durst elaborated: “I mean just that — Susan had been murdered, someone must have had a reason, a motive, whatever, to kill Susan Berman. And I had no reason to kill Susan Berman.”

Durst explained that he went to Susan’s home because the two of them had planned a Christmas “staycation” where they intended to visit local Los Angeles tourist attractions. Berman didn’t answer the door so Durst said he let himself into her backyard, and after a little while he decided to have a look inside. He said he entered the home using a key Berman had mailed to him, and that’s when he found her body on the ground.

“I did a double take. I saw Susan lying on the floor,” he said. “I shouted ‘Susan’ a couple of times, then I quickly ran to the bedroom where she was. Her eyes were closed.”

Durst said he initially thought Berman had fallen or fainted and hit her head, but after examining her more closely he realized she wasn’t breathing and he noticed blood coming from her head. “She was just lying there,” he said. He claimed it never occurred to him that she had been shot.

That’s when Durst decided to call the police. He initially tried using Berman’s cordless phone, but the battery was dead, so he drove up the street to a payphone. As soon as someone picked up, it dawned on him that the call may be recorded and someone at the police station could recognize what Durst described as his “recognizable” voice. He decided to pen a note instead.

The note was brief, including only Berman's address and the word "cadaver."

Durst said he had pen and paper in his car, but he couldn’t remember where he got the envelope and stamps from, whether he bought them at a store or found them in Susan’s house. He claimed he was reeling at the time from the after-effects of taking an opioid painkiller the night before.

“I had pen and paper in the car but I did not have envelopes and I definitely didn’t have stamps, so I must have bought those somewhere,” explained Durst. “I’m not sure because I had migraine headache and had taken a Percocet and that makes you groggy and hungover the next day.”

After sending the note to the police in Beverly Hills, Durst fled almost immediately — first to San Francisco and from there to New York.

“I decided I wanted to get far away from Los Angeles. I wanted to go to San Francisco,” Durst said matter-of-factly.

But by the time Durst arrived in San Francisco, he had already decided to fly on to New York and spend New Year’s with his wife, Debbie Charatan. Durst said he drove straight to the airport, went to the first terminal he saw, parked the car (which he wasn’t sure he actually turned off), and bought a ticket to New York at the first gate he came across.

The prosecution, led by LA County Deputy District Attorney John Lewin, paints a picture of Berman blackmailing Durst because she knew he murdered his wife Kathleen McCormack in 1982. Lewin claims Durst had recently become aware that detectives reopened their investigation into his ex-wife’s disappearance and got frightened when he learned they were sweating Berman for details.

Durst claims he knew investigators had questioned Berman over the years, and he had long since stopped taking the matter seriously. He also cited a canceled check showing that he gifted Berman $25,000 before ever learning that the investigation into McCormack’s disappearance had been reopened.

DeGuerin will continue questioning Durst on Tuesday, after which Lewin and the prosecution will begin their cross-examination.

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