Many people have, what I consider, a Hercule Poirot complex, the Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie was extremely intelligent, therefore solving crimes that the police alone could not. Vain, is still a myth today. Somehow, investigative journalists want to have the aha moment and be the smartest person in the room, and many do. I really appreciate it. The documentary The Jinx, by Andrew Jarecki, is one of the most successful and incredible cases of documentary filmmakers studying a case (countless YouTube channels are trying the same thing) and unlike many, they solved a crime considered cold for decades. Incredible! Awards, Justice, and History. We now see a second season. Why?

The film with Ryan Gosling was the seed

There is no way to define the mysterious and tragic life of millionaire Robert Durst without including the word “fascinating”, although it is the opposite of positive. His family is one of the richest in New York and owns a real estate empire, and the web of deaths and disappearances of people around Robert, or “Bob”, as he used to introduce himself, is frightening.

The first mystery in his life revolved around the circumstances of his mother’s death when he was still a child and she “fell” or threw herself from the roof of her house and he allegedly witnessed her death. As an adult, he made news when his wife, Kathleen McCormack, “disappeared” in 1982 and to this day no evidence of her death (obviously, 42 years later) has been found. Here is the seed of The Jinx, which translates as “bad luck” and which is what he allegedly tried to avoid by refusing to have children with her.

Years after Kathie’s disappearance, Robert Durst was involved in two more crimes: one for which he was surprisingly acquitted despite tearing the victim to pieces, and the murder of his best friend, Susan Berman, which eventually landed him in prison (where died in 2022) and that was the crime that the documentary solved after 14 years. The director, Andrew Jarecki, obsessed with history, in 2010 made the film All Good Things, with Ryan Gosling and Kristen Durnst, which was not a mega success but was seen by Robert Durst. More so, it was appreciated by him.

In the film, Jarecki is careful not to show how he would have killed Kathie, but “explains” his strange personality as a consequence of a childhood marked by psychological abuse from his father and Durst appreciated the aspect, seeking contact with the director to praise it. Thus, strangely enough, The Jinx was born.

The aftermath of the HBO documentary

Aired in six episodes in 2015, The Jinx is fascinating because it features Durst’s testimonies and the mystery addicts embarked with the team on this bizarre opportunity to try to solve once and for all the still unsolved deaths of these two women. The turnaround was electrifying.

In the middle of the recording, where Robert Durst felt comfortable talking about everything, Jarecki and his team came across evidence still unknown to the police and which linked, without a shadow of a doubt, the millionaire to the death of Susan Berman. In the film, he kills her and escapes, in the documentary it is clear that he killed her personally.

I recommend watching The Jinx to see the details because the awards that the documentary would win, including an Emmy, are justified. The narrative is well constructed, and, in the last episode, Durst confesses not only to having killed Susan but Kathie as well, having forgotten that she had the microphone on and said out loud to himself: “I killed everyone”. It’s chilling.

As shown in the documentary, the team has to finish the work but also confront Durst and submit the evidence to the police. He was arrested in New Orleans, taken to California, tried and convicted (for Susan Berman’s crime), but died in 2022 as a result of COVID-19, before serving part of his sentence. He was 78 years old.

With all this, the peak audience that the documentary had, its prestige, and now fame of having managed to solve two of the strangest crimes involving a suspect brought to The Jinx a reference of excellence, which I will address in a minute. The fact is that the recordings did not stop with the arrest of Robert Durst, after all, it would have to go until his conviction, and now, almost ten years later, MAX is showing The Jinx – Part 2, which will conclude the investigative part of the crime.

What was left out? What do you need to know about The Jinx?

There is a delicacy about The Jinx that deserves a warning that is the same trap as all journalistic articles or documentaries: there is no exemption. And when we talk about “narrative” it leads us to a conclusion, often colliding with manipulation. This is why jurors must be isolated and questioned beforehand to see if they already have an opinion formed before the trial. Justice in the ideal world listens to both sides and, in the face of evidence, provides an answer that cannot deal with doubts.

I have no doubt about Robert Durst’s guilt and participation in all the crimes in which his name was involved and I think Andrew Jarecki’s work is incredible. What is important to know is that the recording of the confession was heavily edited and what we hear in the final episode has a manipulated impact on our conclusion.

The full confession is more confusing, he wonders what he is doing (talking to the documentary filmmakers) and among the loose words, the phrase “What I did, of course, I killed everyone” was never said like that. Edited for clarity? Could it be? But edited the same way.

Another thing that was left out was when the FBI was alerted because it is a little strange that Robert Durst was arrested days before the final episode aired. I worked with investigative journalists on TV and faced this dilemma more than once: “lose” the “scoop” or buy time, help the police, and still get the news. I do not go into the merits of this conflict because I am not and have never been an investigator. But having this experience I understand where the gray area lies between pure journalism and obstruction of justice.

We know that journalism has this investigative and uncomfortable role in the face of the truth. The Jinx had that role. The second part that began to be shown will certainly address this controversy at some point.

Where the Ego interferes

The Jinx – Part 2 began with a natural trap of its own fascination with what it achieved. It is an idolatry that only has a mirror in Robert Durst’s own inflated ego. But I still believe in the turnaround for documentary filmmakers.

The material they obtained (recordings of the killer himself talking to the FBI or friends) is so rich that it is electrifying. The problem here is that we know how the story ended, even though it didn’t resolve Kathie’s disappearance satisfactorily. Will they reveal something new?

I’ll follow, of course. After all, we already know who did it, we are waiting for Poirot to tell us how.

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