'The Jinx' Filmmakers 'Screamed' When They First Heard Robert Durst Say He 'Killed Them All'

By Emily Richardson | TV | April 19, 2024 |

By Emily Richardson | TV | April 19, 2024 |

The Jinx: Part Two premieres this weekend on Max. The six-part series covers the eight years between the original 2015 doc and today. This includes Robert Durst’s failed attempt to flee the country, his New Orleans arrest the night before the finale aired, being charged with the 2000 murder of Susan Berman, his time in prison, the 2021 guilty verdict, and his death from cardiac arrest just a few months later.

Viewers will also get to watch Kathie McCormack’s family (you remember Kathie, Robert’s first wife who “mysteriously” disappeared in 1982) watch the now-iconic ending of The Jinx. Whew, that final scene! I still think about it. After being presented with evidence that he for sure killed Susan, the cameras cut, Robert goes to the bathroom, and his microphone catches him saying the following:

“There it is. You’re caught! …. You’re right, of course. But you can’t imagine the rest of them. … I don’t know what’s in the house … Oh, I want this … What a disaster … He was right. I was wrong. And the burping … I’m having difficulty with the question … What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”

Here’s the clip:

In a new podcast promoting The Jinx: Part Two, the show’s co-writer Zac Stuart-Pontier, co-editor Shelby Siegel, and director Andrew Jarecki talked about their reactions to hearing Robert’s confession for the first time. The audio wasn’t discovered until two years after it was recorded. Shelby stumbled upon it while reviewing footage late in the editing process, via Entertainment Weekly:

“I’m just on the edge of my seat,” she remembered. “And as I’m watching it, the camera that I’m watching cuts off, and right when it cuts off, the audio continues. And then, I hear the door open, and then I hear, ‘There it is, you’re caught,’ and I just scream.”

Stuart-Pointier said he vividly remembers Siegel telling him about the previously unheard audio. “It was amazing, ‘You gotta hear this, you gotta hear this, you gotta hear this, “There it is, you’re caught,”’” he said. “And I’m like, ‘Wow,’ like I couldn’t believe it. It was so cool in a way, ‘cause it had sort of been there the whole time.”

Soon, more of the filmmakers gathered to listen to the audio:

“So at that point, we all cram into this little edit room that was at the back, and we were look at the monitor and we see the waveforms, and we’re just listening to this audio,” Siegel said. “When he said, ‘Killed them all, of course,’ I mean, again we screamed, I’m pretty sure I squeezed Zac’s hand. Like it was, it was incredible, it felt like it was impossible that that’s what he was saying.”

Zac says he imagines Robert was “looking at himself” in the mirror when he made his bathroom confession:

“He’s just, like, washed his hands, he splashed water on his face. And he’s looking at himself. And he’s saying that to himself. It’s a powerful thing. I mean, he’s like, looks at himself in the mirror and says, ‘You’re a murderer.’”

Here’s the trailer for The Jinx Part Two, which premieres this Saturday on Max: