Our first witness, Your Honor, is Bob Durst.
Mr. Durst, would you come forward please?
Mr. Durst, something happened on October the 31 st of the year 2000
that turned your world upside down.
I learned that New York City tabloids were going to do
a new story about the disappearance of Kathie Durst.
So what did you want to do?
It seemed to me the big problem was Robert Durst
and that I wanted to not be Robert Durst.
What did you intend to do?
I intended to go to Galveston and disguise myself
and never use the name Robert Durst again.
What did you learn about this story and who was pushing it?
Jeanine Pirro was going to use
a new investigation of Robert Durst to further her career.
What do you decide to do?
I decided that I would disguise myself as a woman,
buy a wig, like that.
Did you buy a dress?
No.
I went to Walmart and I bought a woman's white blouse
and a woman's handbag.
You're now living in this apartment in Galveston.
Did you meet Morris Black?
I was going out,
dressed as a mute woman,
and a man came out of the door to the apartment across the hall.
He said that I should not leave the hall light on,
because the hall light was on his electric meter.
I guess I had nodded and I left.
In the days and weeks to come,
what sort of relationship developed between you and Morris?
We became good friends.
Did you and Morris fall into kind of a routine?
Yes. We would watch TV --
the businessy program called Wall Street Week.
Then go out for coffee, usually to the E-Street Coffee Haus
And did you wear the disguise?
No, I decided that I was not going to wear the disguise...
Why not?
It was just too uncomfortable.
Did you own guns?
The 9mm pistol I was arrested with here,
and one of the two revolvers that I was arrested with in Pennsylvania.
And a .22 target shooting pistol.
Did you and Morris ever have a discussion about guns?
Well, I don't know who brought it up, but we were both familiar with guns.
We both liked to target shoot.
Let's go to Monday, September the 17th.
Something very disturbing happened that day,
something very unusual.
Well, we were in my apartment, and Morris showed me an eviction notice.
And, I could tell he was very upset about it.
And, I had gone into the bathroom
and I heard a gunshot.
A gunshot?
Alright, and then what did you see?
I saw Morris standing there
and I said, "Put the gun down! Put the gun down!"
"Did you shoot the gun? Put the gun down!"
He pointed up at the archway to the kitchen
and he said that he had just shot at the eviction notice.
What did you say to him?
I said, "I want you to get out of here."
"I don't want you in here."
Did you make it clear to him that he wasn't to ever come back in there?
Oh, I made it very clear.
Now, let's go to September the 28th.
What happened when you got to 2213 Avenue K?
I opened the front door of the building.
What did you notice?
My TV was on.
What did you do?
I opened up the door.
Morris was sitting at the table and he was angry at me.
Bob, I want to ask you to step down
and demonstrate what happened from that point.
What did you see?
Keep your voice up!
Morris had swiveled the chair halfway
towards me and was looking at me.
And what did he do?
As he started turning towards me, I kept saying
"Morris, where's the gun?"
"Give me the gun. Give me the gun."
And I got up...
What did Morris do as you got up?
He turned more and more towards me with the gun.
So, we had the gun like this,
and he was pushing it like that, and then we fell.
Okay, that's sort of close.
As you hit the floor,
and as your elbow hit, what happened?
The gun went off.
Barn! Like that?
Like that.
At some point during the summer,
did Morris Black become aware you had a lot of money?
I know he knew it after I told him that my correct name was Robert Durst.
Let's talk about the bruises on the top of his shoulders.
I don't know where he got the bruises.
I can only say we fell down.
You had nothing to do with the bruises on the middle of his back?
If he got them when we fell down, then he got them when we fell down.
Mr. Durst, you heard the neighbor say that she heard two shots, didn't you?
Yes, sir.
You have any explanation for that?
No, sir.
Now, Morris is dead. What was your reaction?
I sat down on the bed and I looked at Morris
and I just put my head in my hands.
Kept thinking, "I've gotta get my head up. I have to pick my head up."
And then, Mr. Durst, did you in fact get your head up?
Yes, sir.
Why didn't you call the police, Mr. Durst?
I kept going over the situation in my mind.
Morris was shot in the face with my gun,
in my apartment.
The police were immediately going to look into who am I, Robert Durst,
who happened to rent this apartment disguised as a woman.
They're going to find out there's all this media attention on him back in New York.
I just didn't think I would be believed.
I didn't think they would believe me.
What did you intend to do with Morris himself?
I got this idea that I was going to cut it in half.
Mr. Durst did you, during the course of that day,
dismember Mr. Morris Black's body?
Yes, sir.
What did you do with the parts of the body?
I put them in garbage bags.
You put the garbage bags in your car?
Yes, sir.
Ultimately, later that night, did you take those bags to
the location on Channelview Drive you described here?
Yes, sir.
Did you throw them all in the same place, there?
Yes, sir.
And the suitcase that Morris Black's torso was in...
Wait a minute, I thought you said that everything was in garbage bags.
Was there a suitcase involved?
Yes, the torso was in a suitcase.
One of these -- what kind of suitcase?
One of these giant Walmart suitcases.
Can you tell us how long it took to out Morris Black up?
I don't know.
Can you tell us where you started?
Arms? Legs? Head?
I don't remember.
Your knives were getting a little dull weren't they, Mr. Durst?
I...
...don't remember.
Don't remember?
Don't remember.
Well, you were still thinking about ways to get away from this killing, weren't you?
It was very important to you that those bags sank, wasn't it?
Yes, sir.
If they floated up, you had a problem, didn't you?
Yes, sir.
You came back early early the next day, before the police, did you not?
And see the bags floating?
Yes, sir.
And you panicked, didn't you?
Yes, sir.
You had a problem, because the head was going to be discovered, didn't you, Mr. Durst?
I thought everything was going to be discovered.
You know that it's the prosecution's burden,
once self-defense is raised,
to disprove self-defense,
don't you?
Yes, sir.
And, you found no evidence that would disprove self-defense, did you?
No, sir.
Did they say, "Not?"
Yes.
Are you sure?
Bob's lawyer: They could just hear every word you said...
Bob's lawyer: ...when you were talking to yourself.
Bob's lawyer: Your mic is hot, so we can't really talk.
Bob's lawyer: Your mic picks everything up.