Answers. Reporter and hear his own account of his strange life. The reclusive millionaire has spent much of his time on the road. So where was he . What was he doing . Who was he with . What is a guy of his wealth doing hanging out at a homeless shelter soup kitchen . Reporter for decades, suspicions, questions, raised anew on the series the jinx. Killed them all, of course. The string of mysterious murders and dursa story with twists and turns and complicated yarn has been unraveling for decades. Here is Keith Morrison with robert durst the lost years. Reporter there is a letter written more than 60 years ago. A prophecy . Perhaps. A warning, certainly. A doctor writing about a very troubled 10yearold boy, suffering from hostility issues, sufficient to produce a personality decomposition and possibly even schizophrenia. The troubled little boy . His name is well known. Robert durst. By now, youve heard the bizarre saga. The multimillionaire scion of a new York Real Estate empire. The disappeared wife, the dead friend, the dismembered neighbor. Hes been the subject of several dateline episodes and the star, though not in the way he intended, of hbos the jinx. But do you . Does anybody know the truth about robert durst . The trail we followed, the revelations we encountered, the personal account he wrote and we were given, which have led us into a very weird place, the lost years of the infamous robert durst. The tale is like quicksand. It sucks you in. Bob is endlessly fascinating and and always surprises me. Reporter he has certainly been elusive, mercurial, sometimes desperate, and always in motion. Well track him, his descent, his strange detour off the road and off the grid. A life that no one, not even his family or close friends, could fathom. He has a good heart inside, i really think so. Reporter we begin with two people who have known and loved the man they call bobby, godfather of their son, close friend of more than 40 years. Long before the rest of the world heard of him. And when did you meet him . We went to high school together. Reporter stewart and emily altman spoke with us for the First Time Since durst was arrest. Theres still a side of bob thats not a monster. Yeah. You know, he has a heart, but its caused me a great deal of conflict and i cant get my head around is whatever happened to bob. Its hard. Reporter the altmans shared personal photos and the story of bob theyve lived and breathed, starting with the family disaster that tormented him. His mom committed suicide when he was 7 yearsold and it was a devastating experience for bob. Reporter compounded by bobs strained relationships with his brother douglas and his father seymour. But then, in the 1970s, stewart introduced bob to a young woman and this whole twisted tale was set in motion. I was living on east 52nd street on the second floor and kathie was living on the third floor, and bob owned the building. He used to come and collect the rent. Reporter kathie was kathie mccormack, stewarts young and beautiful upstairs neighbor. It was like prince charming and a princess. Kathie was the love of his life. Reporter but it didnt last. A few years later, the altmans watched their prince and princess grow she became more independent. It wasnt the fairy tale anymore. Reporter no. In fact, kathies brother jim told us it was more like a horror movie. Theres a dark side of bob that, you know, was fairly well camouflaged when they were first, you know, going out and getting married. But it escalated ultimately into psychological abuse, economic abuse and physical abuse. Reporter remember that doctors letter warning that the 10 yearold bob suffered from severe hostility issues . Kathie gave a copy to her friends, including ellen strauss. Evidence, she said, just in case. Kathie warned all of us that if anything ever happened, look to bob. Bob did it. Dont let him get away with it. Reporter and then in 1982, kathie durst disappeared. How did he take it . Its bob. You know, he asked if we had seen her, if we heard anything, if we knew anything. Reporter but they didnt. No one did. Bob was typically almost detached in his demeanor. You know, almost, i dont know nothing. I dont know anything. Reporter from the outset, bob denied any involvement in kathies disappearance and still does. At the time, he was careful to distance himself from investigators. New york times reporter Charles Bagli has covered the durst real estate empire for three decades. And when kathie vanished, said bagli, bobs protective friend susan berman, a name youve probably heard of, became his unofficial spokesperson. And susan would call back and say, well, bobs, you know, really not feeling right right now. Im going to handle a lot of this. Reporter bob, himself, was pretty much incommunicado then. But we have obtained this, his own account. His version of things which he wrote later. Heres what he wrote about kathies disappearance. After my wife kathy left, my compulsive use of alcohol, drugs and food changed from an infrequent problem to a daily event. He didnt come in to work for about two years. Reporter later, when bob began showing up at work again, sporadically, he wasnt anything like a buttonedup executive. He enjoyed smoking pot in a social situation, burping and farting because it disturbed people, you know, and he liked to watch their reactions. Reporter right. So, these stories about misbehaving, peeing in a wastebasket or something, thats there was peeing in a wastebasket and all of that. It gave pause to the family. Reporter and it was no great surprise when the family patriarch, seymour durst, chose bobs younger brother douglas to run the family business. Did he really think, up until the point where douglas was picked, that that he had a shot at it . He was groomed for it. That was supposed to be his his job. He was upset. It had a devastating effect on bob. Reporter and that is when the little known and reclusive bob durst went off on his own, to embark on a strange new life. What we wanted to know is how and why trouble seemed to be his traveling companion. There would be more mysteries and more on robert durst and his trip to the west coast. I think he wanted to be a crossdresser and maybe he was experimenting with it. Hanging out at a homeless shelter soup kitchen. Reporter wait a minute, he bought a house, he hangs out at a homeless shelter . When dateline continues. Idr pain as quickly as possible. Why would somebody want to suffer if there is options that they dont need to. I think dentists will want to recommend sensodyne rapid relief. Sensodyne rapid relief builds a layer fast on the tooths surface over those sensitive areas, which means patients are going to get fast relief from their sensitivity. Sensodyne rapid relief is clinically proven to work in 3 days. I think dentists will want to recommend this product because its going to help their patients and thats what we are trying to do is help patients. W. That keep us active every day. Like you, your cells get hungry. Feed them. With centrum® multigummies. So you can be unstoppable. Now improved better tasting feed your cells today. Managingaudreys on it. S . Eating right . On it staying active . On it. Audrey thinks shes doing all she can to manage her type 2 diabetes and Heart Disease but is her treatment doing enough to lower her heart risk . [sfx crash of Football Players colliding offcamera. ] maybe not. Jardiance is the number 1 prescribed pill in its class. Jardiance can reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults who also have known Heart Disease. That means jardiance can help save your life from a heart attack or stroke. Plus, jardiance lowers a1c and it could help you lose some weight. Jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast or urinary tract infections, and sudden kidney problems. Ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. A rare, but lifethreatening bacterial infection. In the skin of the perineum could occur. Stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection,. Ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction. Do not take jardiance if you are on dialysis or have severe kidney problems. Taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Lower a1c and lower risk of a fatal heart attack . On it with jardiance. Ask your doctor about jardiance. The type 2 diabetes pill thats on it. Learn more at jardiance. Com you wouldnt accept from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. Flonase. The lost coast, an almost mystical corner of northern california, where bob durst came to what . Get lost himself . It was 1995, after he was dumped from the company, 13 years after kathy disappeared. Bob walked into the office of local Real Estate Broker gene davenport. He told me he was a writer for the wall street journal. He said he wanted to have a place with an ocean view. Reporter bob forked over nearly 400,000 in cash for a big family house in the town of trinidad, overlooking the pacific, where he lived like a hermit. Nobody really seen him around. He never really had contact or didnt really have any best friends. Reporter in that personal account of his, he explained why. I hated to have more than a brief conversation with someone because i immediately found myself being asked, what do you do . The true answer was nothing, i live off the family estate. Which was true enough, but he wasnt exactly idle, either, said author Matt Birkbeck, whos been following the durst case for over 15 years, and wrote a book about it called a deadly secret. Bob durst was buying other properties, he said, but some of his choices didnt seem to make sense. These arent just homes. Were talking Storage Facilities and p. O. Boxes. Reporter you mean hed buy one Storage Place or something . Hed have an address and the address turned out to be a storage facility. And whats he doing with all these different Storage Facilities . Reporter the main town near trinidad is eureka, where we discovered bob spent quite a bit of time in a secondhand Clothing Store primarily for women. I think he wanted to be a crossdresser and maybe he was experimenting with it. You know what i mean . Reporter he always came alone, said shopkeeper kay king. He would buy something pretty plain like this, you know, nothing real you know, so he it wasnt outstanding. And then he would get a skirt, you know, and try to match it up, you know, and most of the time, he couldnt. So i would try and help him match. Reporter kay had seen her share of crossdressers, but there was Something Different about this one. He wanted to be somebody else besides robert durst. Reporter which might explain another untold story of those years an odd and so far unexplained habit of frequenting eurekas seedy side. Hanging out at a it was a homeless shelter soup kitchen. Reporter wait a minute. He bought a house and he hangs out at a homeless shelter . Hes hanging out at a homeless shelter. Reporter but, said Charles Bagli, he was also restless. He was in constant motion, whether it he was here, in texas, or in california, or in europe. Reporter or los angeles, where hed look in on susan berman, who youll remember spoke for him after kathy disappeared, and was now trying to make it as a hollywood screenwriter. She and bobby i always felt were very tight. Reporter this is Susan Bermans friend kim lankford. She was very protective of bobby. Reporter susan lived in a slightly rundown cottage in l. A. s benedict canyon, and occasionally bob would stop by. But, like a gypsy, would soon be gone again, sometimes flying back to trinidad, where hed question his shuttle driver ross vitale. He would kind of specifically ask questions about, has the Sheriffs Department been out here . You seen anything going on . Reporter and in 1997, while bob lived here, something did happen. A local teenager named Karen Mitchell vanished after leaving a womens shoe store that, later, bob was known to frequent. By the year 2000, the case was cold. But that, of course, is when, across the country in new york, another case was suddenly hot again the investigation into the disappearance of bobs wife kathy, reopened by Westchester County d. A. Jeanine pirro, who later became a host of fox news channel. I had an instinct. Everything about this reeked of murder. We had evidence that she was battered by him, which he has since confirmed. It was clear to me that he killed her. Reporter the investigation was supposed to be top secret, but, as we know, bob durst found out. Yeah, he seemed worried, he did. Reporter and then one of kathys friends youve met her, ellen straus offered the cops a tip. I begged the police to interview his best friend susan berman. I showed them all my research. I felt susan berman was the key, always did. Reporter and the police did plan on interviewing susan berman. The problem was, they just waited a little too long. Coming up did susan ever tell you that she was afraid of robert . She did tell me she was fearful of him. My first thought was, why didnt they listen to me . What were they waiting for, godot . When dateline continues. The game doesnt end after a spectacular touchdown grab because theres always another team looking to punch one in. With nfl redzone from nfl network on xfinity, you get every touchdown from every game on sunday afternoons, all season long. Watch every breakout star, every heartpounding running attack, and every big time defensive stop. Sundays were made for football on xfinity. Thats simple, easy, awesome. Add the Sports Entertainment package for nfl redzone. Click, call, or visit a store today to learn more. Reporter by the autumn of 2000, Westchester Countys reinvestigation into the missing millionaires wife kathy durst had been chugging quietly for months. When the story broke, durst found himself in the media glare again. It had been 18 years since kathy disappeared and public opinion, he wrote, turned against him unlike before. In 1982, the tone of the publicity was of a scandal about a rich schmuck who had a terrible marriage. People did not distance themselves from me because of it. In 2000, i was a murderer who everyone disliked. Of course, susan berman had kept the bad press at bay back in 82, but now, investigators wanted to talk to her. And what did bob do then . He got married. Not to susan berman, but to new York Real Estate broker deborah charatan. That wasnt a marriage made in heaven. That was clearly a marriage of convenience, in that this is bobby durst saying, in the event im arrested, i have someone to bail me out. And to handle my affairs. Reporter well, of course thats just an opinion. Maybe it was a love match. But it did come with spousal privilege, which meant deborah didnt have to talk to the cops about her new wealthy husband. She also reportedly got access to a substantial share of his money. Deborah doesnt do anything unless deborah benefits. Reporter thats a character reference im not sure id want to have. She is a savvy business woman. Reporter meanwhile, out in hollywood, susan berman was struggling to make it as a screenwriter. Things werent quite going as well as she would have liked with her career. Reporter for years, susan had relied on bob for help and he responded, sometimes with big checks. Two at least for 25,000. There was some macabre kind of kooky energy that went on between them. Reporter we got some unique insight from a woman who claims she was Susan Bermans closest confidante and therapist and psychic. Her name is barbara stabiner, and she told us she knows what susan was thinking. In fact, she gave the police many hours of her recorded conversations with susan, in which, during those last months of 2000, according to barbara, susan grew increasingly worried. Did susan ever tell you that she was afraid of robert . She did tell me she was fearful of him, because i had the feeling she felt afraid of him because she was afraid he would withdraw any help. Reporter but it was more than that, said the psychic. Susan was afraid of bob, she said, because she knew too much. She knew his secrets. Towards the end of her life, she was very agitated with him. Reporter would he save her . Susan didnt know, said barbara. And then, just before christmas 2000, she said susan let her know that bob was on the way with money. He said, ill bring it. And thats what happened. But i cant prove it. Reporter l. A. Cops have long suspected bob did go to susans house in l. A. But not to bring her more money. To prevent her from talking ever. We do know from flight records, and bobs own personal account, that he did go to california. Christmas 2000, robert durst was on the move again. Late december, he flew here to eureka, california. He had owned a house in this area for several years, but had recently sold it. He wasnt coming to stay here. He got a car, got inside it, pointed south. In bob durst s own personal account, he notes a visit to garberville, 600 miles from los angeles. After that, we cant follow his trail. We do know that late on december 22nd or early the 23rd, susan berman was murdered by a bullet to the back of her head at her home in l. A. And on the 23rd, flight records confirm bob took off from San Francisco on the red eye to new york. And soon after, this letter postmarked december 23rd, showed up at the Beverly Hills pd. I call it the cadaver note. Reporter ah yes. The famous note directing police to her body. A note, likely written by her killer. Word of Susan Bermans murder traveled fast. It was like, oh my god. I mean, and i my first thought was, why didnt they listen to me . They did not interview susan berman in a timely manner. What were they waiting for . Godot . Reporter bob skipped Susan Bermans memorial service. And a few weeks later, he surfaced in galveston, texas, another good place to get lost, except, of course, trouble eventually found him there. A killing, a dismemberment and an unforgettable acquittal. We all know the story, but not this version. Coming up, did robert durst rehearse telling the truth . His wife and friend smuggled a little cassette tape recorder into the jail. He would discuss with them wh