Amid the release of The Jinx Season 2 Episode 1, creator Andrew Jarecki has made a shocking revelation about that Season 1 twist ending.
“Killed them all, of course” — these five words were immortalized by Robert “Bob” Durst when he uttered them to himself after filming his final shots for The Jinx.
The 2015 true crime docuseries was supposed to end with Jarecki confronting Durst with a letter he wrote, one that was eerily similar to a note penned by Susan Berman’s killer. However, following the tense exchange, Durst used the bathroom, unaware that his mic was still hot. And it was here that he made the shocking confession.
It made up the final scene of The Jinx Season 1, marking the most shocking twist ending in true crime history. But, following the premiere of Season 2’s first chapter, Jarecki has revealed that his crew didn’t spot the confession until 26 months after they recorded it — and they nearly missed it altogether if it hadn’t been for one editor.
In a conversation with The Daily Beast, the creator explained that they didn’t know Durst was doing anything unusual in the bathroom, as they were all busy celebrating the fact that he was unable to explain the similarities between the two letters.
“The reason we didn’t know Bob was doing anything in the bathroom is because we were so happy he had done what we thought he was going to do, by essentially being unable to explain the similarity in the handwriting, and then all the rubbing and the burping and this physical reaction,” he said.
“Then, we’re whispering, and I have a lavalier mic on, I think there’s another mic in the room, and he has a mic in the bathroom, and the sound guy – we actually have film of this – has headphones hanging around his neck because he thought we were done. But it was still recording.
“So all the stuff that Bob’s talking about in the bathroom, we didn’t hear. 26 months later, Shelby Siegel, one of our really great editors, was going through it and cleaning up audio tracks, and she looked on the monitor and saw Bob’s track was flat, and then there was a little squiggle.
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“She thought, that’s interesting, why is there a squiggle on Bob’s waveform? She muted the other track and suddenly she heard Bob, and the first thing he says when he goes into the bathroom is, ‘There it is. You’re caught.’ She screamed! She ran into the next room where Zac [Stuart-Pontier] was and said, ‘You have to hear this.’”
Jarecki went on to say that there was another drive the team hadn’t loaded yet, which was an extended version of the bathroom recording. “He goes through this incredible internal monologue, saying things about, ‘I don’t know what’s in the house,’ which I always interpreted to mean the house in South Salem where Kathie disappeared,” Jarecki added.
“He says, ‘You wanted this,’ talking to himself. And then when he says, ‘Killed them all, of course.’ We didn’t know what to do with that. It was just so incredible that that could ever happen.”
After the team handed over their findings to the police, detectives were on the case. But Durst went on the run after Episode 5 aired, realizing their findings implicated him in the crimes.
Authorities were able to track Durst down, finding him hiding out at a hotel in New Orleans, and he was arrested before being sentenced to life in prison for the 2000 murder of his friend, Berman. Durst died in prison in 2022 at 78, before he could go on trial for the 1982 disappearance of his ex-wife, Kathleen “Kathie” McCormack.
The Jinx Season 2 Episode 1 is streaming on Max now, while new episodes drop Sundays at 7pm PT/10pm ET on HBO and Max until the finale on May 26. You can read about where Robert’s brother Douglas Durst is now here. For more true crime, check out the new documentaries coming out this month, as well as the TV shows to add to your watchlist.
