The second Mrs. Durst emerges in the case fascinating the nation.
A grinning Robert Durst left court in New Orleans on Tuesday in the backseat of a police car with not a care in the world.
Meanwhile, an intriguing figure is emerging in the case that's fascinating the nation. The second Mrs. Durst. Her name is Debrah Lee Charatan and she's married to the notorious real estate tycoon who's long suspected in the disappearance of his first wife, Kathy, in 1982 and is now charged with the execution style slaying of his close friend Susan Berman.
Charatan made a dynamic impression in a videotaped deposition that was shown in the six-part HBO documentary The Jinx.
In the deposition, a lawyer asked her, "When did you meet Robert Durst?"
She replied, "1988, I think."
Charatan was asked, "At the time, was he married?"
"That is a very tricky question as you know, but let's say he was," she said.
The 58-year-old Charatan is a successful New York real estate broker. Her stylish wardrobe favors Chanel and Louis Vuitton.
Now, a published report in the New York Post claims she was standing by in Florida, ready to board a flight to Cuba to join her husband in the communist haven where there is no extradition treaty with the United States.
The FBI thinks Robert Durst was planning an escape to Havana from New Orleans before cops busted him in the lobby of a French Quarter hotel on Saturday.
Charatan married Durst in 2000, less than two weeks before Susan Berman was found shot in the head in her Beverly Hills home. It was the second marriage for both.
In the deposition she was asked, "Did you learn around Christmas of 2000 that Susan Berman had been killed?"
"Yes," she answered.
She was then asked, "At that time, was Mr. Durst in residence at your house?"
After a long pause, she said, "I don't think so."
"[Debrah]'s an excellent broker,” a business acquaintance told The New York Times, "but she's also one of the most ruthless people I have ever come across."
INSIDE EDITION’s Steven Fabian spoke to Kathy Durst's brother, Jim McCormack.
Fabian asked, "I think a lot of people are out there wondering how could somebody else marry this man?"
McCormack replied, "They connected on that level of, both of them are articulate in the real estate industry. Quite frankly, I view her as a kind of piranha looking to eat the next buck."
Fabian asked, "So, you think she married him for the money?"
"I have no doubt in my mind that had a lot of things to do with it," he replied.
McCormack watched Robert’s apparent confession in The Jinx with his family where he said in an open mic moment, "There it is. You're caught. What a disaster. What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."
McCormack admitted, "It was virtually an audible gasp to describe it, like a disbelief, like whoa! Then, after the show and the credits started rolling there was applause, tears."
Robert Durst will remain in a New Orleans jail at least until next week before his extradition to California. He was found in possession of a Smith & Wesson revolver and over five ounces of marijuana. Robert denies killing Berman or having anything to do with Kathy's disappearance.
Jim Moret spoke to famed attorney Thomas Mesereau, best known for defending Michael Jackson. He says the case is no slam dunk despite the statements made in the bathroom when Robert apparently thought his mic was off.
Moret asked, "How do you hear those statements?"
Mesereau said, "When I first heard that quote, my sense was he was being sarcastic. He is almost in his own way, to himself, mocking this idea that he killed everybody. If the prosecutors in this case try and bring in that quote from the bathroom, I think the defense will say, 'You opened the door, it was is called the Doctrine of Completeness, let the entire interview come in where he exonerates himself completely."
