Real estate heir Robert Durst testified in his murder trial on Wednesday that he put his wife on a New York train one night in 1982 and never saw her again, in a defense attempt to undermine the prosecution's theory of his alleged crime.
Durst is on trial for killing another woman, his longtime confidante Susan Berman, at her Beverly Hills home in 2000. But Los Angeles County prosecutors allege he killed Berman because she knew that Durst had killed his wife and Berman posed a threat. He was never prosecuted for his wife's disappearance.
Durst admitted he killed another man in Texas while hiding from the law in 2001, but was acquitted upon arguing self-defense. He famously appeared to confess to murder on a hot microphone while shooting an HBO documentary series, when he was caught saying to himself, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."
Taking the rare step of testifying in his own defense, the ailing Durst, 78, described a rocky marriage to Kathleen McCormack Durst, a medical student who went missing around the time Durst described.
He said he convinced his wife to have an abortion early in their marriage, they both dated other people, and that they both used a lot of drugs with his wife having a serious cocaine problem.
After a marital spat at their weekend home in suburban New York, Durst said he put her on a train bound for Manhattan and their Riverside Drive home the night of Jan. 31, 1982, a Sunday.
"That's the last time I saw Kathy," Durst testified from a wheelchair and wearing a county jail uniform.
Defense lawyer Dick DeGuerin then asked if he was sure he saw his wife board the train, a question he has been asked many times before. Durst said he could not be completely sure he saw her step onto the train and the doors close behind her.
"I've changed my mind probably a dozen times. ... But there was no place else to go," Durst said. The platform was empty, he said.
On Monday, Durst denied killing Berman and said he did not know who did.
Durst will resume taking friendly questions from his lawyer on Thursday, but when that is done will get grilled by prosecutors.