Prosecutors in Los Angeles say they suspect Durst killed Berman, 55, because of what she knew about his wife’s unsolved demise in 1982.
Chavin testified he met Durst in New York around 1980 and the two soon became close friends, with Durst eventually serving as a best man at Chavin’s wedding. The two men shared a mutual friendship with Berman.
Chavin said he also knew Durst’s wife, Kathleen, and described the Dursts’ relationship as ‘strained’.
‘She said she was afraid of him. She never said he would hurt her but she was afraid of him,’ Chavin testified.
Chavin is scheduled to testify again on Thursday.
Durst has pleaded not guilty in Berman’s killing. He was questioned in the probe of his wife's disappearance but has not been charged, and her body has never been found.
Durst at Wednesday’s hearing walked haltingly into court wearing khaki pants and a light-blue collared shirt. He stopped briefly to look over the audience of reporters and spectators.
His ties to both cases, and his 2003 acquittal in the killing and dismemberment of a Texas neighbour, were chronicled in the popular multi-part HBO documentary The Jinx last year. The Independent article 16th February 2017 ‘Real estate tycoon Robert Durst confronted by friend’s surprise testimony at murder trial’
His trip from the penthouse to the big house is a saga which spans decades and criss-crosses the country with a trail of dead bodies. Robert Durst: An ID Murder Mystery I: Bobby’s Girls, news, DiscoveryPlus 2022
February 5th 1982: The man says he wants to report his wife [Kathie] missing. He says his name is Robert Durst. ibid. dude
Friends would say to her, He’s going to hurt you. She said, I can’t leave right now. When I finish medical school, then I’ll leave. ibid. friend
On the morning of Christmas Eve 2000 an emergency operator receives a call from Susan Berman’s [Durst’s best friend] neighbour … ‘They found Susan Berman dead with a single bullet to the back of her head.’ ibid. dude
Robert is now a person of interest in a missing person’s investigation and a murder case both of which have stalled. ibid.
Now he’s on the run and they can’t find him. ibid. dude
Morris Black’s mutilated body was found floating in Galveston Bay and evidence led police to his neighbour, Durst. ibid. news
Busted while trying to shoplift a $6 chicken salad sandwich. Robert Durst: An ID Murder Mystery II: Fade to Black, news
The court sets bail at one billion dollars. ibid. woman
We the jury find the defendant Robert Durst not guilty. ibid. Judge reads’
One of the most shocking verdicts ever. ibid. crime reporter
The Jinx filmmaker started turning in evidence on Durst. ibid.
Reports soon emerge linking Durst to three unsolved cases across the United States. ibid.
Multi-millionaire, serial killer, dog slayer, waste basket peer, pathelogical liar, emotional vampire. That’s Robert Durst. True Crime Recaps: Robert Durst, Youtube 29.28, 2022
Bob Durst was found guilty for the execution-like murder of his best friend, Susan Berman, in LA. He killed her to stop from telling police what she knew. ibid.
When he forget to turn off his microphone in the bathroom, The Jinx caught this accidental confession that ultimately led to Robert’s arrest. ibid.
At least 13 different family members have taken out restraining orders against him over the years. ibid.
DUTRA, SARAH & LAUREN SIMS: Crime Stories TV - Ladi News-Sentinel online -
On February 5th 2002 a body is found buried in the vineyards that surround Stockton, California ... white male crouched in a foetal position. Crime Stories: Trail of Deceit
Elisa was Larry McNabney’s fifth wife ... Larry McNabney had a drug problem, a missing wife, four ex-wives, two with restraining orders against him, and a law practice which may have earned him dangerous enemies. ibid.
Sarah Dutra never made a full confession to her role in the murder of Larry McNabney; in March of 2003 she was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and accomplice to murder. ibid.
The woman accused of poisoning her Woodbridge boss a decade ago was released early Friday morning from the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla.
Sarah Dutra, who served nearly her entire sentence, was convicted of poisoning attorney Larry McNabney on Sept 11th 2001. She and her alleged accomplice drove his body north and stashed it in a garage refrigerator in his Woodbridge home before ultimately burying it in a shallow grave.
His body was found in February 2002 in a vineyard near Linden.
Dutra was a 21-year-old art student at California State University, Sacramento, when she befriended Lauren Sims, the then-wife of McNabney, the boss at the firm where Dutra worked as a legal secretary. The women hatched a plot to poison McNabney with a horse tranquilizer and steal money from his law practice, according to prosecutors.
Sims, who had a long history of criminal activity and aliases, was also arrested but ultimately hung herself in jail. She left a three-page confession letter that implicated Dutra and left her to stand trial alone.
She has served most of the 11-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter and was released at 4:45 a.m. friday morning, according to the state department of corrections and rehabilitation.
Dutra, now 31, was granted a parole transfer so she could serve her three years of parole in Solano County, where her parents live. She was raised in Vacaville. Ladi News-Sentinel online article 26th August 2011
DUTROUX, MARC: Serial Killers & Crimes that Shook the World TV - Killer Trials TV - Real Crime TV - World’s Most Evil Killers TV -
His crimes against children shocked the world. His arrest sparked protests that brought his home country Belgium to the brink of revolution. Serial Killers: Monster of Belgium s/a Crimes that Shook the World
91% of abducted children are murdered within twenty-four hours. ibid.
Soon more young girls will disappear. ibid.
A man who has readily confessed to committing horrific and callous crimes. ibid.
In 1989 ... Detroux and his wife had been convicted of the abduction and rape of five girls. Detroux was released just three years into a thirteen-year sentence. ibid.
He states he is part of a national paedophile network whose tentacles stretch right to the top of Belgium society. ibid.
Twenty people connected with the case have died in suspicious circumstances. ibid.
Marc Detroux is found guilty of the abduction and rape of six girls, and killing four of them. ibid.
It’s the European trial of the century. Six young girls vanish without a trace. Snatched from their families. They are raped, tortured and locked in a cage. The crimes were so horrific they sent the country of Belgium reeling into national mourning. Which erupts into fury over revelations of how police bungled the investigation. Killer Trials s1e23: Marc Dutroux, 2013
Detroux was released in 1987 after serving just six of his thirteen year sentence for kidnapping and raping children. ibid.
Rumours of a police cover-up start to circulate. ibid.
Over 300,000 people protest in the streets of Brussels. ibid.
15th August 1996: A dramatic rescue of two young girls was caught on camera … Kidnap, rape, murder: the events of the following months would involve six families and shake a nation to its core. Real Crime [with Mark Austin] s6e5: The Perverted World of Mark Dutroux, ITV 2007
An evil psychopath … Despite his previous conviction, Dutroux was never taken in for questioning. ibid.
Here in 1996 Dutroux was charged with the kidnap, rape and murder of four young girls, and the kidnap and rape of two others. While the nation recoiled in horror, rumours spoke of conspiracy and corruption reaching to the highest levels of government as details of the bungled police investigation began to surface. ibid.
In the summer of 1996 the whole of Belgium was in shock when two young girls who had been kidnapped, raped and tortured were rescued from a makeshift dungeon … The bodies of four other girls were found buried. World’s Most Evil Killers s1e4: Marc Dutroux, Sky Living 2017
Dutroux was released on parole [rape and abduction] in 1992 after serving three years of a thirteen-year sentence. ibid.
The most gruesome details of Dutroux’s crimes were laid bare in front of the eyes of the jury and of the families of the girls. ibid.