The final scene of the documentary finale “The Jinx: Part Two”, which aired on Sunday, shows a stunning view of the luxurious beach mansion, which is meant to represent the Hamptons home of killer Robert Durst’s widow, Debrah Lee Charatan.
The series, which chronicles the California murder prosecution of New York real estate scion Durst, uses Charatan’s Bridgehampton mansion, valued at $15 million on Realtor.com®, as a symbol of Durst’s corrupt influence on those close to him.
But what was not revealed in the docuseries by filmmaker Andrew Jarecki is the star Los Angeles prosecutor who won the murder conviction against Durst once vacationed in the mansion overnight as a guest invited by Charatan, just a month after Durst died behind bars.
The shocking revelation is the latest twist in the Durst saga. The heir to a commercial real estate empire, Durst was suspected of murdering his wife Kathleen McCormack Durst in 1982 in New York, was acquitted of murdering his neighbor Robert Morris in Texas after admitting to mutilating the man’s body, and was convicted of murdering him in 2000. close friend Susan Berman in Los Angeles.
Shortly after he believed the murders took place in late 2021, Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney John Lewin and his daughter visited Charatan at the beach mansion and stayed there overnight, News 12 Bronx first reported Tuesday.
The report cited a taped deposition of a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the family of Durst’s wife, Kathleen, in which Charatan and Lewin confirmed the sleepover visit.
Charatan, in a deposition dated last October, appeared to curtly confirm that Lewin visited her Bridgehampton home, slept over, and she was home at the time.
Lewin, in his own deposition on March 1, appeared surprised when asked about the vacation.
“Did I have a night? So my daughter and I, on vacation to New York City, made arrangements. … The trial is long over, Bob Durst is long dead, and we made arrangements,” he said in a deposition clip published by News 12.
The visit comes just months after Durst died at a bar in January 2022, according to the outlet. The killer died at the age of 78 after being sentenced to life in prison in October 2021 for killing Berman. Prosecutors say Durst shot Berman execution-style at his Benedict Canyon home in 2000 to prevent him from revealing what he knew about Kathleen’s disappearance decades earlier.
“And my daughter and I had a very good … I didn’t spend one night if I remember. … I think it was two nights,” Lewin said in the deposition tape. “I don’t remember, but there was nothing unethical, illegal, or unfit.”
However, legal experts expressed skepticism, saying sleep visits could raise ethical questions for Lewin.
“It doesn’t pass the smell test,” Pace Law School professor Bennett Gershman told News 12. “I just don’t understand it. It just strikes me as a stupid and horrible judgment.
Charatan, Lewin, and the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Realtor.com on Wednesday. The DA’s office told News 12 it was “aware of the allegations” but could not comment on personnel matters.
According to “The Jinx,” Durst helped Charatan buy a Bridgehampton mansion after a hasty marriage ceremony in December 2000. The day after the wedding, held in his Manhattan office without guests or a reception, Durst flew to California to kill Berman, the documentary says. reveal.
Public records show that Charatan bought the Bridgehampton home in November 2006 for $11 million. He is listed as the sole owner of a six-bedroom, 4,899-square-foot home with prime beach frontage.
