ROBERT DURST: PARTICIPATING IN DOCUMENTARY 'THE JINX' WAS 'STUPID,' PUT HIM IN JAIL

A close friend of Robert Durst told prosecutors for months that the real estate heir did not confess any killing to him.

Lawyers for Durst presented transcripts in a Los Angeles courtroom on Friday (17 FEB.) that showed Nathan Chavin denying that Durst indicated he killed their mutual friend Susan Berman.

Chavin says he waffled for months because of a struggle between loyalties to Durst and Berman.

It took seven months before he told prosecutors Durst told him: "It was her or me. I had no choice."

Defense lawyers suggested Chavin made up the story to curry favor with Durst's brother.

Chavin did business with the New York real estate development empire headed by Douglas Durst.

Chavin says the brothers hate each other and Douglas Durst feared his older brother and wanted him locked up.

Robert Durst told Chavin he was stupid to participate in the documentary about his life "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst."

Durst told Chavin in a recorded jail phone call played Friday in a Los Angeles courtroom that the filmmaker had put him behind bars.

Chavin reminded Durst on the call that he counseled him not to participate in "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst." The film unearthed new evidence implicating Durst in three killings.

Durst has pleaded not guilty to murder in the 2000 killing of death of Susan Berman in Los Angeles.

Chavin is testifying in a hearing to record testimony from witnesses who are old or fear for their safety in case they're not able to testify at a trial in the Berman case.

POOL

FILE: Los Angeles, 7 Nov. 2016

1. Robert Durst enters courtroom in a wheel chair and is seated next to his lawyers

++Off Camera++

2. UPSOUND "We enter a plea of not guilty."

Judge: "Not guilty plea will be entered."

3. Various of judge

4. Tight of Los Angeles County prosecutor

5. Various Durst with attorney Dick De Guerin

6. Wide of judge

7. Tight De Guerin

8. SOUNDBITE Robert Durst, suspect:

"Your honor, I'm willing to waive my rights. I do want to say here and now though, I am not guilty. I did not kill Susan Berman."

Judge: "Thank you. And do you in fact waive those rights at this time?"

Durst: "Yes."

9. Various Durst

ROBERT DURST PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO MURDER IN LA COURT

Real estate heir Robert Durst pleaded not guilty to murder Monday (7 NOV. 2016) in the death of a friend who authorities said Durst wanted to keep from talking to investigators looking into the disappearance of his first wife.

The 73-year-old Durst, wearing a neck brace and seated in a wheelchair, entered the plea during a long-awaited appearance in a Los Angeles courtroom in the death of Susan Berman 16 years ago.

"I do want to say here and now though I am not guilty," a pale and frail-looking Durst said in court. "I did not kill Susan Berman."

Durst's statement came after his attorney unsuccessfully argued to ban news media cameras from the courtroom.

Prosecutors said they would not be seeking the death penalty against Durst.

Durst was already a well-known figure in his native New York. But he became a national name when HBO aired the documentary "The Jinx" that followed his life and cast suspicion on him involving several crimes.

Los Angeles County prosecutors have been seeking to bring Durst to California since shortly after his arrest in March 2015.

POOL

Los Angeles, 7 Nov. 2016

1. Robert Durst enters courtroom in a wheel chair and is seated next to his lawyers

++Off Camera++

2. UPSOUND "We enter a plea of not guilty."

Judge: "Not guilty plea will be entered."

3. Various of judge

4. Tight of Los Angeles County prosecutor

5. Various Durst with attorney Dick De Guerin

6. Wide of judge

7. Tight De Guerin

8. SOUNDBITE Robert Durst, suspect:

"Your honor, I'm willing to waive my rights. I do want to say here and now though, I am not guilty. I did not kill Susan Berman."

Judge: "Thank you. And do you in fact waive those rights at this time?"

Durst: "Yes."

9. Various Durst

Real estate heir Robert Durst pleaded not guilty to murder Monday in the death of a friend who authorities said Durst wanted to keep from talking to investigators looking into the disappearance of his first wife.

The 73-year-old Durst, wearing a neck brace and seated in a wheelchair, entered the plea during a long-awaited appearance in a Los Angeles courtroom in the death of Susan Berman 16 years ago.

"I do want to say here and now though I am not guilty," a pale and frail-looking Durst said in court. "I did not kill Susan Berman."

Durst's statement came after his attorney unsuccessfully argued to ban news media cameras from the courtroom.

Prosecutors said they would not be seeking the death penalty against Durst.

Durst was already a well-known figure in his native New York. But he became a national name when HBO aired the documentary "The Jinx" that followed his life and cast suspicion on him involving several crimes.

Los Angeles County prosecutors have been seeking to bring Durst to California since shortly after his arrest in March 2015.

POOL

Los Angeles - 7 November 2016

1. Robert Durst enters courtroom in a wheel chair and is seated next to his lawyers

++Off Camera++

2. UPSOUND "We enter a plea of not guilty."

Judge: "Not guilty plea will be entered."

3. Various of judge

4. Tight of Los Angeles County prosecutor

5. Various Durst with attorney Dick De Guerin

6. Wide of judge

7. Tight De Guerin

8. SOUNDBITE Robert Durst, suspect:

"Your honor, I'm willing to waive my rights. I do want to say here and now though, I am not guilty. I did not kill Susan Berman."

Judge: "Thank you. And do you in fact waive those rights at this time?"

Durst: "Yes."

9. Various Durst

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus066456

Real estate heir Robert Durst pleaded not guilty to murder Monday in the death of a friend who authorities said Durst wanted to keep from talking to investigators looking into the disappearance of his first wife.

The 73-year-old Durst, wearing a neck brace and seated in a wheelchair, entered the plea during a long-awaited appearance in a Los Angeles courtroom in the death of Susan Berman 16 years ago.

"I do want to say here and now though I am not guilty," a pale and frail-looking Durst said in court. "I did not kill Susan Berman."

Durst's statement came after his attorney unsuccessfully argued to ban news media cameras from the courtroom.

Prosecutors said they would not be seeking the death penalty against Durst.

Durst was already a well-known figure in his native New York. But he became a national name when HBO aired the documentary "The Jinx" that followed his life and cast suspicion on him involving several crimes.

Los Angeles County prosecutors have been seeking to bring Durst to California since shortly after his arrest in March 2015.

POOL

Los Angeles - 7 November 2016

1. Robert Durst enters courtroom in a wheel chair and is seated next to his lawyers

++Off Camera++

2. UPSOUND "We enter a plea of not guilty."

Judge: "Not guilty plea will be entered."

3. SOUNDBITE Robert Durst, defendant:

"Your honor, I'm willing to waive my rights. I do want to say here and now though, I am not guilty. I did not kill Susan Berman."

Judge: "Thank you. And do you in fact waive those rights at this time?"

Durst: "Yes."

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POOL

FILE: Los Angeles, 7 November 2016

1. Robert Durst enters courtroom in a wheel chair and is seated next to his lawyers

++Off Camera++

2. UPSOUND "We enter a plea of not guilty."

Judge: "Not guilty plea will be entered."

3. Various of judge

4. Tight of Los Angeles County prosecutor

5. Various Durst with attorney Dick De Guerin

6. Wide of judge

7. Tight De Guerin

8. SOUNDBITE Robert Durst, suspect:

"Your honor, I'm willing to waive my rights. I do want to say here and now though, I am not guilty. I did not kill Susan Berman."

Judge: "Thank you. And do you in fact waive those rights at this time?"

Durst: "Yes."

9. Various Durst

STORYLINE:

WITNESS: ROBERT DURST VICTIM SAID HE MIGHT KILL HER YEARS EARLIER

A friend of Susan Berman testified that Berman tapped New York real estate heir Robert Durst as her potential killer years before she was executed in her home.

Miriam Barnes' testified Tuesday that Berman once told her, "If anything ever happens to me, Bobby did it."

A nervous Berman had summoned Barnes to her New York apartment around the time Durst's wife vanished to say she had done something that day for Durst, but she wouldn't elaborate. The gravity of what she said next wouldn't sink in until Barnes was at Berman's funeral nearly two decades later.

Barnes, who is expected to face cross-examination Wednesday, was the second witness at the unusual hearing to record testimony in Los Angeles Superior Court from witnesses who are old, ill or fear for their safety and may not be available at Durst's eventual trial.

Durst, 74, has pleaded not guilty to murder in the fatal shooting of Berman in Los Angeles in 2000. Prosecutors allege Durst killed Berman to prevent her from telling police what she knew about Kathleen Durst's mysterious 1982 disappearance.

Barnes, 66, a former film executive now working as a psychiatric social worker, never went to police because she feared Durst could harm her.

"I knew he was a very wealthy man and he could do whatever he wanted to somebody," said Barnes, who nervously looked over at the diminutive and frail Durst. "I started thinking about his wife and Susan, I started thinking, oh my God, I don't want anything to do with this. I was petrified. I still am."

Barnes eventually told the account to The New York Times because she didn't think Durst would live to see his day in court. She said she regretted that decision and wished she didn't have to testify.

A retired New York detective testified that a few months before Kathleen Durst disappeared, she had frantically banged on a neighbor's balcony window in her pajamas for help and said Robert Durst had beaten her and she feared he would kill her.

James Varian, 77, had interviewed neighbors of the Dursts after the disappearance and retired from the force later that year.

He said he did not recall much of what was written in the reports until he reviewed them, but he remembered the account of Anne Doyle, who lived in the 16th-floor penthouse next to the Dursts.

Doyle said a frightened Kathleen Durst once appeared at her bedroom window and said her husband had a gun and she feared he would kill her, Varian testified.

"Bob had beat her and wants to kill her," Varian said. "That's what Mrs. Doyle told me."

Kathleen Durst said she was afraid to be near any window and hid in the Doyle bathroom for two hours. Eventually, Kevin Doyle calmed her down and spoke with Robert Durst.

Robert Durst did not admit beating his wife, but he told Kevin Doyle he was not mad and that she should come home, Varian said.

Kathleen Durst has never been found. A New York judge last month declared her dead.

A judge hearing the case hasn't yet determined if Durst will stand trial or if the recorded testimony would be admissible at a trial. The defense has objected to the use of hearsay statements.

The video recorded testimony of Barnes and Varian will only be used if they're not available at a future trial.

Ellen Strauss, a friend of millionaire Robert Durst's first wife Kathleen Durst, said she is "over the moon" about his arrest.

Strauss has been investigating the death of her friend for over 30 years and feels vindicated by Durst's arrest.

"I will take his going to jail anyway I can, I'm not fussy, he can only go to jail once. What I would like is for him to tell us, on his death bed if he has to, where he put Kathy's body or pieces of it," said Strauss.

Strauss said she has spoken to Kathleen Durst's family and said they are "very happy" with the arrest.

"They've finally seen an end to it. You know she has a mother that's 101-years old living at home, 101 and not knowing for the last 33 years where her daughter is," said Strauss.

Durst was charged Monday in Los Angeles with first-degree murder in the shooting of Susan Berman, the daughter of a prominent Las Vegas mobster. Durst has also been suspected _ but never charged _ in the disappearance of his first wife in New York.

He could face the death penalty under special circumstances that allege he ambushed Berman and murdered a witness to a crime.

Authorities found more than a quarter-pound of marijuana and a revolver in Durst's hotel room when he was arrested over the weekend, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Durst appeared before a judge for a second straight day on Tuesday to face the drug and weapons charges.

In 2003, he was acquitted of murder in a dismemberment death in Texas.

In a documentary that just wrapped up about Durst's troubled life, he mumbled about how he "killed them all," providing a dramatic kick to the end of the series. But a law enforcement official said his arrest on the murder charge was based on words he wrote.

Analysis linked a letter Durst wrote to his friend Susan Berman a year before her killing with one that pointed police to her body, and that was the key new evidence in the long-dormant investigation into the 2000 killing, the official not authorized to speak publicly told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

AP TELEVISION

New York - March 17, 2015

1. Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"I'm over the moon, absolutely over the moon. That's why I agree to do all these interviews, I'm exhausted. I wish my friend Eleanor Schwank, who worked with me on this, who just passed away could see it."

3. Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"I will take his going to jail anyway I can, I'm not fussy, he can only go to jail once. What I would like is for him to tell us, on his death bed if he has to, where he put Kathy's body or pieces of it."

5. Ellen Strauss, Friend of Kathleen Durst

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"They're very happy. They've finally seen an end to it. You know she has a mother that's 101 years old living at home, 101 and not knowing for the last 33 years where her daughter is."

7. Ellen Strauss, Friend of Kathleen Durst

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"I haven't thought that far ahead, I mean I don't expect he is going to get off scot-free, I really don't. I think this time we've got him. He stabbed himself. He hoisted himself on his own petard whatever you want to call it. I am not thinking that way at all. I really think this time we've got him."

9. Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst, walking outside

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"I think the trial is another chapter. I mean I'm waiting for that to be the nail in his coffin. He's got to squeak out of this one, that would be really amazing."

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"How hard everybody worked, how hard all of us worked and it now seems that maybe it paid off, that it did pay off. I know that that the last chapter isn't written yet, but that is what life is all about surprises."

12. Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

DURST APPEARS IN NEW ORLEANS COURT; POLICE SAY HE HAD A REVOLVER WITH HIM WHEN ARRESTED

Millionaire Robert Durst agreed Monday (16 MARCH 2015) to return to Los Angeles to face a 15-year-old murder charge after muttering that he "killed them all" in a documentary about his links to three sensational killings.

Robert Durst, 71, appeared before a judge in New Orleans after FBI agents arrested him before HBO's broadcast of Sunday's final episode of the documentary.

He is charged in the shooting death of Susan Berman, a mobster's daughter who acted as his spokeswoman. He has also long been suspected in the death of his wife, Kathleen Durst, and was acquitted years ago in the death of an elderly neighbor.

In the finale of the documentary that authorities hope will finally lead to a conviction, he muttered that "killed them all, of course."

He shuffled into the courtroom with his hands shackled at his waist, wearing sandals and an orange jumpsuit. He turned to the gallery and smiled, then appeared to fall asleep just before the hearing started. Later, he answered "yes" to questions from the judge about whether he was waiving extradition from Louisiana state to California.

But one of his lawyers, Dick DeGuerin, said the trip may be delayed because New Orleans prosecutors are considering other unspecified charges. He wouldn't elaborate, and spokesman Christopher Bowman said the Orleans Parish district attorney's office won't comment.

A police report said Durst was in possession of a revolver when he was arrested. In Louisiana, a person needs a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and it was not immediately clear if Durst had a permit.

A former prosecutor who reopened one of the cold cases against Durst years ago, Jeanine Pirro, said Monday that his own words, recorded during and after a lengthy interview he gave to the filmmaker, are enough to convict him.

In the finale of "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst," Durst acknowledges similarities in the handwriting of a letter he wrote and another one sent anonymously to Beverly Hills Police alerting them to his friend's "cadaver." Then he went to the bathroom, still wearing his live microphone.

What followed was bizarre rambling in which Durst said, apparently to himself, "There it is. You're caught" and "What the hell did I do? Killed them all of course."

Jarecki and his co-writer and cinematographer Marc Smerling answered some of the many questions raised by Durst's audiotaped comments in a New York Times interview published Monday.

They said they never confronted Durst about what he said in the bathroom, but that they did share what they found with authorities last year as they were preparing the film to be aired.

Durst willingly talked with Jarecki on camera. They met after the filmmaker told a fictionalized account of Durst's story in "All Good Things," a 2010 film starring Ryan Gosling.

The making of the documentary took three years, and the bathroom audio was discovered by an editing crew last June, Jarecki said.

For the filmmakers, the audiotape tipped the scales - they not only believe he's responsible for the murders, but that he's capable of more violence. Jarecki told the Times that they hired security and were relieved when Durst was finally arrested.

Berman was the daughter of an associate of Las Vegas mobsters Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky who spoke out on Durst's behalf after his wife disappeared. She was killed at her home near Beverly Hills with a bullet to the back of her head.

Durst then lived as a mute woman in a Texas boarding house until 2001, when dismembered parts of Black's body were found floating in Galveston Bay. He fled house arrest, then turned up shoplifting in Pennsylvania.

Lewis told that jury that Durst shot Black in self-defense, and he was acquitted of murder, despite admitting that he dismembered Black's body.

AP Television

New Orleans, March 16, 2015

1. Various of attorneys for Robert Durst leaving the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court

2. SOUNDBITE Dick DeGuerin, Attorney for Robert Durst:

"let me just say that we came here to waive jurisdiction and go back to California and get it on. Bob Durst didn't kill Susan Berman. He's ready to end all the rumor and speculation and have a trial. But we were frustrated because local authorities are considering filing charges on him here and holding him here. We're ready to go to California and have a trial. See you later."

3. Various of who is believed to be Robert Durst arriving by sheriff's vehicle transport at a secure back entrance to the Orleans Parish criminal courthouse complex, which is next to the Orleans Parish jail

4. Various exteriors of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court

ROBERT DURST PROSECUTOR SEEKS VIDEOTAPED TESTIMONY, CITING FEAR FOR WITNESSES

Prosecutors who charged New York real estate heir Robert Durst with the murder of his best friend in Los Angeles want to videotape testimony from witnesses they fear could die or be killed before trial.

Deputy District Attorney John Lewin said Wednesday that prosecutors fear for the safety of witnesses because Durst is accused of killing a witness in the 1982 disappearance of his wife.

Lawyers for Durst objected to taking conditional testimony and suggestions the 73-year-old Durst, who is using a wheelchair and in custody, is a threat to anyone.

Lewin says Durst is worth $100 million and is suspected of killing Susan Berman, who was allegedly killed in 2000, before she was expected to be interviewed by police about the suspected murder of Kathleen Durst in New York.

Pool

FILE: Los Angeles, 7 November 2016

Los Angeles, 7 Nov. 2016

1. Robert Durst enters courtroom in a wheel chair and is seated next to his lawyers

++Off Camera++

2. UPSOUND "We enter a plea of not guilty."

Judge: "Not guilty plea will be entered."

3. Various of judge

4. Tight of Los Angeles County prosecutor

5. Various Durst with attorney Dick De Guerin

6. Wide of judge

7. Tight De Guerin

8. SOUNDBITE Robert Durst, suspect:

"Your honor, I'm willing to waive my rights. I do want to say here and now though, I am not guilty. I did not kill Susan Berman."

Judge: "Thank you. And do you in fact waive those rights at this time?"

Durst: "Yes."

9. Various Durst

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus027863

Ellen Strauss, a friend of millionaire Robert Durst's first wife Kathleen Durst, said she is "over the moon" about his arrest.

Strauss has been investigating the death of her friend for over 30 years and feels vindicated by Durst's arrest.

"I will take his going to jail anyway I can, I'm not fussy, he can only go to jail once. What I would like is for him to tell us, on his death bed if he has to, where he put Kathy's body or pieces of it," said Strauss.

Strauss said she has spoken to Kathleen Durst's family and said they are "very happy" with the arrest.

"They've finally seen an end to it. You know she has a mother that's 101-years old living at home, 101 and not knowing for the last 33 years where her daughter is," said Strauss.

Durst was charged Monday in Los Angeles with first-degree murder in the shooting of Susan Berman, the daughter of a prominent Las Vegas mobster. Durst has also been suspected _ but never charged _ in the disappearance of his first wife in New York.

He could face the death penalty under special circumstances that allege he ambushed Berman and murdered a witness to a crime.

Authorities found more than a quarter-pound of marijuana and a revolver in Durst's hotel room when he was arrested over the weekend, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Durst appeared before a judge for a second straight day on Tuesday to face the drug and weapons charges.

In 2003, he was acquitted of murder in a dismemberment death in Texas.

In a documentary that just wrapped up about Durst's troubled life, he mumbled about how he "killed them all," providing a dramatic kick to the end of the series. But a law enforcement official said his arrest on the murder charge was based on words he wrote.

Analysis linked a letter Durst wrote to his friend Susan Berman a year before her killing with one that pointed police to her body, and that was the key new evidence in the long-dormant investigation into the 2000 killing, the official not authorized to speak publicly told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

AP TELEVISION

New York - March 17, 2015

** SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASHES **

1. Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst, walking down street

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"I'm over the moon, absolutely over the moon. That's why I agree to do all these interviews - I'm exhausted. I wish my friend Eleanor Schwank, who worked with me on this, who just passed away could see it."

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"I will take his going to jail anyway I can, I'm not fussy - he can only go to jail once. What I would like is for him to tell us, on his death bed if he has to, where he put Kathy's body or pieces of it."

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"They're very happy. They've finally seen an end to it. You know she has a mother that's 101 years old living at home, 101 and not knowing for the last 33 years where her daughter is."

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"I don't expect he is going to get off scot-free, I really don't. I think this time we've got him. He stabbed himself. He hoisted himself on his own petard whatever you want to call it. I am not thinking that way at all. I really think this time we've got him."

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"I think the trial is another chapter. I mean I'm waiting for that to be the nail in his coffin. He's got to squeak out of this one, that would be really amazing."

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"How hard everybody worked, how hard all of us worked and it now seems that maybe it paid off - that it did pay off. I know that that the last chapter isn't written yet, but that is what life is all about surprises."

Ellen Strauss, a friend of millionaire Robert Durst's first wife Kathleen Durst, said she is "over the moon" about his arrest.

Strauss has been investigating the death of her friend for over 30 years and feels vindicated by Durst's arrest.

"I will take his going to jail anyway I can, I'm not fussy, he can only go to jail once. What I would like is for him to tell us, on his death bed if he has to, where he put Kathy's body or pieces of it," said Strauss.

Strauss said she has spoken to Kathleen Durst's family and said they are "very happy" with the arrest.

"They've finally seen an end to it. You know she has a mother that's 101-years old living at home, 101 and not knowing for the last 33 years where her daughter is," said Strauss.

Durst was charged Monday in Los Angeles with first-degree murder in the shooting of Susan Berman, the daughter of a prominent Las Vegas mobster. Durst has also been suspected _ but never charged _ in the disappearance of his first wife in New York.

He could face the death penalty under special circumstances that allege he ambushed Berman and murdered a witness to a crime.

Authorities found more than a quarter-pound of marijuana and a revolver in Durst's hotel room when he was arrested over the weekend, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Durst appeared before a judge for a second straight day on Tuesday to face the drug and weapons charges.

In 2003, he was acquitted of murder in a dismemberment death in Texas.

In a documentary that just wrapped up about Durst's troubled life, he mumbled about how he "killed them all," providing a dramatic kick to the end of the series. But a law enforcement official said his arrest on the murder charge was based on words he wrote.

Analysis linked a letter Durst wrote to his friend Susan Berman a year before her killing with one that pointed police to her body, and that was the key new evidence in the long-dormant investigation into the 2000 killing, the official not authorized to speak publicly told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

AP TELEVISION

New York - March 17, 2015

1. Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"I'm over the moon, absolutely over the moon. That's why I agree to do all these interviews, I'm exhausted. I wish my friend Eleanor Schwank, who worked with me on this, who just passed away could see it."

3. Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"I will take his going to jail anyway I can, I'm not fussy, he can only go to jail once. What I would like is for him to tell us, on his death bed if he has to, where he put Kathy's body or pieces of it."

5. Ellen Strauss, Friend of Kathleen Durst

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"They're very happy. They've finally seen an end to it. You know she has a mother that's 101 years old living at home, 101 and not knowing for the last 33 years where her daughter is."

7. Ellen Strauss, Friend of Kathleen Durst

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"I haven't thought that far ahead, I mean I don't expect he is going to get off scot-free, I really don't. I think this time we've got him. He stabbed himself. He hoisted himself on his own petard whatever you want to call it. I am not thinking that way at all. I really think this time we've got him."

9. Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst, walking outside

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"I think the trial is another chapter. I mean I'm waiting for that to be the nail in his coffin. He's got to squeak out of this one, that would be really amazing."

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

"How hard everybody worked, how hard all of us worked and it now seems that maybe it paid off, that it did pay off. I know that that the last chapter isn't written yet, but that is what life is all about surprises."

12. Ellen Strauss, friend of Kathleen Durst:

The District court judge in Robert Durst's 2003 Galveston, Texas trial says that while Durst appeared to act crazy at that trial, she believes, "he's able to plan the crimes and he's able to plan the cover-up of the crimes."

"He is perfectly sane, he's got issues, and he's got a dark side, but he knows what he's doing," Former Galveston County judge Susan Criss said. "He shows a level of cunning that is not something the insane person is capable of doing."

Criss presided over the 2003 trial where Durst faced murder charges for killing his neighbor, Morris Black. A jury acquitted Durst of murder charges in that trial, despite admitting that he used a paring knife, two saws and an ax to dismember the body. With time served, Durst walked free after one more year for bond jumping and evidence tampering

Criss, who is now an attorney, says she's convinced he killed Morris as well as two other people.

"I think he killed his first wife. His first wife Kathy McCormack (Durst), I think he killd Susan Berman, and of course, we all know he killed Morris Black," Criss said.

Durst was arrested in New Orleans over the weekend in the death of his friend Susan Berman, who was shot to death in Los Angeles in 2000. FBI agents arrested him without incident on Saturday at a Marriott hotel in New Orleans.

These consequences came the same weekend as the Sunday finale of an HBO documentary detailing his life of privilege and links to three deaths: his friend in Los Angeles, Susan Berman; his wife in New York, Kathleen Durst; and Morris Black, an elderly neighbor in Texas.

Yet Criss says she does not think the FBI coordinated its arrest with the filmmakers and instead says they may have arrested him in order to prevent him from fleeing as the documentary gained more attention.

AP TELEVISION

Webster, Texas - March 16, 2015

1. Susan Criss (left) speaking with a friend

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Criss, district court judge in Durst's 2003 trial and now an attorney (responding to question about Durst's behavior during the 2003 trial):

"During the first part of the trial, he was acting crazy. He was pretending to talk to imaginary people at the council table, he was grunting like a pig, trying to act crazy, when the media was around. At some point, he stopped doing that and started acting normal. He is perfectly sane, he's got issues, and he's got a dark side, but he knows what he's doing. He's able to plan the crimes and he's able to plan the cover-up of the crimes. He shows a level of cunning that is not something the insane person is capable of doing."

3. Susan Criss speaking with friend

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Criss, Former Galveston County Judge: (district court judge in Durst's 2003 trial for Morris Black's death)

"I think he killed his first wife. His first wife Kathy McCormick, I think he killd Susan Berman, and of course, we all know he killed Morris Black."

COURTROOM POOL

Galveston, Texas - September 2003

++VIDEO IS 4:3++

5. Various courtroom pool of Robert Durst at trial where he was ultimately acquitted of murder charges in the death of his neighbor, Morris Black.

AP TELEVISION

Webster, Texas - March 16, 2015

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Criss, Former Galveston County Judge:

"It's a very risky thing to coordinate a law enforcement investigation and entertainment. Law enforcement just doesn't do that."

COURTROOM POOL

Galveston, Texas - September 2003

++VIDEO IS 4:3++

7. Various courtroom pool of Robert Durst at trial where he was ultimately acquitted of murder charges in the death of his neighbor, Morris Black.

AP TELEVISION

Webster, Texas - March 16, 2015

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Criss, Former Galveston County Judge:

"But no one's going to hold off for a number of years so that a movie could be produced or documentary or series could be produced, that's ridiculous. But, what I do see is that in addition to the entire country watching this show and being fascinated by it, Bob Durst has been watching it, and he's been reading the media accounts and he's been reading the stories about the case being reopened and what's happening. People are starting to talk, it generates talk. Perhaps what they did was move on him to prevent him from running because of this show."

AP TELEVISION

New Orleans - 16 March 2015

9. Exteriors of Orleans Parish Prison where Durst may be held

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus027901

Authorities on Tuesday carried away two boxes after searching the Houston home of real estate millionaire Robert Durst after his weekend arrest in New Orleans on a murder warrant.

Durst, 71, is charged with murder in a Los Angeles killing 15 years ago, and has been suspected - but never charged - in the disappearance of his first wife in New York. In 2003, he was acquitted of murder in a dismemberment death in Texas. His arrest in New Orleans came shortly before the finale of an HBO series about his links to the three killings.

Seven officers spent hours Tuesday searching Durst's home in a 17-story condominium building in a posh Houston neighborhood. About 8:30 p.m. the officers, including one wearing a Los Angeles Police Department badge, carried two white cardboard document boxes to six vehicles and left.

The officers declined to comment, except for one who confirmed they were done.

FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap confirmed that FBI agents participated in the operation at the request of the Los Angeles Police Department. Harris County district attorney's office spokesman Jeff McShan said the Los Angeles Police Department contacted his office last week.

Neither Dunlap nor McShan would elaborate on what was happening inside the building and referred questions to Los Angeles police.

LAPD spokesman Sgt. Barry Montgomery said the department is not commenting until Durst is in its custody. Durst is being held in Louisiana, where he faces drug and weapons charges, and it's not clear how soon he will be returned to California.

"This is an investigation that's being handled by multi-jurisdictions," Montgomery said. "At this juncture the only thing the LAPD is doing is waiting for the extradition. We are just waiting on him to make it into our custody."

Durst, 71, was charged Monday in Los Angeles with first-degree murder in the shooting of Susan Berman, the daughter of a prominent Las Vegas mobster. He could face the death penalty under special circumstances that allege he ambushed her and murdered a witness to a crime.

Dick DeGuerin, Durst's longtime Houston defense attorney, said he was baffled by what investigators could be looking for in the condo building.

"I think it's a publicity stunt. I'm not surprised by it, but I would really be surprised if they found anything of any evidentiary value," he said.

In the documentary "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst" that just wrapped up, Durst mumbled about how he "killed them all," providing a dramatic kick to the end of the series. But a law enforcement official said his arrest on the murder charge was based on words he wrote.

AP TELEVISION

Houston, Texas - March 17, 2015

1. Police cars stationed outside the Houston high rise where Robert Durst owned three units

2. Various of one of the units believed to be owned by Robert Durst

3. Various of Robert Durst's high rise

4. Various of law enforcement officers inside and outside of the 2520 Robinhood high rise where Robert Durst owns three units

Authorities on Tuesday carried away two boxes after searching the Houston home of real estate millionaire Robert Durst after his weekend arrest in New Orleans on a murder warrant.

Durst, 71, is charged with murder in a Los Angeles killing 15 years ago, and has been suspected - but never charged - in the disappearance of his first wife in New York. In 2003, he was acquitted of murder in a dismemberment death in Texas. His arrest in New Orleans came shortly before the finale of an HBO series about his links to the three killings.

Seven officers spent hours Tuesday searching Durst's home in a 17-story condominium building in a posh Houston neighborhood. About 8:30 p.m. the officers, including one wearing a Los Angeles Police Department badge, carried two white cardboard document boxes to six vehicles and left.

The officers declined to comment, except for one who confirmed they were done.

FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap confirmed that FBI agents participated in the operation at the request of the Los Angeles Police Department. Harris County district attorney's office spokesman Jeff McShan said the Los Angeles Police Department contacted his office last week.

Neither Dunlap nor McShan would elaborate on what was happening inside the building and referred questions to Los Angeles police.

LAPD spokesman Sgt. Barry Montgomery said the department is not commenting until Durst is in its custody. Durst is being held in Louisiana, where he faces drug and weapons charges, and it's not clear how soon he will be returned to California.

"This is an investigation that's being handled by multi-jurisdictions," Montgomery said. "At this juncture the only thing the LAPD is doing is waiting for the extradition. We are just waiting on him to make it into our custody."

Durst, 71, was charged Monday in Los Angeles with first-degree murder in the shooting of Susan Berman, the daughter of a prominent Las Vegas mobster. He could face the death penalty under special circumstances that allege he ambushed her and murdered a witness to a crime.

Dick DeGuerin, Durst's longtime Houston defense attorney, said he was baffled by what investigators could be looking for in the condo building.

"I think it's a publicity stunt. I'm not surprised by it, but I would really be surprised if they found anything of any evidentiary value," he said.

In the documentary "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst" that just wrapped up, Durst mumbled about how he "killed them all," providing a dramatic kick to the end of the series. But a law enforcement official said his arrest on the murder charge was based on words he wrote.

AP TELEVISION

Houston, Texas - March 17, 2015

1. Police cars stationed outside the Houston high rise where Robert Durst owned three units

2. Various of one of the units believed to be owned by Robert Durst

3. Various of Robert Durst's high rise

4. Various of law enforcement officers inside and outside of the 2520 Robinhood high rise where Robert Durst owns three units

A weapons-charge hearing for troubled millionaire real estate heir Robert Durst was delayed Thursday after FBI agents failed to show up to testify about his arrest at a New Orleans hotel last month.

Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell reluctantly agreed to the delay and set another hearing for next Thursday. In the meantime, Durst will remain jailed without bond in Louisiana- even as his attorneys say their 71-year-old client is ready to head to California, where he faces a more serious charge: murder of his friend and spokeswoman in a 15-year-old case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Duane Evans told Cantrell that two federal agents and a state trooper assigned to a federal task force were instructed not to testify because more time was needed for a review of their subpoenas.

Durst was arrested in March at a New Orleans hotel. His attorneys say the FBI illegally searched his room. They say agents "rummaged" through it without a warrant.

Durst was arrested at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in New Orleans on the California warrant and later was booked on the Louisiana charges: possession of a firearm by a felon and illegal possession of a firearm and a controlled dangerous substance.

Among the issues at Thursday's hearing were whether the state has probable cause to hold Durst on the weapons charges as well motions by the defense to have the Louisiana warrant thrown out - largely because, the defense says, the search of Durst's hotel room was illegal.

Prosecutor Mark Burton of the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office first asked for a delay, saying the latest motions, amounting to more than 130 pages, were filed too late for him to adequately review them. Defense lawyer Dick DeGuerin objected to the delay, and Cantrell kept the hearing going.

But then FBI agents C. Williams and C. Bender and state Trooper Saunders Craine were called to testify. When they didn't show up, the defense had no witnesses to call, and Cantrell put proceedings off for a week.

Durst's lawyers say the arrest in New Orleans was illegal, and timed to coincide with that weekend's airing of the final episode of "The Jinx," an HBO documentary about Durst.

AP TELEVISION

New Orleans - April 2, 2015

1. Dick DeGuerin, attorney for Robert Durst, leaves Orleans Parish Criminal District Court

2.SOUNDBITE (English) Dick DeGuerin, attorney for Robert Durst

"This is gonna be another week in which we've tried to get into court and start the process of trying this case... trying this case and the case in LA. We want to be in court, we want to hear witnesses we want to cross-examine witnesses. The court sounds like to me they're trying to hide the ball. We tried everything we could to get the witnesses here. We subpeoned the FBI agents we subpoeneaed the state trooper. Now we're gonna have to go through another proceding just to get the witnesses. You cannot cross-examine and affadavit. We're entitled to cross-examine the witnesses -- that's a basic rule of the constitution. We're gonna keep on trying and we're not going to give up. Thank you very much."

3. Various of activity outside the courthouse

4. Various of the side entrance of the courthouse where inmates are transported. The entrance is surrounded by razor wire fencing

5. Police units transporting inmates through the secure back courthouse entrance

Robert Durst appeared before a judge for a second straight day to face drug and weapons charges.

He also is charged with murder in a Los Angeles killing 15 years ago, and has been suspected -- but never charged -- in the disappearance of his first wife in New York.

In 2003, he was acquitted of murder in a dismemberment death in Texas.

In a documentary that just wrapped up about Durst's troubled life, he mumbled about how he "killed them all," providing a dramatic kick to the end of the series.

But a law enforcement official said his arrest on the murder charge was based on words he wrote.

Analysis linked a letter Durst wrote to his friend Susan Berman a year before her killing with one that pointed police to her body, and that was the key new evidence in the long-dormant investigation into the 2000 killing, the official not authorized to speak publicly told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

Durst, 71, was charged Monday in Los Angeles with first-degree murder in the shooting of Berman, the daughter of a prominent Las Vegas mobster.

He could face the death penalty under special circumstances that allege he ambushed her and murdered a witness to a crime.

Prof. Paul Rothstein of Georgetown University Law School says it's likely that a jury will get to see the documentary video in court.

Rothstein also says it's possible Durst will attempt to use an insanity defense.

AP TELEVISION

Washington - March 17, 2015

1. Prof. Paul Rothstein looking at papers on his desk

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Prof. Paul Rothstein, Georgetown Law:

"It's an astonishing case. The guy must be a little mixed up mentally, little bit publicity-seeking to get himself into this kind of hot water and he has provided fairly damning evidence against himself."

3. Tilt down from Rothstein to papers

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Prof. Paul Rothstein, Georgetown Law:

"He did seem to think that he was bulletproof because it happened so long ago and because he's getting away with it for so long, but in general for murder there is no statute of limitations so it can be brought anytime. So, he has put himself in the soup."

5. Tilt up from papers to Rothstein

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Prof. Paul Rothstein, Georgetown Law:

"It will be played for a jury, I'm fairly confident. The prosecutors will have to establish, very clearly, that it is his voice. They can show the circumstances, the system, how it worked and have voice identification, but it's just the kind of thing that the law wants juries to consider and decide for themselves what the ambiguity means."

AP TELEVISION

New Orleans - March 17, 2015

7. Police car carrying Robert Durst

AP TELEVISION

Washington - March 17, 2015

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Prof. Paul Rothstein, Georgetown Law:

"I don't think, even as skillful as his laywer has been for him in the past, I don't think the lawyer's going to be able to keep it out of evidence unless there was some terrible flaw in the system for recording it or something like that."

9. Tilt down from Rothstein to papers

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Prof. Paul Rothstein, Georgetown Law:

"More damning than that, however, I think is the evidence of the handwriting match and the misspelling of of Beverly in Beverly Hills in both the item that is definitely tagged to him and the item that they are trying to pin to him."

11. Wide of Rothstein talking to interviewer

12. SOUNDBITE (English) Prof. Paul Rothstein, Georgetown Law:

"Well, there is a possibility that he will raise a defense of insanity and will get off criminal guilt that way and I actually think that is a very strong possiblity here."

13. Back shot of Rothstein at his desk

Former federal and state prosecutor David S. Weinstein talks about the many legal issues surrounding millionaire Robert Durst who was arrested over the weekend.

The eccentric millionaire, who was the subject of an HBO serial documentary, appeared before a judge Tuesday in New Orleans for a second straight day to face the drug and weapons charges.

On Monday, he waived extradition to Los Angeles, where he is charged with first-degree murder in the 2000 shooting of Susan Berman, the daughter of a prominent Las Vegas mobster.

Berman was killed at her home near Beverly Hills shortly before New York investigators planned to question her about the disappearance of Durst's wife, Kathleen.

Durst has long been suspected in his wife's 1982 disappearance, but never charged.

In 2003, he was acquitted of murder in a dismemberment death in Texas.

In the documentary about Durst that concluded Sunday night, he was heard mumbling about how he "killed them all." But a law enforcement official says his arrest on the murder charge was based not on that, but on words he wrote.

AP TELEVISION

Miami, Florida - 17 March 2015

1. Former federal and state prosecutor David S. Weinstein walking in his private practice office

2. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) David S. Weinstein, Former federal and state prosecutor

"It's usually a professional negotiation, and there's the wild card: the defense. He is the person who's entitled to dispose of these two cases. If he wants to go to California first, if he wants to waive his speedy trial rights in New Orleans on the gun charges, he's entitled to do that."

3. Cutaway

4. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) David S. Weinstein, Former federal and state prosecutor

"If I'm the defense lawyer, I am going to argue that it was an unlawful eavesdropping. That whatever consent my client had given for the interview and for all of the statements to be recorded, ended as soon as the interview was over, despite the fact that the microphone was on. That this was an illegal wiretap/eavesdropping of my client, speaking to himself."

5. Cutaway

6. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) David S. Weinstein, Former Federal and State prosecutor

"Americans are infatuated with reality television. Shows like 48 Hours, the First 48, Cops -- they want to see it as it's happening, when it's unfolding. The problem with that is, you often see more than you should see. And the people who are participating in those shows are going to give you a little bit extra. There have been a number of cases where evidence has been thrown out, where testimony has been stricken, because courts have found that the police officers were overreaching, overacting."

7. Cutaway

In a time when young people are moving back in with their parents, Hurricane Florence is turning the tables on Garland and Katherine King.

The New Bern, North Carolina, couple had to be rescued from their home by boat Friday as the storm dumped torrents of rain along the coast.

They spent the night with hundreds of others in an elementary school.

On Saturday, the retired Marine and his wife waded back out to the house to collect some pictures and papers.

Their daughter, Billie Durst, came with family and a boat to help.

The couple will be living with Durst for a while.

Their home will likely have to be gutted.

Durst says her mom is a great cook, so she's happy about the arrangement.

New Bern - 15 September 2018

1. Wide shot of Garland King floating out of neighborhood in boat

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Garland King, Retired Marine:

"I was going to ride out the storm. And it just got to be a little too much. When it started coming in the house, I thought it was time to get out of there."

3. Wide shot of flooded neighborhood, with King's house in distance

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Garland King: Retired Marine:

"Last night, we left. We had a boat to come by and take us over to Trent Park Elementary, and we spent the night there. This morning I got up and said, `I'm getting back to the house.' And we walked this thing, chest deep, holding hands out in the middle of this road. And we made it to the house. And it was tough. Wobbling. I was looking for water moccasins to hit me at any time. But, you know, being a Marine, we gotta get there, you know what I mean? We're mission oriented."

5. Wide of newspaper box above water

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Garland King, Retired Marine:

"We're a tight couple. So we're in it together. We grabbed hands and just walked it. And I said, `Let's do it, baby.' We give each other a kiss and made it on to the house."

7. Wide of Katherine King with arm draped on boat

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Katherine King, Wife:

"The carpets. The floors. Everything is soaking wet."

9. Mid of road signs

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Katherine King, Wife:

"We're going to have to redo the whole inside."

11. Mid of branch caught on power line

12. SOUNDBITE (English) Katherine King, Wife:

"Oh, the smell is terrible right now."

13. Wide of two people walking out into flooded neighborhood

14. Mid of people walking in water

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Garland King, Retired Marine:

"Well, when I bought this house, that's one of the reasons I did. It's on a crest. And they said this house is the only one on this road that's never flooded. So I said, `I got it made.' And the first storm, we got through it. But this one, it beat all. Florence don't play."

16. Ground level shot of water lapping on pavement

17. Wide shot of daughter helping Katherine King into truck

18. Wide shot of truck driving off

SHOTLIST

1. Various wide shots of warehouse containing drug tunnel

2. Close of armed Federal Agents

3. Mid of entrance to area of warehouse where drug tunnel was found

4. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent climbing down into tunnel entrance

5. Agent pointing out hydraulic buttons that open door of tunnel

6. Various of tools and shovels used to dig tunnel

7. Mid of monitor showing night vision image of tunnel below, panning to ICE agent preparing to climbing down hole

8. Mid of tunnel, following ICE agent

9. ICE agent Bob (no last name given), showing stairs built in tunnel

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent:

"This is the stair system, it's about a 70 foot drop. And you can see where they cut the stairs out, obviously coming up. And this is how they get from the level of the tunnel and the rail up into the level just underneath ground level."

11. Tracking shot following ICE agent climbing up stairs in tunnel

12. Various of tunnel

13. Various of rail track and electrical cables in tunnel

14. Various of entrance to tunnel

15. SOUNDBITE (English): Tim Durst, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent:

"To an extent this is somewhat of a cat and mouse game. As long as there's demand for the supply of drugs in the United States then the drug smuggling organisations will continue to find a way to smuggle drugs into the United States."

16. Mid of monitor showing night vision image in tunnel

17. Mid of night vision camera in tunnel

18. Tracking shot of ICE agent climbing back toward entrance

19. SOUNDBITE (English) Tim Durst, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent:

"They're looking to find new ways to move drugs and we're looking to find the ways that they're moving drugs. Their hope is they get a tunnel completed, they can move a lot of drugs into the United States and get a good return on their investment. Our hope is we find tunnels or the boats or whatever next they're next going to before they get a return on their investment."

20. Tunnel Task Force members from ICE, DEA and Border Patrol entering border warehouse

21. Tracking shot of agents walking through business

22. Mid of ICE agent "Ryan" interviewing business owner, Ron Soto

23. SOUNDBITE (English) Ron Soto, Warehouse Business Owner:

"The last tunnel that was found was next to one of my associates and he was shocked. There was nothing that he could have noticed before or made him think there was something going on."

24. Wide of border fence by warehouse complex, panning back to wide of warehouses

STORYLINE:

US federal authorities were on Thursday knocking on doors and asking for help from warehouse owners and tenants close to the border with Mexico after two major underground passages were discovered last month.

The cross-border tunnels - housed in warehouses in San Diego's Otay Mesa industrial area - were used to smuggle huge amounts of drugs from Tijuana, Mexico, according to the authorities.

Agents hope to learn more about the 12-thousand businesses that occupy Otay Mesa's non-descript warehouses and low-slung office parks near one of nation's busiest border crossings for cargo.

The streets hum with cargo trucks by day and fall silent on nights and weekends.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who visited two offices on Thursday peppered managers with questions before asking to look around: What line of work are you in? Who is your landlord? How many neighbouring suites are leased?

The tunnels discovered last month ran about 2,000 feet (600 metres) and were equipped with rail car, lighting and ventilation systems.

According to US authorities, both were the work of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, headed by that country's most-wanted drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

The discoveries produced some of the largest marijuana seizures in the United States.

A passage discovered on 2 November (2010) which ran between warehouses in Tijuana and San Diego resulted in seizures of 30 tonnes on both sides of the border.

A tunnel found on Thanksgiving Day which ran from a Tijuana home to two San Diego warehouses produced seizures of more than 20 tonnes on both sides of the border.

Outlets for the tunnel found last week were in bustling office parks, only 800 feet (245 metres) a part.

SHOTLIST:

HEADLINE: NYC seaport a "ghost town" months after Sandy

CAPTION: The historic cobblestone streets and 19th-century mercantile buildings near the water's edge in lower Manhattan are eerily deserted, a neighborhood silenced by Superstorm Sandy. Some local business owners say they feel their plight has been largely ignored. (Feb. 25)

STORY: US SANDY RECOVERY

SOURCE: AP TELEVISION NEWS

RESTRICTIONS: AP TELEVISION CLIENTS ONLY

LANGUAGE: NATS/ ENGLISH

DATELINE: FEB 15, 2013- NEW YORK, NY

_ Wide shot Brooklyn Bridge and East River

_ Tight shot East River.

_ SOT/Adam Weprin, manager of The Bridge Cafe, one of the oldest bars in New York City, which is located near South Street Seaport and was damaged in Superstorm Sandy:

"It came in the dining room. It was about three feet deep. Through the dining room, it went straight into the basement and filled the basement to the rafters. And that's where the real disaster happened."

_ Mid shot ext. The Bridge Cafe.

_ Mid shot Adam Weprin entering The Bridge Cafe.

_ Mid shot the bar inside The Bridge Cafe.

_ SOT/Adam Weprin:

"It's the oldest contiguously serving bar in New York City. Since 1794."

_ Mid shot overturned chairs inside The Bridge Cafe.

_ SOT/Adam Weprin:

"And we've run it through everything from downturns in the economy, 9/11, nor'easters."

_ L to R wide pan of The Bridge Cafe's empty dining room.

_ Mid shot ext. The Bridge Cafe.

_ Mid shot sign in front of The Bridge Cafe.

_ SOT/Adam Weprin: "Major problem: We're in a flood zone so we couldn't get insurance for it."

_ Wide shot deserted street near seaport.

_ Wide shot deserted street near seaport.

_ Tight shot windows painted with X's on abandoned buildings near seaport.

_ Tight shot padlocked door on building near seaport.

_ SOT/Adam Weprin:

"And if you go two blocks from here, there are buildings that are completely vacated. And you go gee, you know, how short are people's memories? Are people gonna move down here? I don't know."

_ Wide shot empty street near seaport.

_ Pan in on "restricted use" sign taped to window of abandoned building near seaport.

_ SOT/Adam Weprin:

"All you have are open sidewalks. And during the day you have tourists who are coming to look at the carnage."

_ Wide shot people walking along deserted street near South Street Seaport.

_ Tight shot padlocked building door with caution tape.

_ Tight shot plywood sign with the message: "We miss you"

_ SOT/Adam Weprin:

"It's a ghost town. The whole area is a ghost town. And people don't know. My phone rings off the hook and people go oh, I'd like a reservation. Especially today, it's Valentine's Day. Today is -- we turn the room over three and four times today. It is a disaster not to be open for Valentine's Day."

_ Mid shot empty street near seaport.

_ Mid shot abandoned store near seaport.

_ Zoom out abandoned JCrew store near seaport.

_ SOT/Adam Weprin:

"If we can survive 9/11, we can survive this. The difference between 9/11 and this? 9/11 we had the phones ringing off the hook with people saying oh we want to support restaurants that are closed. People don't even know we're closed."

_ Wide shot ships at South Street Seaport.

STORYLINE:

The historic cobblestone streets and 19th-century mercantile buildings near the water's edge in lower Manhattan are eerily deserted, a neighborhood silenced by Superstorm Sandy.

Just blocks from the tall-masted ships that rise above South Street Seaport, the windows of narrow brick apartment buildings are still crisscrossed with masking tape left by their owners before the storm. Store interiors are stripped down to plywood and wiring. Restaurants are chained shut, frozen in time, saddled with electrical systems that were ruined by several feet of salt water that raced up from the East River and through their front doors.

"People have no clue that this corner of Manhattan has been hit so badly," said Adam Weprin, manager of the Bridge Cafe, one of the city's oldest bars that sits on a quiet street near the seaport. "Right now, it's a ghost town and a construction site."

Nearly four months after the storm, roughly 85 percent of small businesses near the South Street Seaport are still boarded up. It could be months before some reopen, while others may never return. On Fulton Street, the wide tourist-friendly pedestrian walkway that comprises the seaport's main shopping district, not a single one of the major chain stores - which include Coach, Ann Taylor and Brookstone - has reopened.

Among local business owners, there is a pervasive sense that their plight has been ignored by the rest of the city. A state senator who represents the area estimates at least 1,000 jobs were lost in lower Manhattan - 450 of them in the seaport neighborhood alone.

From its red wood-frame building in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Bridge Cafe has dealt with its share of changes over the last two centuries, including stints as a Civil War-era brothel and a bootlegging speakeasy during Prohibition. It has endured economic slumps, nor'easters and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But after the basement was flooded to the rafters and water destroyed the building's wood foundation, Weprin faced the prospect of shutting its doors for good.

"The neighborhood's been beaten," Weprin said. "You walk around here and it's like Chernobyl. At night, it's vacated."

The small businesses of the seaport were far less resilient than the neighboring skyscrapers that house many of lower Manhattan's large financial companies.

In the darkened window of Stella Manhattan Bistro, an Italian restaurant on Front Street, hung an American flag reminiscent of those displayed all over the city after Sept. 11. Alongside it, someone had posted a sign that said: "Thank you for all your support. Stay strong."

Most of the Front Street buildings had a geothermal heating and cooling system that was destroyed in the flood, said Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for the developer, The Durst Organization, Inc. The repairs, which include moving the mechanical systems to the roof, are expected to drag on for months.

"We hope that they will come back," Barowitz said of the shuttered businesses. "It's very challenging."

The future of the South Street Seaport is equally uncertain. Howard Hughes Corp, which controls the former 19th-century counting houses that are home to the retail chains, said it does not yet know which - if any - of the major retailers will come back. The hope is to have Fulton Street in working order again before Memorial Day, when the summer season kicks off and the seaport will desperately need an influx of visitors.

But in a case of unfortunate timing, Pier 17, the shopping mall housed inside a rustic wooden building on the pier, is slated to close for a long-planned renovation in June that will transform it into a modern glass-walled structure with a rooftop plaza. The impending renovation has only added to the misery of shop owners who lost so much revenue since the storm and haven't recouped their losses.

Milad Doos, an immigrant from Egypt, is planning to close his jewelry and collectibles store for good.

"Like you see, there's nobody," said Doos, who earned just $5 on a recent afternoon. "After the storm, this whole place has become dead place."

At the Bridge Cafe, most of the wood foundation will be gutted, sparing only two pillars and a wall behind the bar that are part of the original building. Repairs will cost around $400,000.

Weprin, who has no flood insurance, launched a fundraising page online to appeal for financial help from the restaurant's many loyal patrons. To his astonishment, many of them didn't even realize the place was closed.

That's because nobody has frequented the neighborhood for weeks.

"During the day, you have tourists who are coming to look at the carnage," Weprin said. "That's about it. Before Sandy, it was a neighborhood."