a failure in lapd handwriting analysis 14 years ago meant that robert durst was free to kill again, according to a search warrant durst, a member of a wealthy new york real estate family, was arrested in new orleans over the weekend and charged with murder for the shooting of susan berman in december 2000 police focused on durst's handwriting 14 years ago, after a note in an envelope tipped them off to berman's death but a document examiner wrongly concluded that the handwriting did not match durst's scroll down for video  accused: robert durst was arrested after he seemed to give himself away during a taped interview for an hbo documentary investigating his possible links to three killings  evidence: the handwriting on this notorious note that tipped off police was eventually matched to durst  missed: the handwriting was initially thought to belong to somebody else after lapd analysts made errors in their assessment  match: eventually, the writing was compared against samples of durst's writing and the similarities were found to be striking  sinister: robert durst is escorted into orleans parish prison after his arrest he escaped police attention for years, partially due to a failed handwriting analysis 14 years ago  writing on the note and envelope, which was written in block lettering, misspelled 'beverley hills police' and included the word 'cadaver' along with berman's beverly hills address in 2001, los angeles police department document examiner william leaver concluded it was 'highly probable' that it was written by nyle brenner, berman's manager and friend the assessment was 'rubber stamped' by leaver's supervisor, who told detectives in september that she had not backed the findings up with an independent technical review investigators had  initially failed to analyze examples of durst's handwriting, and it wasn't until eight months later that a comparison was made leaver said 'similarities' were enough to request more writing samples, which police eventually obtained in june 2003, leaver revised his assessment to conclude that the handwriting was likely durst's the conflicting analyses meant that valuable time lost by then, durst had been charged in texas with the murder and dismemberment of morris black investigation: law enforcement officers stand outside the robert durst's houston home  forensic: durst himself may have implicated the property in a recording made while talking to himself after a tense interview for the hbo series  eventually, the envelope, letter and writing samples were sent to the california department of justice and an investigator concluded that durst was 'probably the author of the cadaver letter and note' the los angeles case went dormant, and wasn't revived until 2012, when law enforcement learned of a six part hbo series about his links to three killings entitled the jinx: the life and deaths of robert durst he is suspected of killing his first wife, who disappeared in new york in 1982; berman, the daughter of a mobster, who acted as his spokeswoman after his wife disappeared; and a 71 year old neighbor in texas, whose dismembered body was found floating in galveston bay in 2001 the filmmakers say they shared tape with police months ago of interviews with durst, including his reactions to handwriting analysis and what appears to be a confession to berman's killing in october and november, the lapd had two independent examiners analyzed the documents and both concluded that durst was the author durst was arrested earlier this month, shortly before the finale of the hbo documentary he has only ever been tried for the texas killing, and he was acquitted of murder authorities on tuesday searched durst's houston home, and the warrant released wednesday details the timeline of the berman case the lapd has declined comment until durst is in its custody he is currently being held in louisiana on gun charges durst's attorney, dick deguerin, said the conflicting determinations on the handwriting 'shows you what junk science really is' he also questioned what evidence police expected to find in durst's houston home but durst himself may have implicated the property in a recording made while talking to himself after a tense interview for the hbo series, which concluded sunday just before saying he 'killed them all,' he says, 'i don't know what's in the house' the search warrant affidavit showed that authorities were concerned durst, who has an estimated net worth of $100 million, might be preparing to flee the country he had withdrawn large sums of money from multiple bank accounts, including daily amounts of $9,000, for 35 days starting in october durst was under fbi surveillance agents arrested him in a new orleans hotel under the name 'everette ward,' finding nearly $43,000 in cash, a gun and a rubber mask that could cover his head and neck in his room, the affidavit says a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation said that it was a kind of 'old man mask', and investigators were looking at whether he had been using it to travel anonymously durst could face the death penalty if convicted of killing berman
susan berman durst 2001 millionaire durst
in 2001, police analysed the handwriting on a note alerting them to the death of susan berman  they wrongly concluded that it didn't match durst's writing  this meant that valuable time was lost  millionaire durst is suspected of three brutal murders 