\n<\/p>\n
In the Jinx<\/em> sequel, Galveston trial judge Susan Criss<\/strong> sounds off on the strangeness of the situation.<\/p>\n \u201cChris Lovell was one of the jurors in the Galveston case who immediately befriended Bob as soon as the trial was over,\u201d says Criss. \u201cI think he was enamored with Bob because Bob is incredibly wealthy. He was hoping that would provide some financial rewards. I\u2019ve never seen or heard of a juror forming a relationship with a defendant after trial. But then most defendants aren\u2019t extremely wealthy with sort of a celebrity status.\u201d<\/p>\n Referring to the Houston apartment cleanup, she adds, \u201cIt is astounding that 12 years after a murder trial, one of the jurors is helping Bob make his getaway.\u201d<\/p>\n Lovell spoke to Jarecki for the first Jinx.<\/em> \u201cI didn\u2019t set out to be Robert Durst\u2019s friend,\u201d he said. \u201cI just set out to get some questions answered in my mind, but it has developed into a friendship, and I don\u2019t have a problem with him at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Lewin dubbed Doug Oliver<\/strong> \u201cthe rudest witness I\u2019ve ever encountered in my career.\u201d Vulture<\/a> called him \u201ca real estate developer who seems awful even by the low standards of real estate developers.\u201d And Robert Durst referred to him as a loyal friend.<\/p>\n According<\/a> to Charles Bagli<\/strong> of The New York Times,<\/em> Durst earned Oliver\u2019s allegiance by being generous with him at the beginning of his real estate development career. As Bagli recounts in The Jinx,<\/em> Durst, who was the scion of a prestigious Manhattan real estate family, fronted the money for a tenement building Oliver wanted to buy. When they sold the building, Durst evenly split the profits with Oliver, launching a lifelong friendship.<\/p>\n \u201cDoug Oliver was [Durst\u2019s] bad-boy, knocking-around friend,\u201d said Jarecki. \u201cThey went to St. Tropez and brought girls\u2026. He was like the bad angel on Bob\u2019s shoulder, or vice versa. They were off doing mischief. And he loved that about Bob.\u201d<\/p>\n Oliver was a person worth questioning, according to Lewin, because \u201che was extremely close to Bob. He was talking to Bob in 1982, the week Kathie disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n But when Lewin initially connected with Oliver by phone, Oliver refused to cooperate with the deputy district attorney. That contentious phone call, which gets played in the series, ends with Oliver telling Lewin that he\u2019d rather go to jail than get on a commercial flight to Los Angeles. Oliver also tells Lewin he\u2019ll need a subpoena and a private-jet budget to get him to participate.<\/p>\n In the end, Oliver did bend to the law and testify\u2014though he was admittedly uncooperative<\/a>, bristling at questions and alleging he could not recall much that prosecutors asked him about (until prosecutors referred him to his previous statements).<\/p>\n After hearing Oliver\u2019s nasty tone with the deputy district attorney, it\u2019s eerie to hear him ooze sweetness in a call with Durst, featured in a new episode: \u201cWhatever I can do for you, Bobby. It\u2019d be my pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n Nick Chavin is another real estate friend whose loyalty Durst earned by leveraging his financial assets. After Chavin gave up his career fronting the X-rated country act Chinga Chavin\u2014you read that correctly<\/a>\u2014he was introduced to Durst by their mutual friend Susan Berman.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nDoug Oliver<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Nick Chavin<\/strong><\/h2>\n