Affidavit: LAPD analyst's error delayed Robert Durst link

HOUSTON -- A Los Angeles Police Department document examiner's erroneous handwriting analysis in 2001 delayed authorities linking millionaire Robert Durst to a friend's killing by as much as 16 months, a search warrant released Wednesday reveals.

Durst, a member of a wealthy New York real estate family, was arrested in New Orleans over the weekend and charged with murder in California for the December 2000 shooting death of Susan Berman. Durst's arrest came shortly before the finale of an HBO series about his links to three killings, including Berman's.

Authorities searched his Houston home Tuesday, and the warrant details the timeline of the Berman case.

It shows police focused in on Durst's handwriting early on after a note received by police tipped them to Berman's death. The envelope and note, written in block letters, misspelled "Beverley Hills Police" and included the word "cadaver" along with Berman's Beverly Hills address.

In 2001, document examiner William Leaver concluded it was "highly probable" the envelope and note were written by Nyle Brenner, Berman's manager and friend.

Police officers who searched Durst's Houston condo units on Tuesday carried away boxes and a trash bag, filled with CDs, credit cards, a cellphone, handwriting samples, court documents and photographs.

The search warrant affidavit showed 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 He had withdrawn large sums of money from multiple bank accounts, including daily amounts of $9,000 for 35 days starting in October.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 arrested in a New Orleans hotel under the name "Everette Ward," and agents found nearly $43,000 in cash, a gun and a rubber mask that could cover his head and neck in his room.