GALVESTON, Texas — As jurors debated behind closed doors whether the eccentric millionaire should spend his retirement years behind bars, Robert Durst sat alone at the defense table Monday reading a children's book.

"Hurry Home, Candy" is about a lost dog who has no name and no one to love him.  "He had only himself, and he was afraid," Amazon.com describes the book. "Along the way, the little dog found a few friends, people who gave him shelter for a while, but always he moved on — until he found a place he could call home forever."  

The description sounds a bit like Durst's life, at least as he described it during four days on the stand during his murder trial in this Gulf Coast town of 60,000 people. Durst testified that he was afraid he was about to be indicted in connection with his first wife's unsolved disappearance. 

To conceal his identity when he showed up in Galveston in November 2000 with a wig, a woman's blouse, cargo pants and a tale of woe.  

"My name is Dorothy Ciner," he would scribble on notepads when he met people. Durst was afraid his raspy voice would give away his true gender, so he pretended to be mute.  

One of the few people who came to know the truth, Morris Black, didn't live to betray Durst's trust. Black's Sept. 28, 2001, shooting death is the focus for a panel of eight women and four men deliberating since Wednesday evening.  

Although some courtroom observers were expecting a relatively quick verdict because Durst admitted that he dismembered Black's body and tossed bags filled with body parts in Galveston Bay, predictions of his speedy conviction proved premature. It appears, based on questions the jury asked Friday, that at least some jurors considered the defense's request in closing arguments to disregard the dismemberment.  

According to Durst, his 71-year-old neighbor was shot accidentally in the face when the two men struggled for Durst's gun inside Durst's apartment. Durst testified that Black had twice fired the .22-caliber target pistol inside the apartment before.  

Jurors went home Monday without reaching a verdict. If convicted of the sole charge of murder, Durst, 60, faces up to life in prison.