New York real estate heir and convicted murderer Robert Durst died at the age of 78 just a few months after being sent to prison for the rest of his life – an abrupt end for a man who had spent the better part of his life inundated with controversy and intrigue.
“Mr. Durst passed away early this morning while in the custody of the California Department of Corrections,” his attorney Chip Lewis confirmed to The Daily Beast. We will make no further statements and will not ask any questions out of respect for natural causes related to medical problems that we have repeatedly reported to the court over the past few years. important.”
Durst died of cardiac arrest at San Joaquin General Hospital in Stockton, California, New York Times reported for the first time. He is serving a life sentence at the California Health Care Facility.
“Bob lived a sad, painful and tragic life. We hope his death brings some closure to those he has hurt,” said Douglas Durst, who testified against his brother in his murder trial, said in a statement to The Daily Beast.
The disgraced tycoon started his life in 1943 with all the benefits and luxuries of being born with a silver spoon. As the eldest son of New York City real estate mogul Seymour Durst, he had a moment to take the throne at the Durst Foundation. But he took a very different turn, one that would eventually see him charged in three different murders.
When he was 40 years old, he was watched by the disappearance of his wife, Kathleen. Less than twenty years later, he was arrested in connection with the murder and dismemberment of a neighbor. And in 2015, investigators pointed the finger at him in the murder that would eventually see him taken to the killer for life: the murder of his best friend Susan Berman , who was found murdered at her home in December 2000, just days before she was due to talk to New York investigators about Kathie’s disappearance.
Durst’s death on Monday came just months after he received a life sentence after being convicted of Berman’s murder in mid-September. Berman is expected to admit to authorities that she provided Durst with a false alibi in the 1982 disappearance of his first wife Kathie. Durst fatally shot Berman in the back of her head at her home in 2000. He then wrote an anonymous letter to the police with the words ““deadbody“And Berman’s address is on it. Kathie’s body has never been found, and her case remains open, although she has been legally declared dead.
In October, Durst was admitted to LAC + USC Medical Center and put on a ventilator. According to his lawyer, he tested positive for COVID-19, despite being fully vaccinated against the virus.
Durst has faced a number of health problems during his trial, which has been delayed by more than a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, and his lawyers have repeatedly argued that he is too ill to can initiate litigation. A judge disagreed, and Durst himself ended up having to give testimony for hours, including the remarkable admission that he would lie if he took Berman’s life. He was in quarantine after being exposed to COVID-19 when the jury reached his verdict, and he faces his sentencing hearing from a wheelchair.
“The doctor we examined him twice said the trial would be very dangerous for his health, and now he has COVID,” his attorney Dick DeGuerin said at the time of the client. hospitalize.
Durst’s life, rife with strange and dark turns, was the subject of the 2015 HBO documentary Jinx. During filming, Durst said into a hot mic, “killing them all, of course”. He was serving a seven-year sentence on gun charges when he was arrested and tried for Berman’s murder. He was acquitted of killing a neighbor, Morris Black, in 2003, whom Durst said he killed in self-defense. The heiress had fled from New York City to Texas after Kathie went missing and was living in disguise when Black discovered his identity. Durst chopped up Black’s body and threw it into the sea.
