Robert Durst charged with murder in wife Kathie’s 1982 disappearance
- Prosecutors in New York filed a second-degree homicide cost in opposition to Robert Durst this week in Lewisboro City Courtroom.
- Kathie Durst disappeared on the evening of Jan. 31, 1982, following an argument along with her husband. Her physique has by no means been discovered.
- Robert Durst was reportedly hospitalized with COVID-19 final weekend after being sentenced to life in jail for the 2000 homicide of Susan Berman, his finest good friend.
Robert Durst, the actual property scion dogged for many years with the suspicion that he was liable for the disappearance of his spouse in 1982, has been charged in New York her homicide.
The Westchester District Legal professional’s Workplace confirmed {that a} legal grievance charging the 78-year-old Scarsdale native with second-degree homicide was filed in Lewisboro City Courtroom on Tuesday.
It got here 5 days after Durst was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for the 2000 homicide of his finest good friend, Susan Berman, in Los Angeles. Prosecutors there had satisfied jurors that Durst killed Berman to silence her as a result of she knew he had killed Kathie Durst practically twenty years earlier.
Kathie Durst’s physique has by no means been recovered. She disappeared on the evening of Jan. 31, 1982, following an argument along with her husband of their South Salem cottage. For many years, Durst claimed he dropped her off on the Katonah practice station so she might return to their Manhattan residence.
The following morning, a lady believed to be Berman posing as Kathie Durst referred to as a dean on the Albert Einstein School of Medication – the place Kathie was in her final semester – to say she was too ailing to attend her first day of a pediatric clerkship.
From our editor, to your inbox:Editor-in-chief Nicole Carroll takes you behind the scenes of the newsroom in this weekly newsletter
Durst had additionally lengthy claimed that he spoke with Kathie by cellphone as soon as she reached Manhattan. However he acknowledged solely in recent times that was a lie, first to the producers of the HBO documentary, “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” after which on the witness stand in his Los Angeles trial.
The New York Instances first reported the Westchester cost on Friday morning.
Westchester prosecutors had begun presenting the case to a grand jury this week. They took the weird step of filing a criminal complaint whereas that was happening, probably out of worry that Durst, in failing well being and reportedly hospitalized with COVID-19 over the weekend, might die earlier than any expenses had been introduced in opposition to him.
Attorneys for Durst couldn’t instantly be reached for remark. There was no public replace on Durst’s medical situation since one in all his attorneys, Dick DeGuerin, revealed he had COVID-19.
Robert Abrams, a lawyer for Kathie Durst’s kin, mentioned solely that the household was pleased with the legal cost. He mentioned there can be no additional remark as a result of the case continues to be earlier than the grand jury. Some or all of her 4 siblings have both testified already or are anticipated to testify.
They’ve described Robert Durst’s abusive therapy of their sister and her want to divorce him. Her brother recounted a Christmas social gathering at their mom’s residence at which Durst pulled Kathie by the hair as he demanded they go away.
Berman was killed simply earlier than Christmas 2000, just a few weeks after information broke that New York State police Investigator Joseph Becerra had reopened the investigation into Kathie Durst’s disappearance.
The legal grievance in Lewisboro was filed by Becerra, who had recognized nothing in regards to the Dursts when he acquired a tip about Kathie’s disappearance in 1999.
The grievance accuses Durst of deliberately killing his spouse at or close to the cottage however affords no particulars on how she was killed.
Becerra wrote that the cost was primarily based on legislation enforcement information of police and prosecutors in New York and Los Angeles, witness interviews and Robert Durst’s personal phrases in recorded interviews and court docket testimony.
The interviews included the hours Durst spent with the producers of “The Jinx”, a transfer criticized by his personal attorneys.
The sixth and last episode ended with Durst in a toilet, caught on a sizzling mic saying “What the hell did I do?” and answering himself “Killed all of them in fact.” The footage had been edited however “killed all of them” was taken as an admission that he was accountable not only for Black’s dying however for these of his spouse and Berman as nicely.
Twitter: @jonbandler