Robert Durst: Millionaire Real Estate heir, charged with Murder
(CNN)"Millionaire real estate heir Robert Durst was "lying in wait" when he shot and killed his longtime friend because she "was a witness to a crime," prosecutors alleged Monday.
The evidence behind that accusation wasn't revealed in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's court filing, which charged Durst with first-degree murder. If he's convicted in the December 2000 killing of Susan Berman, prosecutors said, he could face the death penalty.
The charges, filed two days after FBI agents arrested Durst in New Orleans, set the stage for a new courtroom battle for a man who's no stranger to run-ins with the law.
Durst's alleged connections with Berman's death and two others became the focus of HBO's true crime documentary, "The Jinx."
He admitted to shooting and dismembering his neighbor but was acquitted of murder.
He was suspected in his first wife's disappearance, but no one could pin him to it.
And just before Berman, his longtime confidante, was going to speak to investigators about his wife's case, she was killed."
I recall reading about this case over a decade ago. One of the most bizarre crime stories I have ever read about. Durst was first thought to have killed his wife over 30 years ago, but authorities could not have enough evidence to go to trial. 20 years later, one of his most adamant supporters, and possible lover and novelist, was murdered.
In 2001, he dismembered and dumped his elderly neighbours body in the Gulf of Mexico, but unbelievably got away with all 3 crimes. He actually lived as a transvestite, and pretended to be mute, to avoid detection before he was caught and went to trial. Now he is charged again with murder.
I guess this just goes to show money can buy you justice in the USA, as he has been a serial killer for decades, and money bought him his freedom. Sorry about the morbid thread, but this is one case that I never forgot about, and always captivated me.
If he killed all 3 with ease and no remorse. Makes you wonder if there are other unsolved murders out there that he may have committed.
It's more than probable, considering the guy is obviously mentally unstable, and his known crimes happened when he was 39 and onwards. Who knows what he did, or what his rich old man covered up before that.
I didn't really know about any of this until last night. The one where he chopped up his neighbor and claimed self defense and was found innocent is crazy. He paid $2,000,000 for lawyers for that, just in case anyone is interested how much it costs to do that sort of thing.
I only watched the the second last part of the documentary where they may have found evidence that directly linked him to the Berman crime scene. Handwriting and spelling on a discovered envelope found by her stepson in her possessions were similar as that sent to the police leading them to the body. He then called the documentary makers and I believe the last episode was investigating this piece of evidence. Some of reported last words from Durst in the documentary are chilling.
Quote:
On March 8, HBO aired the fifth and penultimate episode of “The Jinx,” which included a previously uncovered piece of evidence. On the eve of the finale, Durst was arrested in New Orleans in connection to the murder of his friend, Susan Berman, a little more than 14 years ago. Sunday night, the final episode aired. In its closing minutes, Durst says, “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”
It seems like there may be several bad people in this story based on how the documentary is put together. The documentary seemingly suggests that Berman helped Durst hide/dispose the body of his wife. Her family had mob ties and she turned into his confidante as she handled the PR after his wifes disappearance. She was killed days before being visited by investigators. And Durst's current wife seems to be covering for him or is willfully ignorant.
The judge who presided over his trial of the death of the neighbour is happy. She doesn't believe justice was served and his acquittal was due to a shockingly bad prosecution team. Her assessment of the crime suggests a cold, calculating, and experienced serial killer.
Again, the dude is heir to hundreds of millions. I'm willing to bet anything that his old man, who made millions in real estate, probably bought many people off, including Police before he was suspected of killing his wife in 1982. It's almost certainly happened before.
It's nearly impossible to murder several people in cold blood beginning when you are nearly 40, without having a lengthy track record of antisocial, and criminal behaviour. I wonder what he was doing in his 20s and 30s (1960s-70s).
The case where he killed his neighbour, dismembered him, and disposed of the remains in the ocean, and was acquitted just proves that money can buy justice. What's scary is all his elderly neighbour really did was complain about the noise level in Durst's apartment.
Going to watch this documentary. Strange that the Police could not pibn the murders on him for 33 years, and just one week after this reality TV program airs, he is arrested. Safe to say it was ill-advised that he participated on this program.
A reader notified media blogger Jim Romenesko of an AP report on Robert Durst being booked on weapons charges in Louisiana. The story had state trooper, Melissa Matey, telling AP that "an arrest warrant was issued for the former Limp Bizkit frontman and he was rebooked in the Orleans Parish Jail on Monday under two new charges," according to the Business Insider.
AP issued this correction: "The Associated Press reported erroneously that Robert Durst is a member of a band. He is a real estate heir; Fred Durst is the former frontman of Limp Bizkit."
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He's not the heir anymore. His family cut him off long ago. His brother and likely the entire family believes he is guilty. Doesn't mean his family didn't help him first thing when his wife went missing. They did have ties to unsavoury types and surely it is no coincidence that Berman (whose father was a mobster) was the person tapped to do PR.
But he doesn't need any of that money as he has made enough on his own. I believe last year he sold property for well over $20 million he bought for a fraction of that price. As an example.
edit: I might be wrong. While the family cut him off some two decades ago he ddid still have atrust but his brother controlled it. He settled his shares of that trust for $65 mil.
Its funny to me that they still use terminology like "millionaire real estate heir" when that description in Southern California basically means anyone whose parents paid off an average bungalow and left it to them.
Robert Durst: Millionaire Real Estate heir, charged with Murder
