Robert Durst was the eldest child of Seymour Durst, whose family owned a prominent real-estate compa

Robert Durst was the eldest child of Seymour Durst, whose family owned a prominent real-estate company. Robert studied economics at Lehigh University, and, after graduating in 1965, he attended UCLA, where he became friends with Susan Berman, the daughter of a mobster. Durst later returned to New York City, and in 1973 he married Kathleen McCormack, a dental hygenist. That year he also began to sporadically work at his family’s business. According to various reports, by 1981 Durst’s marriage was unraveling amid allegations that he was violent and controlling. On January 31, 1982, several months before she would have graduated from medical school, Kathleen disappeared. According to Robert, who did not report her missing until February 5, he had taken his wife to the train station in Katonah, New York, so she could return to the city after spending the weekend at the couple’s lakeside home in South Salem. Durst claimed no involvement in her disappearance, and, though his account of events raised questions, several people reported seeing or talking to Kathleen after she supposedly returned to Manhattan. During the media attention, Berman served as Durst’s unofficial spokesperson. Without leads or a body, the case eventually went cold. In 2000 he remarried. In November that year, amid reports that his first wife’s case was being reopened, Durst moved to Galveston, Texas, where he disguised himself as a mute woman and rented an inexpensive apartment. A month later, Berman, who was to be interviewed by investigators in Kathleen’s disappearance, was found shot to death. The day her body was discovered, policed received a letter stating that a “cadaver” would be found at her address, which was misspelled as “Beverley Hills.” Durst continued to live in Galveston, and on September 28, 2001, he came home to allegedly find his 71-year-old neighbor, Morris Black, in his apartment, watching television. Although the two were friends, Durst claimed that Black pointed a gun at him. He then said that, in fear for his life, he began struggling with his neighbor, and Black was fatally shot. Worried that he would be accused of murder, Durst dismembered the body, wrapped the pieces in garbage bags, and tossed them in Galveston Bay. He was later arrested, but while out on bail he fled to Pennsylvania. After a six-week manhunt, he was apprehended following his arrest for shoplifting at a supermarket. In 2003 Durst went on trial for murder but was acquitted after claiming self-defense. However, he later pled guilty to several minor charges, including jumping bond, and he served nearly six months in prison in 2005. Soon after being released, he violated parole and spent another 26 days in jail.In 2006 Durst was reportedly paid $65 million to settle a lawsuit he had filed for his share of the family’s wealth. Several years later he agreed to be interviewed by Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling, documentarians who were making a series about Durst. He met with the filmmakers in 2010 and 2012. During the latter meeting, in a private moment off-camera when he apparently did not realize the microphone was still on, Durst said, “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.” However, the filmmakers said that they did not became aware of the footage until some two years later. They also uncovered other evidence, including a letter from Durst to Berman in which Beverly was misspelled in the same way as in the letter sent to police in 2000. The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst premiered on HBO in February 2015, and the night before the last episode aired on March 15, Durst was arrested for Berman’s murder. In November 2016 Durst appeared at an arraignment hearing in Los Angeles, where he pled not guilty to murdering Berman. -- source link

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