Durst gone, but wife’s family still seeks justice
Robert Durst, who was facing charges in the 1982 death of his wife, Western Connecticut State University graduate Kathie Durst, has died.
Durst, 78, died Monday in a California state prison hospital, his attorney Chip Lewis told the Associated Press. Lewis said Durst, who previously had COVID-19, died of natural causes after suffering from numerous health issues.
Robert Abrams, an attorney representing Kathie Durst’s family, said Monday they will continue their pursuit for justice in her death.
“Although Robert Durst has died, the ongoing investigation into those who helped him cover up her murder continues,” Abrams said in a statement. “On January 31, 2022, the 40th anniversary of Kathie’s murder, we will provide a further update. In the interim, please say a prayer for Kathie and his other victims.”
After Robert Durst was charged with Kathie Durst’s death in October, Abrams and Kathie Durst’s family vowed to hold accountable those they believe were involved in an effort to “cover up” the killing.
“I think we basically made it very clear that we’re gonna go after everybody — lawyers, prosecutors, police, friends of Durst — who got paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to participate in this cover up. Sometime in December, we’re going to present all of the evidence that we have,” Abrams said
in a November news conference in New York.
Abrams has not released any of the evidence he mentioned during that press conference. At the time, Abrams said much of the evidence he and the family had collected was shared with Westchester District Attorney Miriam Rocah.
On Monday, Rocah said her office was in the process of working with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to have Durst transferred to New York when he died.
“After 40 years spent seeking justice for her death, I know how upsetting this news must be for Kathleen Durst’s family,” Rocah said in a statement. “We had hoped to allow them the opportunity to see Mr. Durst finally face charges for Kathleen’s murder because we know that all families never stop wanting closure, justice and accountability.”
Rocah said her office plans to hold a press conference “in the coming days” to release more information about the case they had built against Durst.
In September, a California jury found Durst guilty of the 2000 killing of a close friend, Susan Berman. During the Los Angeles trial, prosecutors said Robert Durst killed Berman because she was planning to come forward with information in his wife’s disappearance. Berman had defended Robert Durst when he faced public allegations that he may have played a role in what happened to his wife.
Weeks after he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for Berman’s homicide, authorities in New York charged Durst with the death of his wife, who disappeared after leaving a gathering with friends in Newtown in 1982.
A state police investigator alleged in charging documents that Robert Durst killed his wife “at or near” their home in South Salem, N.Y., records show.
In court documents filed by Kathie Durst’s family in 2017 that sought to have her declared dead, they alleged Robert Durst was abusive and caused his wife to be hospitalized after one incident. The family alleged that the couple had fought the night she disappeared.
Kathie Durst’s family said she was about to finish medical school to become a pediatrician at the time. She was close to her siblings and her mother, and would not have abruptly ended contact with them, according to the court documents.
Robert Durst was first charged in Berman’s homicide in 2015 when the final episode of the HBO documentary series “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” was set to air. The series focused on Robert Durst’s connection to three deaths in 40 years.
Robert Durst was acquitted in the 2001 killing of a neighbor in Texas, in which the victim was dismembered.
During an interview for the HBO series, Durst went to the bathroom with a microphone apparently still recording and said: “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”