Robert Durst has died at the age of 78.
Attorney Chip Lewis confirmed the news to the Associated Press that the convicted killer and documentary subject passed away in a state prison hospital facility in Stockton, apparently from natural causes as he was dealing with numerous medical issues .
The real estate heir was already serving a term of life in prison for the murder of his best friend Susan Berman , whom he was convicted of killing in a highly watched trial last September. However, he will not be able to face his next prosecution — for the murder of his first wife, Kathleen McCormack .
Related: How Durst Contradicted Himself In Murder Trial Testimony
Those who have followed the case, immortalized in the film All Good Things with Ryan Gosling , will remember that Kathie disappeared in 1982. Her body was never found, but it was widely believed she was murdered — and Durst was everyone’ s prime suspect. The entire theory of the prosecution in the Susan Berman killing was that Durst killed her in 2000 because after many years she had finally decided to come clean about lying about his alibi for Kathie’ s killing.
The case gained national attention again in 2015 when the man himself sat down for an interview for the documentary The Jinx: the Life And Deaths Of Robert Durst . In a shocking climactic twist, the millionaire excused himself to the restroom but didn’ t realize his mic was still on. He mumbled to himself about the questions he was being asked, saying:
“What the hell did I do? Killed ’em all, of course. ”
For many viewers, that bathroom confession was evidence enough. It wasn’ t long before the government followed the court of public opinion and brought him to trial for Berman’ s death.
Even on the stand during the trial, Durst was looking frail and breathing with the help of an oxygen tank. Two days after his sentencing in October, his trial attorney Dick DeGuerin confirmed he had been hospitalized with COVID.
Three months later, and his compounded medical issues proved something he could not escape.
Sadly this means Durst will never face trial for the murder of his wife, something which may well have provided some modicum of closure for Kathie’ s loved ones. After the conviction for Berman’ s killing, he was finally charged officially with Kathie’ s murder nearly 40 years later. But we’ ll never know for sure how that trial would have gone.
[Image via HBO Max/California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/MEGA/WENN.]
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