crime

Robert Durst Charged With the Murder of His Wife After 39 Years

Photo: Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Over 39 years after the disappearance of Kathie Durst, her husband Robert Durst has been charged with the murder. State police investigator Joseph Becerra, who has worked on the case for over 20 years, filed a criminal complaint against Durst in Lewisboro, New York, on Tuesday, according to the New York Times. The case involving the infamous Manhattan real-estate heir has been the center of national attention for decades, reignited following the release of HBO documentary The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst in 2015. Very few pieces of real evidence exist. There was no official crime scene, and the remains of Kathie Durst were never recovered. The Jinx ends with Durst accidentally making an incriminating confession unaware a microphone was recording.

The second-degree murder complaint comes just over a week after a formal murder charge. On October 14, Robert Durst, 78, was served life without parole for the murder of Susan Berman, a journalist and Robert Durst’s close confidant. The jury found that Durst shot Berman inside her Los Angeles home in 2000, fearing she would reveal details of his wife’s disappearance to investigators after she made a phone call pretending to be Kathie Durst as a false alibi for Durst 39 years earlier. In January 2020, Robert Durst admitted to writing the letter to police tipping them off about the location of Susan Berman’s murder. At the time, Robert Durst’s lawyer Dick DeGuerin defended his client, stating, “This does not change the facts that Bob Durst didn’t kill Susan Berman, and he doesn’t know who did.”

Robert Durst Charged With Murdering His Wife After 39 Years