The Jinx: Robert Durst

When Robert Durst was a young child, his mother climbed to the roof of their family home, and jumped to her death. Years later, Robert would claim that he had seen the entire thing, which his younger brother, Douglas, denied was true. 

It wasn’t out of the ordinary for the two brothers to disagree - during their childhood, they were even sent to a counselor in an attempt to help the boys work through their extreme sibling rivalry. The Durst children had been born into a real estate empire, but it didn’t matter to Robert. He spent his childhood and teenage years as a loner, getting into fights, and alienating himself from his family.

In 1971, Robert started dating a woman named Kathleen McCormack. He was smitten, and the relationship moved quickly - after only a handful of dates, he asked Kathleen to move in with him, which she agreed to. They got married in 1973 and lived an uneventful life together… until Kathleen vanished.

In early 1982, Kathleen was just a few months away from finishing her degree and becoming a pediatrician. She was last seen at a dinner party with friends, where multiple people noticed her strange behavior. Kathleen showed up at the party out of the blue, dressed extremely casually in a pair of sweatpants, and then excused herself after she received a phone call from Robert. She had plans to meet a friend at a pub in Manhattan, but never arrived. Her friend was concerned enough to call the police several times, but Robert didn’t seem to share those concerns - he only reported Kathleen missing after she had been gone for several days.

Initially, Robert claimed that he and Kathleen had fought that evening, so he had taken her to the train station where she boarded a train to New York City, before going back home and having a drink with one of his neighbors. Later, he admitted that it had all been a lie - he’d actually gone straight home, and gone to sleep.

There was plenty of reason for Robert to be the prime suspect in the case. He and Kathleen had a history of fighting, including times when Kathleen required medical treatment for bruising on her body. According to Kathleen’s family, at one stage, Kathleen had become pregnant - and Robert had forced her to abort the baby. But despite all of the suspicious circumstances surrounding Robert Durst, investigators were unable to find any strong evidence that he had harmed Kathleen.

After eight years with no sign of his missing wife, Robert filed for divorce, claiming that she had abandoned him. Kathleen’s family felt differently - in their eyes, there was no doubt that she had died shortly after her disappearance. Her mother, Ann McCormack, tried to sue Robert for her daughter’s death, claiming that he had killed Kathleen and deprived her family of the right to bury her remains. Years later, one of Kathleen’s sisters attempted to file a wrongful death lawsuit against Robert. Once again, the suit was dismissed. 

One of Robert’s most trusted friends was a journalist named Susan Berman, who had helped him to create his alibi for the night of Kathleen’s disappearance. For years, Susan was Robert’s most loyal defender. She had given statements to the press, denying that Robert had anything to do with Kathleen’s disappearance, regardless of what the missing woman’s family believed.

However, the enduring friendship between Robert and Susan came to a sudden end, when Susan was found dead in her home in Los Angeles. She had been killed execution-style, with the door left open, allowing one of her dogs to escape and attract the attention of her neighbors. 

The Beverly Hills Police Department received a letter that they believed was connected to the case, which correctly listed Susan’s address, and seemed to be the killer’s way of telling the cops where to find her body. Once again, Robert Durst appeared to be the killer - and once again, he was not arrested. Instead, he lay low, moving to Texas and disguising himself as a deaf-mute woman named Dorothy.

In 2001, a collection of human body parts were found floating in the waters of Galveston Bay. They belonged to 71-year-old Morris Black - Robert Durst’s neighbour. Morris was a difficult man who had been a merchant seaman before his retirement, and he was prone to arguing with Robert, whose Dorothy disguise he may or may not have fallen for.

Robert was arrested in connection with Morris’ murder shortly afterwards, and confessed that he had been there when the man died - but he hadn’t killed him on purpose. According to Robert, he had gotten into another argument with his neighbor, and ended up pulling a gun on the elderly man. During a scuffle for the weapon, they fell to the floor - and the gun was accidentally fired, causing Morris to be shot in the face. After realizing Morris was dead, Robert dismembered him in order to dispose of his body.

After he was released on bail, Robert skipped out on his court hearings and went on the run. He was apprehended on the 30th of November, after he was caught while attempting to steal a chicken salad sandwich from a supermarket. But, because of his claims that he had killed Morris in self defense, he was acquitted.

Several members of Robert’s family ended up getting restraining orders against him, claiming that they were afraid he would harm them. Robert continued to show up outside their homes despite the restraining orders, resulting in trespassing charges. Although he also harassed the rest of his family members, his main target was his childhood rival - his younger brother, Douglas. 

In 2014, Robert was arrested yet again, after he unzipped his pants and peed on a shelf in a CVS drug store in Houston. After urinating and exposing his genitals to the customers and staff, he calmly walked out of the store. He was only fined $500 for the incident, which his lawyer simply described as “an unfortunate medical mishap.”

After the investigation into Susan Berman’s death was reopened, Robert was charged with her murder. The trial was delayed for several years, while Robert was treated for esophageal cancer. Finally, in early 2020, he was well enough to stand trial - just in time for the COVID-19 pandemic to delay things further. The trial began in mid-2021, more than two decades after Susan was killed.

The prosecution argued that Robert had a clear motive for shooting Susan - she knew too much about Kathleen’s disappearance. They asserted that Susan had told Robert that she would go to the authorities and tell them that he had murdered Kathleen, and in a state of desperation, Robert had shot her to prevent her from talking.

Robert’s brother, Douglas, acted as a witness for the prosecution. So did Robert’s trusted friend, Nick Chavin, who told the court that Robert had confessed to the murder. According to Nick, during a conversation in New York, Robert had said that he “had no choice” but to murder Susan, saying, “it was her, or me.”

Out of the 80 witnesses who testified, the most damaging one was Robert Durst himself. In 2015, he’d been the subject of an HBO series about his alleged crimes, titled, “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.” Although Robert had a history of refusing to cooperate with the media, he had warmed up to Andrew Jarecki, who directed the series. During filming of “The Jinx”, Robert had taken part in more than 20 hours of interviews with Andrew. In the final one, Andrew had shown Robert two envelopes. One of them was a letter that Robert had sent to Susan Berman a year before her death. The other was the letter that had been sent to the LAPD, indicating where Susan’s body could be found. Andrew told Robert that a handwriting expert had concluded that both letters had the same author.

Although Robert still didn’t admit to the killings, he was shaken up. He went to the bathroom after the interview finished, forgetting that the microphone clipped to his clothing had not been turned off, and muttered to himself. His final statement was, “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”

After deliberating for almost 8 hours, the jury found Robert guilty of Susan’s murder. He received a life sentence without parole, and two days later, a New York State Police investigator filed a complaint against him. This time, the complaint accused Robert of another murder - his missing wife, Kathleen. Finally, 40 years after Kathleen vanished, her killer was charged with her murder.

But Kathleen’s family never received the closure they spent decades searching for. At 78 years old, Robert Durst died of natural causes. To this day, Kathleen’s remains have never been found.