Robert Durst, Real Estate Scion Convicted as a Killer, Dies at 78
Source: New York Times
Robert Durst, Real Estate Scion Convicted as a Killer, Dies at 78
He was a suspect in three lurid murders and became a fugitive. In September, he was found guilty in the fatal shooting of a confidante and sentenced to life in prison.
By Robert D. McFadden
Jan. 10, 2022
Updated 1:58 p.m. ET
Robert A. Durst, the scion of a New York real estate dynasty whose life dissolved in a calamity of suspicions over the unsolved disappearance of his first wife, the execution-style murder of a longtime confidante and the killing and dismemberment of an elderly neighbor, died early Monday as a prisoner in Stockton, Calif. He was 78.
His lawyer Chip Lewis confirmed his death, at the San Joaquin General Hospital, where Mr. Durst had been taken for testing. He then went into cardiac arrest and could not be revived, Mr. Lewis said. Mr. Durst had been serving a life sentence at the California Health Care Facility in the killing of his longtime confidante Susan Berman.
He was convicted of the murder last September and shortly afterward tested positive for Covid-19 and was briefly put on a ventilator. Mr. Lewis said the virus had worsened a host of already existing medical problems.
In a story made for supermarket tabloids, Mr. Durst, a small, rail-thin man, was a cross-dressing fugitive from justice with $100 million in assets. On the run, he became a vagrant urinating in public, sometimes disguising himself as a mute woman. He beat his wife and forced her to have an abortion; beheaded a man he had killed as he sat in a pool of blood, and once wrote a "cadaver note," telling the Los Angeles police where to find a woman who had been shot in the head. Distraught and alone in a bathroom, he unwittingly confessed to all the killings on a live recording used in a 2015 HBO mini-series about himself.
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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/10/obituaries/robert-durst-dead.html
Hat tip, the 2:00 p.m. CBS radio news
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Kingofalldems already has it in GD. I hadn't seen anything before I posted. Sorry.
Robert Durst dies in prison today.
https://democraticunderground.com/100216232290
XanaDUer2
(10,327 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)I remember reading that Ken Lay became an "innocent" man when he died during (or just before) the appeal process. That was pretty disgusting.
rpannier
(24,304 posts)Under California law, a conviction is vacated if a defendant dies while the case is under appeal, said Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Law School.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)Yandex
(273 posts)the end
milestogo
(16,829 posts)cinematicdiversions
(1,969 posts)But that seems a little harsh.
milestogo
(16,829 posts)Last edited Mon Jan 10, 2022, 05:07 PM - Edit history (1)
I thought it would be clear who I was referring to, and it wasn't Bob Saget.
I think there is someone we are all hoping will die soon.
XanaDUer2
(10,327 posts)Bob "Bye Bye" Durst, deadly real estate heir
bahboo
(16,234 posts)Lunabell
(5,920 posts)He didn't deserve anything but a cell for his last domicile. His wealth and privilege kept him out for too long.
PlanetBev
(4,098 posts)Theyre pissed that he died right after conviction and spent all those years on the outside.
You can get away with anything if youve got enough money and can hire the best attorneys.