USA: Millionaire Robert Durst convicted of murdering his friend

The court found Durst guilty of first-degree murder, and found that the accused intentionally killed Susan Berman in her home with a bullet to the head.

A family tycoon in the real estate market, Durst wanted to prevent 55-year-old Berman – author of novels and crime reports and his spokeswoman – from reporting to the police her suspicions about the mysterious disappearance of the millionaire’s wife.

The 78-year-old real estate mogul was arrested in 2015 in New Orleans, the day before the release of the final episode of the HBO documentary series “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” directed by Andrew Jarecki. The documentary is devoted to the millionaire’s alleged links to the three murders.

In the final episode, Durst is heard mumbling down the toilet into the fixed wireless microphone: “They caught you. Damn, what did you do? Of course you killed them all.”

Susan Berman was a spokesperson for Durst after his wife, Kathleen McCormack, who was suspected of murder in 1982, mysteriously disappeared. Berman was murdered shortly before being questioned about the disappearance of Dorset’s wife.

During a hearing in 2021, a comprehensive movie clip was shown that contributed to the arrest of an eccentric millionaire whom prosecutors named in the indictment a “narcissistic psychopath.” Also shown were excerpts from the 2010 film All Good Things, which tells the story of the disappearance of Katie (Kirsten Dunst), the wife of David Marks (Ryan Gosling), a New York real estate heir.

The broadcast of this image sparked protests from the defense.

Shortly after the Los Angeles court ruling, Susan Berman’s family released a statement affirming their satisfaction that justice had been served. “It is now time for Loschester to do the same to Kathleen McCormack’s family,” the news agency said.

A court in the Westchester borough of New York City is due to deliver the verdict in the alleged murder of Durst’s wife on October 18.

Durst, who – according to US media – is likely to die in prison due to his health, was also suspected of murdering a third person.

It relates to the murder of 71-year-old Maurice Black Jar Durst in Texas. However, Durst was not found guilty in the 2003 trial; He claimed to have acted in self-defence. According to the prosecution, Black identified the millionaire as the perpetrator of his wife’s murder.

Durst’s fortune is estimated at millions of dollars – despite cold relations with the rest of the family whose New York real estate empire is worth $4 billion. Millionaire’s brother Douglas Durst testified in court during the trial for the murder of Susan Berman that Robert tried to kill him simultaneously.