The Strange and Bizarre Story of Robert Durst
In late 2000, a New York State police investigator reopened a long dormant probe into the disappearance of Kathie Durst, a medical student who vanished in 1982. Her friends long believed she was killed by her husband, Robert, the strange heir to a New York real estate fortune. Soon after learning of the new investigation, Durst fled to Texas and within nine months two people were murdered. His best friend, Susan Berman, was shot and killed in her Los Angeles home just before Christmas 2000. Morris Black, a drifter, was dismembered in Galveston in Setpember 2001. Matt Birkbeck covered the Durst case for People magazine and Reader's Digest and his definitive book on the Durst saga, A Deadly Secret, unveiled the behind-the-scenes drama of the Durst investigations - in 1982 and 2000-2003 - and produced new information that stunned law enforcement. Now in 2010, this true crime classic has a new chapter that draws Durst even closer to the murder of his best friend, and reveals new information that has terrified those close to him.
Murder in Los Angeles
Susan Berman was the daughter of a Las Vegas mobster and she was Bobby's best friend. Susan was murdered in her home in Los Angeles two weeks after a People magazine story on the new investigation into the disappearance of Kathie Durst was published.
Justice or Politics?
As Westchester County district attorney, Jeanine Pirro pushed the Kathie Durst investigation. But her methods, and her thirst for publicity, had many puzzled. She now hosts a tv program, Judge Jeanine Pirro, on the CW Netork.
The Karen Mitchell Case
Investigators in the San Francisco area probing the disappearance of a teenager there tracked Durst to Eureka, California, where another teen, Karen Mitchell, went missing in 1997. Bobby had a home nearby and investigators were stunned by the almost indentical appearance of Bobby and a composite of the man who was last seen with Mitchell. The composite was given by a man who was Durst's neighbor. Despite the pleadings of the Bay area investigators, the Eureka police dismissmed Bobby as a suspect.
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A Drifter Dismembered
Morris Black was a mysterious drifter who arrived in Galveston the same time as Bobby. Black and Bobby were seen together mingling with Galveston's homeless. Black was killed and dismembered in 2001. Bobby said it was an accident and a jury acquitted him of murder.
Captured in Pennsylvania
After killing and dismembering Morris Black, Bobby stole his identity, shaved his head, and fled. He remained on the run for six weeks until his capture in a Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania supermarket, where he was arrested for shoplifing a $7 chicken salad sandwich. He had nearly $40,000 and two handguns in his car.
Acquittal and disbelief
Following a six week trial, Bobby Durst reacts is stunned after a Galveston, Texas jury acquits him of murdering Morris Black in November 2003. He would spend two more years in prison on gun and parole violation charges.
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