Put this one in the "bettler late than never" file. The FBI has taken a deep interest in Robert Durst and is investigating Durst as a potential suspect in a variety of missing person and murder cases across the U.S. It started during the summer when agents began looking at the case of Karen Mitchell, the 16-year old from Eureka, Ca. who vanished in 1997. Durst lived in nearby Trinidad at the time and had frequented a homeless shelter where Mitchell had volunteered. He had also visited Mitchell at a local shoe store where she worked. Law enforcement officials in the San Francisco Bay Area happened upon the Mitchell case in 2003 while investigating the disappearance of another young woman, Kristen Modafferi. Mitchell vanished after she was last seen getting into a car with an older man. An eyewitness gave the police in Eureka a composite that looked exactly like - Robert Durst. It just happened that the eyewitness was a neighbor of Durst's in nearby Trinidad who fled the area soon after giving the spot-on description to police. The Bay Area cops did all they could to convince the Eureka police chief to take a serious look at Durst, but their pleas were dismissed. And that was after they subpoened Durst's credit card records, which showed Durst flew into Eureka the morning that Mitchell disappeared. I originally reported on Durst's connection to the Mitchell disappearance in 2003 while he was awaiting trial for the Morris Black murder, and during the trial I was told then by someone close to Durst's defense team that Durst thought he would be indicted for Mitchell. He never was.
The FBI has spoken with the original Bay Area investigators and with the Eureka police. The FBI is also looking at Durst at other cases in the U.S. where body parts have either been unearthed or recently surfaced. I'm told it's a serious look on their part. Stay tuned.
21 Comments
Ashley Clevenger
1/18/2013 10:01:22 pm
Another case(Franklin Floyd) of getting away with murder. You have clues, witness',and it all goes to no purpose. He'll end up walking.
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Sue Baze
3/1/2013 12:00:11 am
I have no doubt that he has murdered. He is crazy and has gotten away with it so many times he has no reason to stop.
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L Robertson
3/10/2013 12:47:03 pm
Watched "All Good Things" (twice at different times) and Durst's trial when it was being broadcast. I'm livid that he gets away with four possible murders--perhaps one of them indirectly--but Charlie Manson has been serving prison time indirectly for a long time. It makes me sick that Durst gets off scott free every time. I'm sure his neighbors in Harlem are keeping a close watch on him. It would be so creepy. This is one of the most criminally unfair trials I have ever seen. IS it ALL about the money? This is one basta*d that I would love to see in prison for life without parole.
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There are a lot of mysteries behind Robert Durst. I think his first trial was for the murder of Morris Black. Morris Black was his attorney. Dust admitted that crime and the jury acquitted him of murder. His sentence was for five years since he pleaded guilty.
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Lyndsay
3/18/2015 03:55:13 am
You are completely wrong on most of the above facts. The murder of Morris Black was his one and only trial, Morris Black was the victim in that case and not his attorney; Durst did not admit to that crime, and he was acquitted, and did not plead guilty, and was not sentenced to five years.
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Eleanor Schwank
8/17/2013 08:41:54 pm
It has been a long time coming Matt. Thanks
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Willow
6/19/2014 03:01:50 am
I wonder how much the Judge & Jurors were paid in order for him to receive his 3 year sentence for this heinous crime?
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Tracey Stano
3/15/2015 07:39:57 am
Does anyone know if Robert Durst was ever in Indiana in the 70's or 80's ?
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Mary W.
3/15/2015 10:12:52 am
Here's something I've wondered about for a few yrs: One of my friends who lives in Trinidad, CA, had told me that Robert Durst had a girlfriend while he lived in Trinidad in the 1990's. I don't know details except that she did have cancer, and she purportedly committed suicide. I asked if anyone investigated it as a murder, and was told that investigators determined it to be a suicide. From what I knew of Robert Durst (via the media), it was hard to believe that she committed suicide. Is anyone familiar with this part of the story?
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Zeets
3/16/2015 12:33:40 am
Admin...is there a way to reach a commenter privately?
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Matthew Birkbeck
3/17/2015 12:41:52 pm
I know who that is. Can you email me at [email protected]
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Carol Green
3/17/2015 08:39:54 am
Here in Eureka rumors have it that Durst had a live-in girlfriend in Trinidad, who "committed suicide" when she was still with Durst. I haven't seen any reports of this online or in the papers, but it is a rumor.
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Ginger Soderfelt
3/18/2015 03:44:00 am
The Humboldt LE, is terrible about investigation and solving murders/missing persons. The have a huge perpetual "rug".
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linzee
3/18/2015 01:43:05 pm
Even though the sketches look similar. Durst didnt have grey hair back when karen went missing
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Max
3/19/2015 01:39:03 am
While Karen and Kristen may also have been victims of Durst in the late 90s, the suicide of the woman in Trinidad can be excluded from also being a victim of Durst.
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6/20/2015 06:47:01 am
I live in McKinleyville, CA and was talking with my father today about Karen Mitchell. He was fairly certain in 1997 when Karen Mitchell disappeared that he saw her get into a man's vehicle. My father said she was on the south end of the Bayshore Mall by McDonalds. He called the sheriff after finding out that Karen was missing. I'm trying to find information about what vehicle Durst was driving in 1997 to match it with the information my dad has. My dad says it was a small truck. He also said the man was wearing either a straw hat or a white hat that with a similar style as a straw hat. My dad said that the man looked very small. I'd really like to find someone that knew Durst (or knew of him) and could tell me if the vehicle matches what he drove and also if the hat description matches up to what Durst would wear. Anyone with information can e-mail me at [email protected] --- thank you!
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Carol Y
8/6/2015 12:21:35 am
I was in touch with SFPD just before the HBO special (which I have yet to see) ; the inspector working my son's cold case watched and was pulling my son's case for review. I haven't heard anything. Matt what do you hear about the FBI's investigation of cases where Durst lived? You and I spoke many years ago, I know the original detectives working the case had gotten Durst's name from 2 unrelated people when the composite drawing of a person of interest was published. Durst left town and to my knowledge he was never questioned in my son's case.
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Me
1/26/2016 08:32:51 pm
How does someone report something anonymously
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Me
8/24/2022 07:06:01 pm
Call cops and say I want to make annonmus report and say your part
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