New York grand jury indicts Robert Durst on murder charge
By Jean Casarez, CNN
Robert Durst, the notorious subject of the HBO docuseries “The Jinx” and now a convicted murderer, was indicted Monday by a Westchester County, New York, grand jury for a separate murder charge in connection with his late wife’s death.
Durst was charged last month with one count of murder in the second degree in the alleged killing of his former wife, Kathleen McCormack Durst.
Monday’s indictment states that “on or about” January 31, 1982, in Lewisboro in Westchester County, Durst “with intent to cause the death of another person, did cause the death of such person; to wit: Kathleen Durst.”
Durst was found guilty in September of first-degree murder for shooting his best friend Susan Berman in 2000 at her Beverly Hills home, hours before she was set to talk to investigators about the mysterious disappearance of Durst’s wife, Kathleen McCormack Durst.
Dick DeGuerin, the former lead attorney for Durst, said in a statement to CNN that Durst is “on death’s door.” CNN reported Durst, who also has bladder cancer, tested positive for Covid-19 in October.
Durst was sentenced to life in prison without parole in October for Berman’s murder.
Kathleen McCormack Durst was last seen in 1982 and her body has not been found. McCormack Durst was declared legally dead in 2017.
“I don’t think there’s any evidence to go on,” DeGuerin told CNN. “It doesn’t mean he can’t be indicted.”
In a news release, Westchester District Attorney Miriam Rocah said McCormack Durst’s family and friends had been left with “pain, anguish and questions that have contributed to their unfaltering pursuit of justice for the past 39 years.”
Rocah said her office “reinvigorated” its investigation into Durst when she took office 10 months ago.
“For nearly four decades there has been a great deal of speculation about this case, much of it fueled by Robert Durst’s own highly publicized statements,” Rocah said. “An indictment is a crucial step in the process of holding wrongdoers accountable for their actions.”
Bob Abrams, who represents Durst McCormack’s family, told CNN, “The family will have a public statement on Wednesday.”
Durst is currently in custody in California, where he stood trial for Berman’s murder. After Durst tested positive for Covid-19, he was transferred to the California Health Care Facility in Stockton last week, according to online inmate records.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
