Biography

Robert Alan Durst (April 12, 1943 – January 10, 2022) was an American convicted murderer, suspected serial killer, and real-estate heir. He was the son of New York City real-estate magnate Seymour Durst and the elder brother of Douglas Durst, head of the Durst Organization. Robert Durst gained notoriety after the unsolved 1982 disappearance of his wife, Kathleen McCormack Durst; the 2000 murder of his long-time friend Susan Berman, for which he was convicted in September 2021; and the 2001 killing of his neighbor Morris Black, in Galveston, Texas, for which he was acquitted in 2003, although he was convicted of tampering with evidence for dismembering Black and dumping his body parts in Galveston Bay. Durst died on January 10, 2022, at the age of 78. At the time of his death, Durst was awaiting trial on a fresh charge, for the murder of his wife Kathie McCormack Durst, 39 years after her disappearance.