Durst Charged In Wife's 1982 Disappearance: Westchester DA

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — A complaint charging Robert Durst with the murder of Kathleen Durst was filed in Lewisboro Town Court on Tuesday, the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office confirmed Friday.

A state police investigator filed the criminal complaint in a town court in Lewisboro, New York, accusing Durst of second-degree murder, according to the Associated Press.

The action wasn’t announced at the time by any law enforcement officials or Westchester District Attorney Mimi Rocah, who recently convened a grand jury to also consider charges.

"We have no further comment at this time," Rocah said in a news release Friday.

The one-page felony complaint filed in Lewisboro cites evidence in the files of the Westchester district attorney, the New York State Police and the Los Angeles district attorney, as well as “conversations with numerous witnesses and observations of defendants, recorded interviews and observations of Mr. Durst’s recorded interviews and court testimony in related proceedings," the Associated Press reported.

Robert Durst, 78, was sentenced last week to life in prison without parole for murdering a confidante who prosecutors say helped him cover up Kathie Durst’s killing. Los Angeles prosecutors say Durst shot Susan Berman in 2000 as she was preparing to confess her role to police.

New York State police Investigator Joseph Becerra, who had scheduled to talk to Berman, testified at the trial, The Journal News reported. He had begun investigating Kathie Durst's disappearance in 1999.

Kathie McCormack Durst vanished on Jan. 31, 1982. The 29-year-old's body was never found. At the request of her family, she was declared legally dead in 2017. Robert Durst divorced Kathie Durst in 1990 citing abandonment.

For years Robert Durst maintained that she had left their lakeside cottage in South Salem and called him from their place in Manhattan.

Several prior investigations were made into her disappearance. In 2000, Becerra testified, police examined the cottage for the first time. They also dragged Lake Trusdale.

Since then, Robert Durst has admitted he lied about that call. Prosecutors allege another call, made Feb. 1 to her medical school purporting to be from her saying she was sick and couldn't come to start a clerkship, was really made by Berman to help Robert Durst cover up Kathie Durst's murder.

After Berman’s death, Durst went into hiding, disguising himself as a mute woman living in a cheap apartment in Galveston, Texas. As an alias, he used the name of a former Scarsdale High School classmate. There, he killed a neighbor and chopped up his body, but was later acquitted after telling the jury he did it in self-defense.

Robert Durst's attorneys have used Westchester's pursuit of the case as part of their defense in both murder trials.

Durst has been behind bars since March 14, 2015, when he was taken into custody in a New Orleans hotel room hours before the airing of the final episode of the six-part HBO documentary series "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst," which examined the disappearance of Kathie Durst and the deaths of Berman and the Galveston neighbor, Morris Black.

Her family's attorney, Robert Abrams, said the family is happy that Robert Durst has now been charged with her murder but will not make any comments until the grand jury process is complete.

Attorneys for Robert Durst, who is reported to be in a prison hospital on a ventilator with COVID-19, have vowed to appeal his conviction for the killing of Berman.

Robert Durst has long been estranged from his real estate-rich family, which is known for ownership of a series of New York City skyscrapers including an investment in the World Trade Center. He split with the family when his younger brother was placed in charge of the family business, leading to a drawn-out legal battle and ultimately reached a settlement in which the family reportedly paid him $60 million to $65 million.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.