Casepin
Back to cases

Case file

Robert Durst murder cases

OVERTURNED2000Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, California3 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026
Illustrative

Robert Alan Durst (1943–2022), an heir to the Durst Organization real estate fortune, was linked across four decades to the deaths of three people: his first wife, Kathleen "Kathie" McCormack, who disappeared in 1982; his longtime friend Susan Berman, killed in 2000; and his neighbor Morris Black, killed in 2001. A Los Angeles jury convicted Durst of Berman's murder in 2021, but that conviction was automatically vacated after he died in January 2022 while his appeal was pending; the Black case had ended in a 2003 acquittal, and Durst was charged with McCormack's murder in October 2021 but died before he could be tried.

McCormack, a fourth-year medical student, was last seen by anyone other than Durst on the evening of January 31, 1982, at a dinner party in Newtown, Connecticut, hosted by her friend Gilberte Najamy. She had been treated for facial bruising three weeks earlier and told a friend that Durst had beaten her, though she did not press charges. Durst reported her missing days later and gave shifting accounts of their last contact. New York State Police quietly reopened the case in 1999 and searched the South Salem, New York cottage where she lived; the reopened investigation became public in November 2000. McCormack was declared legally dead in 2017, and her disappearance was reclassified as a murder in 2021. Durst was charged with her killing on October 22, 2021, but died before the case reached trial.

Berman, the daughter of a Las Vegas organized-crime figure, had provided Durst's alibi after McCormack's disappearance. On December 24, 2000, weeks after the McCormack investigation became public, neighbors alerted police after finding her door open and a dog loose, and Berman was found murdered in her home in the Benedict Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles. Investigators also received an anonymous letter, postmarked the day before her body was found, giving Berman's address and the word "cadaver"; in a 2019 court filing, Durst's lawyers admitted he had written it. The case stalled until the 2015 HBO documentary series The Jinx surfaced an earlier 1999 letter from Durst to Berman containing the same misspelling of "Beverly Hills." FBI agents arrested Durst in New Orleans on March 14, 2015, days after a Los Angeles judge signed a first-degree murder warrant against him. Following a trial repeatedly delayed by his health and the COVID-19 pandemic, a Los Angeles jury convicted Durst of first-degree murder on September 17, 2021, and on October 14, 2021, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Black, a 71-year-old neighbor of Durst's in Galveston, Texas, was killed in 2001; his dismembered remains were found floating in Galveston Bay on October 9, 2001, the day Durst was arrested. Durst, who had been living in Galveston disguised as a woman, testified that Black grabbed his pistol and was shot during a struggle, and that he dismembered the body afterward before disposing of the remains in Galveston Bay. With Black's head never recovered, prosecutors lacked forensic evidence to contest the self-defense account, and a jury acquitted Durst of murder on November 11, 2003. He separately pleaded guilty in December 2004 to bail jumping and evidence tampering for dismembering the body.

Durst died on January 10, 2022. Because his appeal of the Berman conviction was still pending, the conviction was automatically vacated upon his death. The McCormack murder charge, filed less than three months earlier, was never brought to trial.

Key facts

Victims
Susan Berman, Morris Black, Kathleen McCormack
Date
2000
Location
Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, California
Case status
overturned

Case timeline

  1. 1982-01-31

    Kathleen McCormack is last seen by anyone other than Durst, at a dinner party in Newtown, Connecticut, before she is reported missing days later.

  2. 1999

    New York State Police quietly reopen the investigation into McCormack's disappearance and search the South Salem cottage for the first time.

  3. 2000-11

    The reopened investigation into McCormack's disappearance becomes public.

  4. 2000-12-24

    Susan Berman is found murdered in her home in the Benedict Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles.

  5. 2001-10-09

    Durst is arrested in Galveston, Texas, after dismembered remains belonging to neighbor Morris Black are found floating in Galveston Bay.

  6. 2003-11-11

    A jury acquits Durst of murdering Morris Black.

  7. 2004-12-21

    Durst pleads guilty to bail jumping and evidence tampering for dismembering Black's body.

  8. 2015-03-14

    FBI agents arrest Durst in New Orleans, days after a Los Angeles judge signs a first-degree murder warrant charging him in Berman's killing.

  9. 2021-09-17

    A Los Angeles jury convicts Durst of the first-degree murder of Susan Berman.

  10. 2021-10-14

    Durst is sentenced to life in prison without parole for Berman's murder.

  11. 2021-10-22

    Durst is charged with the murder of Kathleen McCormack.

  12. 2022-01-10

    Durst dies; his Berman murder conviction is automatically vacated because his appeal was pending, and the McCormack murder charge is never brought to trial.

Best coverage

No approved coverage links are attached yet.

People

  • Robert Durst

    ACQUITTED

    Tried for the killing of neighbor Morris Black and acquitted by a jury on November 11, 2003, after arguing self-defense; separately pleaded guilty to bail jumping and evidence tampering for dismembering Black's body.

  • Susan Berman

    VICTIM

    Longtime friend of Durst's, found murdered in her home in the Benedict Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles on December 24, 2000.

  • Morris Black

    VICTIM

    71-year-old neighbor of Durst's in Galveston, Texas, whose dismembered remains were found in Galveston Bay on October 9, 2001.

  • Robert Durst

    CHARGED

    Charged on October 22, 2021, with the murder of Kathleen McCormack after her disappearance was reclassified as a homicide; he died in January 2022 before the case could reach trial.

  • Robert Durst

    CONVICTED

    Convicted by a Los Angeles jury on September 17, 2021, of the first-degree murder of Susan Berman and sentenced to life without parole; the conviction was automatically vacated after Durst died in January 2022 while his appeal was pending.

  • Kathleen McCormack

    VICTIM

    Fourth-year medical student who disappeared from South Salem, New York, on January 31, 1982; declared legally dead in 2017 and her disappearance reclassified as a murder in 2021.

Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.

Places

Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, California

34.1064, -118.4232

View on the map

Common questions

What happened to the victim?
Robert Durst, a New York real estate heir, was linked to three deaths over four decades: the 1982 disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen McCormack; the 2000 killing of his friend Susan Berman; and the 2001 killing of neighbor Morris Black. He was convicted of Berman's murder in 2021 and acquitted in the Black case in 2003, but died in January 2022 — before a separate McCormack murder charge reached trial — which automatically vacated the Berman conviction.
Where did the murder happen?
Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, California.
Who was convicted?
Robert Durst (Convicted by a Los Angeles jury on September 17, 2021, of the first-degree murder of Susan Berman and sentenced to life without parole; the conviction was automatically vacated after Durst died in January 2022 while his appeal was pending.).
What is the current status of the case?
Status: overturned.
More cases in California

Sources

  1. ENCYCLOPEDICRobert DurstWikipedia · 2026-07-12
  2. PRESSFor Heir, Accused of Killing, a Loyal and Tough AllyThe New York Times · 2026-07-12
  3. PRESSWoman Who Inspired the Beatles' 'Dear Prudence' Once Dated Robert DurstNew York Post · 2026-07-12

Record history

First published
JUL 13, 2026