Convicted killer Robert Durst dead at 78

Convicted murderer and real estate heir Robert Durst died in prison at the age of 78, his lawyer's office said on Monday.

His death comes just months after Durst was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering his best friend Susan Berman in 2000, a long-delayed punishment for a man who largely evaded the law for nearly 40 years.

A multimillionaire whose grandfather founded one of New York City's premier real estate companies, Durst was also long a suspect but never charged in the disappearance of his first wife Kathleen McCormack Durst, who went missing in New York in 1982.

But he was never charged until last November when a grand jury indicted him for her murder.

Evidence from the Berman trial indicated she helped provide Durst with a false alibi in McCormack's disappearance. Prosecutors alleged that Durst killed Berman - shooting her in the back of the head - because he feared she would reveal what she knew to authorities.

Prosecutors say he also killed his neighbor Morris Black in Galveston, Texas in 2001, because Black discovered his identity at a time when Durst was hiding from the law, sometimes disguising himself as a mute woman.

But a Galveston jury acquitted Durst, who said he acted in self-defense when he shot Black - Durst even admitted to dismembering Black’s body and dumping it in Galveston Bay before fleeing.

Recently, Durst had been in poor health and – according to media reports - was hospitalized in the fall with COVID-19.

Durst was found guilty six years after his apparent confession to multiple killings in the HBO television documentary series “The Jinx.” in which he was caught on a hot microphone in the bathroom saying to himself, “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”