Robert Durst Dead At 78

Robert Durst has died at the age of 78, reports TMZ. Durst’s lawyer confirmed the news today, saying that he died Monday morning from cardiac arrest. Durst had recently been battling bladder cancer along with other health issues and also recently tested positive for COVID-19, leading to him being placed on a ventilator.

Durst was recently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Susan Berman. He appeared to have confessed to the murder on HBO’s 2015 documentary series, The Jinx, when he said in the bathroom on a hot mic, “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.” Though he claimed after that he was misunderstood. He was arrested shortly after the series aired. His trial was delayed for over a year due to the pandemic.

Durst’s wife, Kathie, mysteriously disappeared in 1982. He also was found not guilty in 2003 after being charged with murdering his neighbor while living in Texas. He went on the run after being charged, but was found in Pennsylvania and ultimately acquitted. Durst claimed that his neighbor threatened him with a pistol, and that the two got into a struggle over the gun, resulting in the man being shot and killed. Durst admitted during trial that he dismembered the body using a knife, saws, and an axe, and dumped it into the ocean.

Durst was born into a wealthy New York real estate family worth over a billion dollars.

A movie based on Durst’s life, All Good Things, was released in 2010 and starred Ryan Gosling. It was that film that led Durst to contact the filmmaker about doing a documentary on him, which ended up being The Jinx.