LOS ANGELES —A New York grand jury returned an indictment Monday against real estate heir Robert Durst in the murder of his first wife, Kathie, prosecutors said.
Durst — who was sentenced to life in prison last month for the 2000 murder of his close friend, Susan Berman, in Los Angeles — could now face a second trial in the same place where his bizarre legal odyssey began when Kathie McCormack vanished in 1982.
“For nearly four decades there has been a great deal of speculation about this case, much of it fueled by Robert Durst’s own highly publicized statements,” Westchester County, New York, District Attorney Miriam Rocah said in a statement. “An indictment is a crucial step in the process of holding wrongdoers accountable for their actions.”
A criminal complaint charging Durst with McCormack’s death was filed Oct. 19, less than a week after Durst was sentenced to life in prison for Berman’s murder in California.
A grand jury was convened in early October to explore murder charges against Durst in New York, and several of McCormack’s relatives testified during those hearings, according to a person with knowledge of the case who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the case with the media.
A warrant has been issued for Durst’s arrest, and Westchester County authorities will now have to seek the 78-year-old’s extradition from California. A spokeswoman for the Westchester County district attorney’s office declined to comment on extradition proceedings.
Whether Durst is in any condition to travel is another issue — he was placed on a ventilator two weeks ago after contracting COVID-19, according to his now former lead defense counsel, Dick DeGuerin.
Durst’s new attorney, Alan Abramson, has not responded to requests for comment from the Los Angeles Times.
McCormack’s vanishing was at the center of the five-month trial that led to Durst’s conviction in California. Prosecutors have long argued Durst shot Berman in the back of the head to cover up McCormack’s disappearance, contending Berman placed a phone call Feb. 1 that helped obscure the timeline of her vanishing.
Authorities believe that Durst had already killed his wife and hid her remains in the Pine Barrens forests in New Jersey on the day Berman made that phone call.
