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Defendant Robert Durst in court in New York (2016)
Photo: Jae C. Hong / AP
The notorious murderer Robert Durst is dead, according to his lawyer. The US millionaire died on Monday at the age of 78 in California, as defense attorney Chip Lewis announced on request.
Durst was in custody of the judiciary and died of natural causes.
In October, the Los Angeles real estate heir was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for the murder of a friend over 20 years ago. He was previously found guilty by a jury of having shot and killed his friend Susan Berman at her Beverly Hills home over the Christmas period of 2000. The thirst, who suffered from bladder cancer among other things, appeared sitting in a wheelchair in the courthouse. Most recently, he was also sick with Covid-19. His lawyers announced that they would appeal.
Thirst was also in court earlier.
In 2003 he confessed to having killed and dismembered a neighbor in Galveston, Texas, two years earlier.
The killing was done in self-defense, he panicked and decided to dismember the body.
Durst was acquitted.
According to prosecutors, Durst wanted to steal the man's identity to avoid the investigation into his wife's disappearance.
Most recently, a public prosecutor in New York State had also officially filed a lawsuit against Durst because of the disappearance of Durst's ex-wife Kathie McCormack Durst in 1982.
The case caused a sensation in the United States at the time, but the body of the then 29-year-old had never been found - and so far no charges had been brought in connection with her disappearance.
The indictment went back to Durst's own testimony in the HBO documentary "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst" from 2015: Thirst apparently put it inadvertently made a kind of murder confession.
The multimillionaire was apparently unaware that the microphone was on when he mumbled to himself while going to the toilet: “What the hell have I done?
Killed them all, of course. ”Durst was arrested in a New Orleans hotel room the day before the show's final episode was broadcast.
Durst was the grandson of a Manhattan real estate mogul.
His inheritance was estimated to be around $ 100 million.
mwo / dpa / AFP
