US millionaire sentenced to life imprisonment more than 20 years after murder of girlfriend – News abroad

He almost got away with at least two murders (one before 40, the other 20 years ago) with impunity. Then he blabbered into a TV documentary …

The American millionaire and real estate heir Robert Durst (78) was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for the murder of a friend over 20 years ago. A judge announced the sentence on Thursday (local time) in Los Angeles, as US media reported.

Thirst, suffering from bladder cancer, among other things, looked like a pile of misery when he was pushed into the courtroom while sitting in a wheelchair. But his story is that of an ice-cold monster.

On September 17, Durst was 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.

At that time, she was supposed to testify before the police in the investigation into the still unexplained disappearance of Durst’s wife Kathleen Durst in 1982. Kathleen was never found – and no charges related to her disappearance were ever brought.

But after the verdict, Kathleen’s family demanded that Durst be prosecuted for her disappearance as well.

The process began in March 2020, just before the coronavirus pandemic brought life to a standstill in the United States. He was resumed in May. The 14-month delay has been described by the defense as the longest adjournment with the same jury in United States history, according to the New York Times.

Thirst has also been 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.

In the 2015 HBO documentary “The Jinx,” Durst appeared to admit the murders. He went to the bathroom while still wearing a microphone on. That recorded a series of comments that looked like a confession. “You are caught! What the fuck did i do? Killed them all, of course, ”he said.

However, according to media reports, the transcripts of the sound recordings in court showed that the quotations had been merged and edited to put them in a different order and context.

But that no longer helped thirst either. The chain of clues was just too close.

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