Murder Houses: What Happened to the Homes of Convicted Killer Robert Durst’s Alleged Victims?
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Real estate scion and convicted killer Robert Durst, who died in prison on Monday, left a trail of dead or missing bodies in his wake.
Durst, 78, was serving a life sentence for the murder of his longtime friend Susan Berman, who was found dead in her Beverly Hills, CA, rental home in 2000. He was convicted of the crime in September. He was implicated in the lurid disappearance of his wife Kathie Durst from their lakefront cottage in upstate New York in 1982 and admitted to the grisly killing and dismembering of his neighbor Morris Black in 2001 in his Galveston, TX, apartment.
The multimillionaire was the subject of “The Jinx,” a 2015 HBO miniseries about his life, where he muttered to himself that he “killed them all” after filming had ended but his microphone was still on.
Despite the terrible things that happened—or may have happened—in these homes and the fascination they have attracted from true-crime fans, the homes aren’t likely to remain stigmatized.
“The stigma related to a tragedy tends to be short-lived,” says national real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller. “A lot of time has passed since these tragedies, so I would be skeptical that would discourage buyers.”
So what happened to the homes of Durst’s victims?
The lakefront cottage where his first wife went missing
The crime that catapulted Durst into the public eye was his first wife’s 1982 disappearance from the couple’s lakefront cottage in South Salem, NY, following an argument. It would take four decades for Durst to be indicted in the killing of his wife, a 29-year-old medical student.
The three-bedroom, four-bathroom home, about an hour north of New York City, sits on Lake Truesdale. It boasts water views, three terraces, a private dock, a deck, and vaulted ceilings, according to the last listing for the property.
The 2,400-square-foot house, built in 1929 on nearly two-thirds of an acre, was last sold at the end of 2015 for $1.25 million, according to Realtor.com® sales records. The price was $150,000 over the $1.1 million list price.
But it was a relative steal compared with the $1,675,000 the previous owner, financial analyst Vincent Farrell, paid for the home in mid-2013. Farrell died of cancer in 2014, according to the New York Post.
Prior to that, the home was sold for $420,000 in 1994, according to Realtor.com records.
Kathie was a 19-year-old tenant in one of the Durst family’s buildings when she met Robert in 1971. The couple briefly moved to Vermont to run a health food store but returned to New York in 1973 to get married.
In 1990, Durst officially divorced his missing wife, citing abandonment. Her family had her declared legally dead in 2017.
Durst later married real estate investor Debrah Lee Charatan.
The Beverly Hills home where he killed his longtime friend
The crime that would eventually land Durst behind bars was his shooting his longtime friend, writer Susan Berman, in the back of the head in 2000 in an effort to cover up the disappearance of his first wife. Berman’s body was found in the bedroom of her Beverly Hills rental home on Christmas Eve.
Durst was convicted of the execution-style murder in September.
The two-bedroom, two-bathroom house with an open floor plan and a private backyard is valued at about $1,677,000, according to Realtor.com. The 1,300-square-foot house features hardwood floors, a vaulted ceiling, and a walk-in closet in the main bedroom.
The home was last sold at the end of 2005 for $905,000, according to Realtor.com records. It was listed about five months later for just under $1.3 million. The price was briefly increased to $1,375,000 before it was steadily dropped over the next four years to $1.05 million with no takers.
The rooming house where he killed and dismembered his neighbor
Perhaps the most infamous piece of real estate connected to Durst was the Texas boarding house where he disguised himself as a mute woman before shooting and later dismembering his neighbor. The site has since become a local attraction for true-crime aficionados.
Durst had moved into one of the four units in this otherwise unremarkable, two-story, four-unit building in Galveston in 2000 to escape scrutiny of his wife’s disappearance and Berman’s murder. However, in late September 2001, Durst got into an argument with his 71-year-old neighbor Morris Black in his apartment and shot and killed Black across the hall in what he later called an act of self-defense.
A few days later, five bags containing Black’s severed body parts and one empty bag that was believed to have held Black’s head were discovered floating in Galveston Bay.
Durst was arrested, but fled while out on bail. The millionaire scion was eventually caught stealing a chicken sandwich at a Pennsylvania supermarket. He was acquitted of Black’s murder in 2003.
The building where Black died and his body butchered was sold at the end of August to a limited liability corporation. Property records do not include the sale price of the 2,537-square-foot, subdivided house consisting of two efficiency apartments, a one-bedroom unit, and a two-bedroom unit.
The sale was completed in 66 days of the property going onto the market.
The building includes “paved off street parking,” a “central laundry room” and is located on the East End near the beach, according to the property listing. It sits on a tenth of an acre.
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