Prosecutors in Westchester County have reopened a cold-case homicide probe into the 1982 disappearance of Kathie Durst, whose husband, real estate heir Robert Durst, has long been suspected in her death.
“The Westchester DA’s Office Cold Case Unit was established to review and reinvestigate unsolved homicides,” District Attorney Miriam Rocah said in a statement Monday. “It is reviewing a number of cases, including the death of Kathie Durst.”
The announcement comes as Robert Durst’s murder trial in the death of a longtime confidant in Los Angeles is set to resume after a 14-month delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In that case, Durst is charged with shooting Susan Berman in her LA home in 2000 — presumably because he feared she would talk to authorities about his alleged role in Kathie Durst’s disappearance and murder.
He was also charged with killing a neighbor in Texas, Morris Black, while he was in hiding, but was later acquitted of murder charges in that case, claiming self-defense.
Durst, 78, has long been suspected in his wife’s death but has never been charged.
Kathie Durst was last seen leaving the South Salem home the couple shared on Jan. 31, 1982. Her body has never been found.
Robert Durst has denied wrongdoing in her disappearance.
He has been jailed since 2015 in Berman’s death and went on trial in that case last year before the proceedings were halted due to the pandemic.
Judge Mark Windham on Monday denied a motion by Robert Durst’s lawyers to delay the trial and opted to move forward with the case with the jury panel picked 14 months ago.
Robert Durst is one of the heirs to the Durst Organization real estate company and is reported to be worth about $100 million.
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