WAS THE 1982 DISAPPEARANCE OF ROBERT DURST'S FIRST WIFE COVERED UP?

Kathie Durst’s family wants probe of 40-year-old ‘cover-up’ 

 

By Jorge Fitz-Gibbon

 

New York Post

November 9, 2021

 

 

Robert Durst’s first wife, Kathleen “Kathie” McCormack, disappeared in 1982

 

The family of disgraced real estate scion Robert Durst’s slain wife is calling on Westchester County prosecutors to investigate the “nearly four-decade-long cover-up” of her 1982 disappearance and murder.

Robert Abrams, an attorney for Kathleen Durst’s family, bemoaned decades of “prosecutorial cowardice” in the case and chided “the sloppy, incompetent investigation” that kept Durst off the hook until this month, when he was finally indicted in his ex-wife’s murder.

 

James McCormack the brother of Kathleen Durst talks with his attorneys Robert Abrahams and Matthew Capozzoli to the media outside the Westchester County Courthouse in White Plains, NY, on Nov. 9, 2021

 

Abrams, speaking outside the Westchester County Courthouse on Tuesday, praised DA Mimi Rocah for the indictment — but said it took too long and leaves many unanswered questions.

“As much as we appreciate what District Attorney Rocah has done by indicting Robert Durst for Kathie’s murder — and we do appreciate it,” Abrams said. “But I want to be really clear. What she did is what her job requires her to do. She indicted a murderer for killing somebody.”

 

Kathleen Durst and Robert Durst. Kathleen was 29 when she disappeared

 

“Kudos to her, because that was not done for the past 40 years and she did it. She didn’t do us any favors for doing what she’s supposed to do.”

Abrams added that Rocah “has an obligation under the law” to determine whether Robert Durst’s brother, Douglas, used his wealth and influence to stifle the investigation.

Rocah reopened the cold case in May.

In a letter to the district attorney, Abrams asked that the office “correct the mistakes made by your predecessors” and launch “a meaningful investigation into the coverup.”

Kathleen Durst, 29, disappeared from the couple’s South Salem home on Jan. 31, 1982, and was declared legally dead by her family in 2017. 

 

Robert Durst is already serving a life sentence for killing his best friend. He was charged with Kathleen Durst’s 1982 murder in October 2021 

 

Her body was never found.

The Westchester indictment came just two weeks after Robert Durst was sentenced to life in prison in Los Angeles for the 2000 murder of pal Susan Berman, who prosecutors contend was about to come clean on Kathleen Durst’s slaying.

The ailing real estate scion was also tried for killing and chopping up neighbor Morris Black in Galveston, Texas, but was acquitted after claiming self-defense.

A spokesperson for the Westchester District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.

A spokesman for the Durst Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post on Tuesday.

In a statement Tuesday, a spokesman for the Durst Organization dismissed Abrams’ claims as “baseless.”

“Mr. Abrams has a long history of leveling hollow, baseless attacks without ever providing a single shred of documentation to substantiate his wild claims,” the statement said. 

“In the last two years, Abrams has named the Durst Organization or Douglas Durst more than 30 times in court filings,” it said. “Time and time again these accusations have been summarily dismissed and thrown out by courts.”