Robert Durst killed his first wife and used his family to cover it up, a new Manhattan lawsuit alleges.
The wrongful death complaint says that Durst’s wife Kathie sought to expose illegal business the family’s real estate company had been involved with. That led Seymour Durst, his wealthy father, to warn that his son’s wife “was a threat to the family’s business and directed Durst to take care of this problem,” the New York Post reported.
The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court on Friday by Kathie’s sister, Carol Bamonte. It alleges that Seymour, other relatives and people linked to the Durst Organization “conspired to protect [Robert] Durst and The Durst Organization from any connection to Kathie’s disappearance and murder.”
The suit is seeking unspecified damages. The complaint further accuses the family members of being “accessories after the fact” and said they helped create “a false alibi.”
“The accusations are fiction, and this is a lawyer’s attempt to make a buck,” Durst family spokesman Jordan Barowitz told the Post. “Unfortunately, Robert’s mendacity has left a trail of heartbreak, grief and broken lives.”
Robert is scheduled to stand trial in Los Angeles this year for allegedly killing his friend Susan Berman in 2000. Prosecutors allege he killed after she threatened to reveal information about the 1982 disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen Durst. He was arrested in New Orleans in 2015. [NYP] — Meenal Vamburkar