Robert Durst, 78,is jailed for life for 2000 execution of best friend Susan Berman

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Robert Durst was sentenced to life in prison today for the 2000 murder of his best friend Susan Berman who he shot dead in a gangland-style execution so that she couldn’t reveal what she knew about his wife Kathie’s 1982 disappearance.

Superior Court Judge Mark Windham sentenced Durst, now 78, at the Inglewood Courthouse in Los Angeles Superior Court.

‘As Susan Berman’s family have described for us, Susan Berman was an extraordinary human. I personally wish I could have known her,’ he told the court.

‘This is indeed a horrific crime.’

For the first-degree murder of Berman with intention of killing a witness, Durst was imprisoned to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty for Durst who evaded justice for more than two decades for Berman’s brutal slaying and is also long suspected of murdering Kathie and his former neighbor Morris Black. 

Sareb Kaufman, Berman’s son, said during a powerful victim’s impact statement that Durst ruined his life.

‘You didn’t just murder Kathy, or Morris, or Susan, you also murdered me,’ he said. ‘You murdered the person I was. All his dreams are gone. He no longer exists.’

Durst was found guilty of Berman’s murder back on September 17 after a lengthy trial where the jury was presented with damning and bizarre evidence including a handwritten note leading cops to the victim’s body and a latex face mask that the killer used as a disguise. 

Durst also took the stand to deny all knowledge of who killed Berman and Kathie – before admitting he would never confess to being the killer anyway. 

His defense team filed a motion requesting a new trial last month citing the delay in his trial – caused in part by the pandemic – and insufficient evidence. 

Durst’s sentencing came as New York prosecutors are also preparing to bring charges against him over Kathie’s disappearance almost four decades ago. 

Berman’s son said his life has not been the same since the murder.

‘All I can say is that 47, I’m still in the same type of job, never advanced,’ he told the court. 

‘No wife, no children, and almost no family because of what Robert has done… Since my mother’s murder, it has been a daily soul consuming and crushing experience.’ 

The victim’s niece Grace Berman said she wished Durst no ill will.

‘In fact, I would like Bobby to live many, many, years; to be on record for the longest living predator, ever,’ she told the judge.

‘And with each breath between from right now on, when you breathe in, you will hear Susan. When you exhale, you will hear Berman, and the ringing in your ears may never stop.’ 

Deni Marcus, who grew up with Berman, told the court of how she robbed of a ‘loyal, fabulous friend.’ 

‘She was always so supportive and wonderful,’ she  said. ‘She would make my grey days a lot less grey.’

She said she does not hate Durst. 

‘Hate was never on my wheelhouse or hers,’ she told the court. ‘Hate cannot enter my life, no matter what. She always made sure that I knew that hate serves no purpose.’ 

During the trial, prosecutors said Durst had also killed Kathie – despite him never facing charges and the trial being Berman’s murder.

They used Kathie’s alleged murder as a motive for Durst to kill his longtime friend and confidante.  

The jury also upheld the special circumstances allegation that Berman was killed because of her knowledge about Kathie’s disappearance.  

Durst was accused of shooting Berman point-blank in the back of her head after New York authorities reopened the investigation into Kathie’s disappearance in 2000 and wanted to speak to her about the case.  

Prosecutors said Berman knew too much about what happened to Kathie and so she was silenced. 

Berman is thought to have helped Durst cover his tracks after his wife’s disappearance, posing as Kathie to phone her medical school to say she was sick on the morning after she was last seen alive.  

This led investigators to believe Durst’s version of events that he saw her board a train to New York City on the night of January 31 1982 after they spent the weekend at their home in South Salem, Westchester County.

He claimed he spoke to his wife when she arrived at their Manhattan penthouse and had cocktails with his neighbor later that night. 

Investigators later found no evidence of Kathie ever boarding the train or arriving into New York and Durst later confessed to lying about their phone call and his drinks with a neighbor.   

Durst testified over 15 days during his trial, nine of them under cross-examination.

He claimed he discovered Berman’s body when he went to visit her but did not call police for fear he would be accused of her murder.

He also finally confessed to writing a letter sent to the LAPD alerting them to Berman’s dead body in her Benedict Canyon home on Christmas Eve 2000.

The letter told cops there was a ‘cadaver’ at the address and Beverly Hills was spelled incorrectly.

Durst denied for years that it was him who sent the letter before finally admitting at his trial – but claiming it was because he discovered his friend already murdered and didn’t want to leave her body undiscovered.

Prosecutors also argued Durst was adept in the art of deception, showing jurors a latex mask he was found with when he was arrested at a New Orleans hotel in March 2015. 

As the Durst Organization heir, his entanglement in the disappearance of his wife, death and dismemberment of his neighbor, and execution of his best friend has hit headlines for years. 

But he evaded prosecution for years. 

Prosecutors credited the documentary The Jinx: The Life And Deaths Of Robert Durst for his eventual downfall.

In the show, a hot mic picks up Durst confessing: ‘I killed them all, of course.’  

Documentary makers also compared the ‘cadaver’ note to another letter from Durst to Berman which spelled Beverly Hills the same way. 

This comparison was presented at Durst’s trial.