The Case of Kathleen McCormack Durst

Kathleen "Kathie" McCormack Durst, 29, was a medical student whose marriage to wealthy real-estate heir Robert Durst was breaking down when she disappeared on January 31, 1982. Kathie was last seen alive after leaving a friend's home in Connecticut following a telephone argument with Robert. He later claimed he drove her to a railway station so she could return to Manhattan. Kathie was never seen again. Her family maintained for decades that she had been murdered, and investigators eventually concluded that Robert Durst was responsible. He was charged with her murder in 2021, but died in January 2022 before he could face trial. Kathie's body has never been recovered.

Kathleen McCormack was born on June 15, 1952, and was known as Kathie. She met Robert Durst in the early 1970s and the couple married in April 1973. At the time of her disappearance, Kathie was 29 years old and in her fourth year at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. She hoped to become a paediatrician. Kathie and Robert's marriage had deteriorated significantly by 1982. They were living separately for much of the time, although they continued to share a cottage in South Salem, Westchester County, and maintained apartments in Manhattan. Friends and family described Kathie as increasingly unhappy with the marriage. There were also allegations of domestic violence. Friends reported that Kathie had suffered injuries after an incident involving Robert and had received medical treatment in New York. Kathie was preparing to end the marriage and had discussed divorce with people close to her. On January 31, 1982, she attended a dinner gathering at the home of her close friend Gilberte Najamy in Newtown, Connecticut. During the evening, Kathie received telephone calls from Robert. She became visibly upset and eventually left the gathering. She told Najamy that she intended to return to the couple's South Salem cottage.

Kathie was last seen alive on the evening of January 31, 1982. Robert later claimed that he met her at their South Salem cottage and drove her to the Katonah railway station, where she boarded a train bound for Manhattan. He said she intended to stay at their Riverside Drive apartment before attending medical school the following morning. Robert also claimed that he later called the Manhattan apartment and spoke with Kathie. Investigators subsequently found significant problems with this account. Evidence gathered during the investigation indicated that Kathie may never have boarded the train. Witnesses gave conflicting accounts about seeing or speaking with her after the time Robert claimed she had returned to Manhattan. Kathie's personal belongings and movements after January 31 could not be reliably established. Her body has never been found.

Robert did not report Kathie missing until February 5, 1982, five days after she disappeared. His account of her final movements became the initial focus of the investigation, but investigators eventually identified inconsistencies in his statements. People who knew the couple told police about the deteriorating marriage and alleged domestic violence. Investigators also learned that Kathie had been considering divorce and wanted to become financially independent. The investigation initially centred on the possibility that Kathie had disappeared voluntarily or had travelled to Manhattan. Over time, however, investigators increasingly questioned Robert's account. Kathie's family continued to pursue answers for decades. In 1999, New York State Police reopened the investigation. Investigators searched the South Salem property and conducted searches of nearby areas, including Truesdale Lake. The investigation also examined Kathie's relationship with Robert and his activities immediately before and after her disappearance. Kathie's case received renewed national attention after Susan Berman, a close friend of Robert's, was murdered in Los Angeles in December 2000. Prosecutors later argued that Berman had knowledge of Kathie's disappearance and had helped provide Robert with a false alibi. The HBO documentary The Jinx, released in 2015, brought further attention to Kathie's disappearance. During an interview for the programme, Robert denied killing Kathie. However, in a private moment captured by a live microphone after the interview, he appeared to say, "Killed them all, of course." Kathie was declared legally dead in 2017. In October 2021, nearly four decades after her disappearance, Robert Durst was formally charged with second-degree murder in Westchester County. A grand jury subsequently indicted him. Durst never faced trial for Kathie's death. He was already serving a life sentence in California for Susan Berman's murder when he died on January 10, 2022, leaving the New York murder charge unresolved.

Robert Durst was never convicted of Kathie's murder. He was charged with second-degree murder in October 2021 and indicted the following month, but he died before the case could proceed to trial. Because there was no trial or conviction, Kathie's murder remains legally unsolved, despite investigators identifying Durst as the person they believed responsible. Kathie's body has never been recovered. Her disappearance remains one of the longest-running missing-person cases associated with a suspected homicide in New York.

Kathie's case is notable because her disappearance remained unresolved for almost four decades before Robert Durst was finally charged. The case also became central to the investigations surrounding Susan Berman and ultimately helped expose the broader pattern of suspicious deaths associated with Durst. Kathie's family continued to seek answers throughout the decades after her disappearance. Her sister Mary McCormack and other relatives repeatedly maintained that Kathie did not simply leave her life behind voluntarily.