The Case of Morris Black

Morris Black, 71, was a neighbour of Robert Durst in Galveston, Texas. On September 28, 2001, Black was killed inside Durst's apartment during what Durst claimed was a struggle over a handgun. Durst admitted shooting Black and later dismembering his body before disposing of the remains in Galveston Bay. Black's dismembered remains began washing ashore in October 2001, but his head was never recovered. Durst was charged with murder and tried in 2003. He testified that the shooting occurred in self-defence, and the jury acquitted him of murder. He later pleaded guilty to evidence tampering and bail-jumping charges.

Morris "Moe" Black was 71 years old and living in Galveston, Texas, in 2001. Black lived in the same small apartment building as Robert Durst, who had moved to Galveston and was living under the name Dorothy Ciner while presenting himself as a woman. The two men became acquainted as neighbours. Black had a key to Durst's apartment and was familiar with Durst's activities in the building. Durst later claimed that Black had entered his apartment without permission on September 28, 2001. The circumstances surrounding their relationship and the events immediately before Black's death became central issues at Durst's subsequent murder trial.

On September 28, 2001, Durst said he returned to his Galveston apartment and found Black inside. According to Durst's trial testimony, Black was sitting inside the apartment and had possession of a handgun that Durst believed had been kept there. Durst claimed that Black pointed the gun at him and that the two men struggled over it. During the struggle, the gun discharged and Black was shot in the head. Durst did not report the shooting to police. Instead, he admitted that he dismembered Black's body, placed the remains into bags and transported them to different locations before throwing them into Galveston Bay. Durst later testified that he had panicked because he believed authorities would not believe his account of an accidental shooting in self-defence. Black's remains began to be discovered floating in Galveston Bay in October 2001. His head was never recovered.

The discovery of human remains in Galveston Bay led investigators to identify Black as the victim. Durst had disappeared from Galveston after Black's death. Investigators quickly connected him to the remains and began searching for him. Durst was arrested in October 2001 after a warrant was issued. He was later arrested again in Pennsylvania on November 30, 2001, after police found him shoplifting from a supermarket. He had been living as a fugitive. Investigators recovered evidence linking Durst to Black and to the disposal of the body. Durst eventually admitted that he had dismembered Black but maintained that he had not intentionally murdered him. The murder trial began in Galveston in September 2003. Prosecutors argued that Durst had intentionally killed Black and then dismembered the body to conceal the crime. The defence argued that Black had threatened Durst with a gun and that the fatal shooting occurred during a struggle. Durst testified in his own defence and acknowledged shooting Black and dismembering his body. The prosecution was unable to establish conclusively that Durst's account of the shooting was false. The absence of Black's head also limited the forensic evidence available to reconstruct the fatal gunshot.

On November 11, 2003, a Galveston County jury found Robert Durst not guilty of murder. The acquittal meant that Durst was not legally responsible for Black's murder, despite his admission that he had dismembered and disposed of Black's body. Durst subsequently faced separate charges relating to his conduct after Black's death. In December 2004, he pleaded guilty to evidence tampering and two counts of bail jumping. He received a five-year sentence, with credit for time already served, and was released on parole in July 2005. Because Durst was acquitted of murder, the death of Morris Black remains legally unsolved.

Durst maintained that Black's death resulted from an accidental shooting during a struggle and that he acted in self-defence. His admission that he subsequently dismembered Black's body was not sufficient to establish murder because the murder charge required the prosecution to prove that he intentionally killed Black. The case became one of the three major deaths associated with Durst, alongside the disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen "Kathie" McCormack Durst, and the murder of his friend Susan Berman. Durst was subsequently convicted of Berman's murder in California.