In 2000, Susan
Berman—a writer, Vegas aficionado, and the daughter of Vegas mobster David Berman—was
found dead in her Benedict Canyon home in California. She had been shot
execution style, in the back of the head.
Investigators soon came to suspect her long-time friend Robert Durst, who is the subject of a recent “Investigation Discovery” episode and a six-part HBO series (in which he appears), “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” premiering tonight.
Berman’s life (including her years in Las Vegas in the
1950s) and her untimely death are well documented in Cathy Scott’s book, “Murder
in Beverly Hills: the Mob-Style Execution of Susan Berman, Her Crime Boss
Father, and the Deadly Secret She Took to Her Grave.” She was the privileged
only child of a noted mobster, one of the men who took over the Flamingo after “Bugsy”
Siegel.
I remember Berman, and her murder. I didn’t know her personally,
but I knew her work about Las Vegas, in particular her memoir, “Easy
Street,” and her book “Lady
Las Vegas,” which was the companion book to a documentary she co-wrote for
A&E. Since I’m a “casino kid,” to
borrow a phrase from Moe Dalitz’s daughter, I found Berman’s work fascinating.
Although Berman’s killing was described as “Mob-style,” the
idea that her death could be connected to the Mafia was quickly dismissed. Her
father was the mobster, and he had died in 1957 in a totally non-Mob way—in surgery.
Berman’s close friend Durst, however, had a disturbing past.
He’d also been giving Berman money, which could be indicative of many things…
or of nothing.
Whoever killed Berman knew her. She was ultra-security conscious—definitely
not a person who would open the door to a stranger—and there were no signs of
forced entry.
Berman was shot just a few days after investigators had
contacted her about the 1982 disappearance (and presumed death) of Durst’s
wife, Kathie, whose body was never found. Her case remains unsolved, as does
Berman’s.
In 2003, Durst was charged but acquitted for the murder of
Morris Black, whom Durst lived next door to during the time that he, Durst, was
pretending to be a mute woman. (Yes, you read that correctly.) Not only did he
kill Black, Durst dismembered him and tossed the remains into Galveston Bay. He
served time for lesser charges related to the incident, but Durst wasn’t
convicted of murder largely because a key piece of evidence—Black’s head—was never
recovered. The jury bought Durst’s self-defense argument.
Oh, and the fact that Durst
and his family are incredibly rich probably helped his case. Great lawyers
don’t come cheap.
Is Durst just unlucky, as the title of the HBO documentary
suggests, or is he incredibly, get-away-with-murder
lucky?
Since there isn’t an official trial ahead (yet), it looks
like the case of Robert Durst is in the court of public opinion.
In July 2014, Durst
was arrested for urinating on candy in a drugstore, for which he paid a fine.
According to recent reports, there are 19 protective orders filed against him from his family
members, who claim to be frightened of him.
UPDATE March 16, 2015: Robert Durst was arrested on March 14 in connection with Susan Berman's murder. In the final episode of "The Jinx," which aired just one day later, Durst made several self-incriminating statements (while unknowingly still miked) that will surely keep his defense team very busy for a while.
___________
Full disclosure: Berman’s
cousin, novelist Rosalie Bruce, is a friend of mine, which biases my opinion somewhat. I believe
Durst is guilty. Unfortunately, the evidence is all circumstantial. Evidence now exists. Filmmakers unearthed a key piece of evidence when they found an envelope with Durst's handwriting that appears to match the letter mailed to the police about Berman's body--a note only the killer could have written.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Skley at flickr
Photo courtesy of Dennis Skley at flickr
