New York Real Estate Scion and convicted killer, Robert Durst, has passed away at age 78 while under the custody of California’s Department of Corrections.

Durst’s death was announced by his lawyer Chip Lewis who shared, "We understand that his death was due to natural causes associated with the litany of medical issues we had repeatedly reported to the court over the last couple of years."

Durst led a bizarre life that was later documented on the hit HBO docuseries, “The Jinx.” The notorious, eccentric, and at times charismatic Durst was the son of New York real estate mogul Seymour Durst. Robert first grazed national headlines after his wife, 29-year-old medical student Kathleen McCormack, inexplicably disappeared in 1982. Though her body has yet to be found, Durst remained a subject of her disappearance. Durst shared with the New York Post that she had likely run away because she suffered from a “sort of quasi breakdown.”

Durst was the subject of national headlines again in 2000 after the death of his longtime best friend Susan Berman. He was later convicted of her murder in September 2021. Authorities believe that Durst killed his best friend because she knew details about McCormack’s disappearance and planned to come forward to authorities with details that would implicate Durst. An investigation into Berman’s death was prompted after Durst made stunning allegations in the 2015 six-part HBO documentary, “The Jinx.” In it, Durst sat down for several interviews with producers despite the opposition of his lawyers and wife, Debrah Lee Charatan. In the last episode, Durst can be heard talking to himself in a bathroom, seemingly unaware that his microphone was still recording. “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course," Durst mutters.

One year after Berman's death, Durst again gripped national headlines after killing his elderly 71-year-old neighbor, Morris Black. At the time, Durst was living in a Galveston, Texas apartment under the disguise of a mute woman. After the killing, Durst was released on $250,000 bail but skipped his court hearing. As a nationwide manhunt ensured, he was later arrested in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania after he tried shoplifting bandaids and a sandwich despite having $500 in his pocket.

In a shocking turn of events, Durst was later acquitted of the murder of his neighbor. His defense team successfully argued that Durst shot Black in self-defense. In gruesome detail, Durst was able to convince the jury that after shooting his neighbor, he dismembered Black, and threw the body parts into Galveston Bay. Although Black’s limbs later surfaced, his head was never found.

In the wake of his guilty verdict for the death of Susan Berman, New York’s Westchester County filed charges against Durst for the second-degree murder of McCormack.

Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah who was prosecuting Durst for the murder of his former wife shared her reaction to the news of Durst’s passing. Rocah shared in a statement Monday, “After 40 years spent seeking justice for her death, I know how upsetting this news must be for Kathleen Durst’s family,” Rocah explained. “We had hoped to allow them the opportunity to see Mr. Durst finally face charges for Kathleen’s murder because we know that all families never stop wanting closure, justice, and accountability.”

Robert Abrams, the lawyer representing Kathleen McCormack’s family, shared that they planned to continue pursuing Durst’s alleged accomplices. Abrams shared a statement explaining, “In the interim, please say a prayer for Kathie and his other victims.”