Police blew multiple opportunities to build a case against Robert Durst in the death of his first wife, a New York prosecutor who oversaw reinvestigation efforts into the case said Wednesday, after the real estate scion's death in a California hospital last week saw him escape charges in the four-decade-old case.
Westchester District Attorney Mimi Rocah, 51, blamed police's 'tunnel vision' for investigative shortcomings that failed to produce a charge following the 1982 disappearance of Kathleen 'Kathie' Durst from the couple's cottage in Westchester County, in her office's final investigative report into the occurrence.
The suburban prosecutor's declaration comes mere months after her office indicted Durst for his suspected part in his partner's disappearance - declared a homicide in 2017.
'This isn't a case where we can say minute-by-minute what happened,' Rocah said this week following the report's release, 'but we can say with confidence that he killed her in Westchester.'
In the report, Rocah revealed that her office was able to indict Durst during the reopening of the case due to damaging 'admissions' he made in the 2015 documentary 'The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.'
The multimillionaire real estate mogul was set to stand trial for the crime this year but died aged 78 on January 10, just four months into serving a life sentence for killing his friend Susan Berman. Rocah said the office released the report in the wake of Durst's death 'because a public trial is no longer possible.'
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Westchester DA Mimi Rocah blamed cops' 'tunnel vision' for investigative shortcomings that failed to produce a charge following the 1982 disappearance of Kathleen Durst from the couple's Westchester cottage, in her office's final investigative report into the occurrence
Durst was indicted by a New York grand jury last November following Rocah's probe earlier that year. He was set to stand trial for the murder of his wife, Kathleen, who disappeared in 1982 and was presumed dead in 2017. The couple is pictured in 1982
According to Rocah, Durst inadvertently aroused suspicion during interviews with the film's director, Andrew Jarecki, in which the suspected serial killer admitted that he had had a number of physical altercations with Kathie, including on the night she disappeared.
The report also cites an instance where Durst told Jarecki that he had lied to police about calling and speaking to her at the pair's apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
What's more, the real estate scion went so far as to contradict testimony he had given to investigators at the time of Kathie's disappearance in the series of interviews for the six-part biographical series, telling Jarecki that he was not actually having drinks with his Westchester neighbors on the night that she disappeared.
The film famously also features audio of Durst seemingly confessing to his crimes on a hot mic, that the filmmaker says he didn't realize was still on. While in the bathroom, Durst can be heard saying, 'What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.'
Durst, however, still insisted that he did not kill his first wife and claimed that his lies were intended to focus authorities' search to Manhattan.
The day before that final episode aired on HBO, Durst was arrested. He was then on trial for the 2000 murder Berman, who was long though to be an accomplice of the suspected killer in his first wife's death.
Late New York real estate scion Robert Durst, pictured here in court in August, died in police custody at the age of 78 on January 10
'This isn't a case where we can say minute-by-minute what happened,' Rocah said Wednesday with the report's release, 'but we can say with confidence that he killed her in Westchester.' The suburban prosecutor's comments come just months after her office indicted Durst for his suspected part in his partner's disappearance
During a Wednesday afternoon press conference regarding the report's release, Rocah further asserted that investigators were wrongfully 'guided by Durst's version of events,' while also acknowledging that the investigation and indictment of Durst was a 'challenging circumstantial case.'
'The report summarizes facts not subject to grand jury secrecy that were gathered during the investigation into Kathie Durst’s disappearance, and it sheds some light on why it took nearly 40 years to charge Robert Durst for her murder,' Rocah said.
'Sharing facts with the public, where possible, is the best way to enhance public trust in our justice system,' she continued, while noting that the domestic abuse allegations Durst at the time of his first wife's disappearance would likely have been taken more seriously today.
Durst had, for years, deflected suspicion in Kathleen's death and another killing - that of Susan Berman - and beat a murder charge in a third, before the 2015 documentary thrust him back in the limelight, and under the watchful eye of Westchester jurists.
Rocah said her inquiry turned up some new witnesses and physical evidence that corroborated elements of the case, and that her office had re-interviewed some witnesses who were 'more forthcoming than before.'
Noting that grand jury secrecy laws prevent divulging some of what investigators learned, the report also reviewed facts that already had emerged publicly.
In the report, Rocah revealed that her office was able to indict Durst during the reopening of the case due to damaging 'admissions' made by the real estate mogul in the 2015 documentary 'The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst'
'Some missed opportunities by law enforcement officials directing the early stages of the investigation may have contributed to delays in bringing the charges in this case,' Rocah, a Democrat, said at a news conference. She added that authorities now 'can and must learn from this,' particularly for future investigations involving rich, powerful and high-profile people.
An attorney for Kathie Durst's family blasted the DA's remarks as an
