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.' Scroll down for video 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 attempt 'to explain away how money, power, and influence allowed a killer to escape justice' and called on Rocah to resign. 'All the evidence that was needed to prove that Robert Durst killed Kathleen beyond a reasonable doubt was available in 1982,' the lawyer, Robert Abrams, said in an interview. Abrams told The Associated Press last week that he would soon be filing a new wrongful death lawsuit to the tune of more than $100million against the estate and would renew legal actions against others he has claimed helped cover up the killing of Kathleen Durst 40 years ago. According to Rocah, Durst inadvertently aroused suspicion during interviews in which the suspected serial killer admitted that he had had a number of physical altercations with Kathleen, including on the night she disappeared Kathleen disappeared from the pair's Westchester County home on January 31, 1982 TIMELINE: THE DESCENT OF ROBERT DURST 1982: Robert Durst's wife, Kathleen McCormack goes missing on January 31. Durst claimed that he dropped her off at the train station on the night she disappeared, and spoke to her later that evening on the telephone. Kathleen was never seen again. 1994: Robert Durst is pushed out of the family business due to increasingly erratic behavior. His brother is named successor of the real estate empire. 2000: The Westchester County district attorney announces in November that she is reopening the investigation into Kathleen McCormack Durst's disappearance and Susan Berman is considered a prime witness. 2000: Susan Berman is found executed in her Beverly Hills home. Three days later, an anonymous letter arrives at the Beverly Hills Police Department containing Berman's address and the word 'cadaver.' On the envelope 'Beverly' was critically misspelled as 'Beverley.' But the case goes cold. 2001: Durst was arrested in Galveston, Texas, shortly after body parts belonging to his elderly neighbor, Morris Black, were found floating in Galveston Bay. Police tracked him down with a receipt that was left in one of the garbage bags containing Black's body parts. Durst was released on bail and went on the run for 45 days before he was caught shoplifting a sandwich in Pennsylvania. 2003: Robert Durst stands trial for the murder of Robert Black and is acquitted of first degree murder. He pleads guilty for the lesser charges of bail jumping and evidence tampering and is sentenced to two years in prison. 2015: HBO releases a six-part documentary, The Jinx, that discovers new evidence incriminating Durst in the murder of his best friend, Susan Berman in 2000. FBI agents arrest him in New Orleans on eve before the final episode aired on March 15 2020: Robert Durst's trial for the murder of Susan Berman begins on March 20. The trial was paused for 14-months during the Covid-19 pandemic and resumed in May 2021. 2021: Robert Durst is found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole on October 14. 2021: On October 22, a Westchester County grand jury charged the ex-real estate scion for murder in the 1982 disappearance of his wife, Kathie McCormack Advertisement Durst always maintained that he last saw his then-wife when he dropped her off in Westchester County for a train to New York City, where they had an apartment and she was in medical school. Investigators initially let themselves be 'guided by Durst's version of events' despite inconsistencies, Rocah said in the report. For instance, while Durst said the two weren't having marital problems, one of their Manhattan neighbors told police that his wife had said he had beaten her and repeatedly sought shelter from him in the neighbor's apartment, once climbing over via their adjacent balconies. Neighbors who he said he had visited in Westchester after dropping her at the train denied that he came over. Meanwhile, a trash can in the Dursts' Westchester weekend home held a curious note he'd written: 'town dump, bridge, dig, boat, other, shovel, truck or car rental.' A cleaner said she told police that she'd noticed some unusual things - including what she believed was blood on the dishwasher - and that he had told her to dispose of many of his wife's possessions shortly after she vanished. However, police didn't thoroughly search the Westchester home, the report notes. The investigation remained focused in Manhattan, where some workers in the couple's apartment building reported seeing Kathie Durst on the night of her disappearance and the dean at her medical school said he had gotten a phone call from her the next day. Pressed by prosecutors during the Los Angeles case, the initial lead investigator in New York City, retired Detective Michael Struk, reluctantly admitted several mistakes, saying he wished he had 'done other things and more things.' But he said he was 'not aware of any evidence that was conclusive' that Durst had killed his wife. A re-investigation that the New York State Police and the DA's office began in 1999 frayed the potential proof that Kathie Durst had gotten to New York City. The building workers said they were mistaken or uncertain about seeing her, and evidence developed that the medical school caller who said she was Kathie Durst was actually Susan Berman, a writer who was Robert Durst's best friend. Berman was found slain in her home in her Los Angeles in December 2000, before a New York state police investigator could follow through on plans to interview her. Durst was convicted in September of killing her, with prosecutors arguing he did so to keep her from incriminating him. He was sentenced to prison for the rest of his life - about three months, as it turned out. He died Jan. 10 after being hospitalized for a variety of ailments. Rocah said the Los Angeles case paved the legal way for the New York charges. At his trial, Durst denied he'd killed Berman or his wife, though he also said that if he had, he'd lie about it, and that he'd lied under oath in the past. Kathie Durst was declared legally dead in 2017, but her body has never been found. After the investigation was reopened in 1999, Durst took off, pretended to be a mute woman and holed up in Galveston, Texas, where he killed and dismembered neighbor Morris Black in 2001. Durst was acquitted of murder after testifying that he was defending himself, but prosecutors in his Los Angeles trial argued that Black was killed for realizing who his neighbor really was. Durst later testified he was using methamphetamine during the interviews and deeply regretted doing them. All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility