Family Of Robert Durst's First Wife Files $100 Million Lawsuit Over Her Disappearance

Robert Durst is transported from Orleans Parish Criminal District Court to the Orleans Parish Prison.

Gerald Herbert / AP

The enduring whodunit mystery of millionaire Robert Durst took a novel turn on Monday after the family of his first wife — last seen in 1982 and believed dead — filed a $100-million lawsuit against him, claiming that he prevented a proper burial.

The lawsuit accuses Durst of preventing the family Kathleen Durst — who was reported missing shortly after leaving a dinner party in New York — from carrying out a proper burial, or “breaching their right of sepulcher,” according to the complaint obtained by BuzzFeed News.

Kathleen Durst was pronounced dead in 1988 despite her body never being found, according to the lawsuit.

The suit was filed in New York State Supreme Court by Kathleen Durst’s mother, Ann McCormack, and her sisters Carol Bamonte, Mary Hughes, and Virginia McKeon.

“For the past 33 years, Durst has concealed the whereabouts of Kathleen’s body from her next of kin,” the lawsuit states. “Durst murdered Kathleen…and disposed of her body.”

Robert Durst’s lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, did not immediately return a request for comment.

If Kathleen's family is successful, Robert Durst would likely be wiped out financially. According to the Los Angeles Times, investigators have pegged his net worth at $100 million.

The lawsuit is also just the latest in growing list of legal troubles for the millionaire after participating in the HBO documentary The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst. The series looked into the deaths he had been linked to — his former wife, best friend Susan Berman, and neighbor Morris Black.

He denied his involvement in Berman’s death in 2000 after being confronted with handwriting evidence implying he had a role. However, when he was using the bathroom a live microphone caught him saying, “There it is. You’re caught … what the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."

Prosecutors in California subsequently charged Robert Durst with murder, due in part, they said, to evidence the documentary filmmakers uncovered.

The millionaire has been in prison in New Orleans since March, when he was charged with being a felon in possession of a gun, the Associated Press reported. He had also previously been charged with two state weapons charges in Louisiana.

Read the lawsuit.

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