The family of Robert Dursts long-missing first wife, Kathleen, hasbegun the process of filing a wrongful death civil suit against the imprisoned real estate heirand suspected murderer, New York Magazinereports.
Kathleen McCormack who went by Kathie disappeared in 1982 after a fight with her husband at their home in South Salem, New York. As recently chronicled in the HBO docuseries, The Jinx,Durst told police that his wife returned to New York City alone that night, but no reliable witnesses couldcorroborate thetrip. Her body has never been found, and Durst was never charged in her disappearance.
McCormacks family, however, has now retained a criminal lawyer and former Manhattan prosecutor, Alex Spiro, who opened the path to a wrongful death suit by filing a petition to appoint Kathies brother, Jim McCormack, administrator of her estate. Kathiesmother, Ann Catherine, is the current administrator, but the101-year-old would be unable to represent the family in the proceedings.
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Spiro wrote in his filing: The reason James McCormack wishes to be appointed administrator at this time is to commence a possible wrongful death action against the decedents husband, Robert Durst.
Jim McCormack admitted the familyheld off filing a civil suit against Durst for so many years partly out of hope that Kathiemight return one day. I know it sounds sophomoric to think that, but shes my baby sister and thats how I felt, he said.
The turning point came when he, along with other members of the McCormack family, watched the stunning finale of The Jinx, which ended with Durst in the bathroom, muttering into a still live mic,What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.The Jinx also helped make the familys pursuit of a wrongful death suit legally possible as New York places a two-year statute of limitations on such proceedings unless theres new evidence.
That, sadly, was the closure weve been chasing after for years and years, Jim McCormack said. After 33 years of hell really, theres no other way to describe what our family has been through we decided its time to sue.
A wrongful death suit would add to Dursts already-packed court schedule. The 72-year-old is in federal prison in Louisiana on gun and drug charges while also awaiting trial in Los Angeles on charges of first-degree murder for theshootingof his friend Susan Berman. Durst was arrested for Bermans murder shortly before the final episode of The Jinx aired; while the docuseries played some role in the arrest, investigators also uncovered a damning letterthat Durst admitted to writing to one of his alleged victims.