NYPD Detective Says He Has New Lead In Murder Of Robert Durst's Wife
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The NYPD said Tuesday that it has a new lead in the murder of the first wife of Robert Durst decades ago.
But as WCBS 880's Alex Silverman reported, the lawyer for Kathie Durst's family is not buying it.
Bob Abrams, the attorney for Kathleen Durst's sisters, is suing for access to the NYPD's case file to use against Robert Durst.
In a sworn statement, Detective Monty Velez said the NYPD cannot turn over the case file because it is an active investigation.
He said, "In fact, the NYPD received a new lead just last month, which I'm actively pursuing."
But Abrams does not believe it. He accuses Velez of lying to "cover up their incompetent and corrupt investigation, which he said ended more than 30 years ago.
Kathleen Berman disappeared in 1982, and he body has never been found. She was officially declared dead in April of this year.
Durst has not been charged in his first wife's death, but he has been charged in the fatal shooting of another woman, Susan Berman. Authorities suspect Durst killed Berman to keep her from talking to Westchester County prosecutors about the disappearance of his wife.
Durst will go on trial in California in the Berman murder. He also pleaded guilty last year to a weapons charge in New Orleans, and was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was brought to Los Angeles County jail from a federal prison in Indiana in late 2016.
Before that, FBI agents followed Durst to a New Orleans hotel on the eve of the finale of "The Jinx," HBO's six-part documentary about Durst, his wife's disappearance, Berman's death and the death and dismemberment of Durst's neighbor Morris Black in 2001. Durst was formally arrested early on the day of the broadcast, before viewers saw him in a washroom, still wearing a live microphone and muttering, "There it is. You're caught! What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)