Lawyer for family of Robert Durst’s murdered first wife plans lawsuit against convicted killer’s estate

Convicted killer Robert Durst’s recent death will bring new life to a lawsuit in the 1982 slaying of his first wife.

A New York attorney representing the family of Kathie McCormack Durst plans a $100 million wrongful death filing against the multimillionaire murderer’s estate, with the late real estate tycoon’s second wife Debrah Charatan among his targets in additional planned legal actions.

Lawyer Robert Abrams mentioned the widow and unidentified others who allegedly helped cover up Kathie’s killing. The first Mrs. Durst disappeared 40 years ago and was eventually declared legally dead, although her body was never recovered.

“We’re not about to let Debrah Charatan dissolve the (Durst) trust and get tens of millions of dollars more,” said Abrams. “You don’t get tens of millions of dollars in America for covering up a murder.”

The McCormack family’s prior wrongful death suit in the case was thrown out after missing a legal deadline for filing, but Abrams said New York law would offer a second chance because Durst was charged in his missing wife’s death last year.

Two months ago, Westchester County prosecutors announced a second-degree murder indictment against Durst for killing Kathie, last seen alive on Jan. 31, 1982.

Charatan’s attorney, Scott Epstein, dismissed the announced court filing as “more suitable for a work of fiction” than a courtroom in the long-cold case that received revived public attention after the airing of a damning six-part documentary “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.”

According to Abrams, Charatan’s 2000 marriage was a ploy to help Durst dodge charges when an new investigation into his first wife’s disappearance was launched. Durst’s second wife, who met him in 1988, was never charged with any crime connected to Durst and her attorneys previously argued she had nothing to do with what happened to his first bride.

Durst was convicted last year in the 2000 killing of his best friend Susan Berman by a California jury, with lawyers arguing he executed her over fears that she planned to expose his role in Kathie Durst’s slaying by admitting she provided him with a bogus alibi.

Durst, who died Jan. 10 at age 78 in a California hospital, testified at his Los Angeles trial last year that he did not kill his wife or his pal Berman, although the one-time scion of The Durst Organization acknowledged he would have lied about the murders if he had committed them.