When journalist and author Susan Berman was found murdered inside her Beverly Hills home in 2000, some suspected she had been shot by mobsters. Instead, the killer was her best friend — real estate heir Robert Durst.
HBOSusan Berman with Robert Durst , her best Quaker and murderer .
Susan Berman was a journalist , writer , and daughter of a Las Vegas mobster . Her puerility was marked with both excitement and risk , which later led to her passionate pursuit of storytelling .
While study news media at the University of California , Los Angeles , Berman crossed path with real estate heir Robert Durst . The two became such penny-pinching friends that Berman emerged as his unofficial interpreter and bowelless shielder when his wife , Kathleen McCormack , mysteriously disappeared from Westchester County , New York in 1982 .
HBOSusan Berman with Robert Durst, her best friend and murderer.
Years later , Berman ’s friendship with Durst moderate to her slaying in Beverly Hills on December 23 , 2000 , after authorities in New York reopen the McCormack sheath and became concerned in verbalize with Berman again .
It ’s conceive that she was finally about to cooperate with the authorities and evidence them everything she knew — which likely spelled her day of reckoning .
Life As A Mobster’s Daughter
Berman FamilySusan Berman with her parent .
Susan Berman was born on May 18 , 1945 , in Minneapolis , Minnesota to mobster David Berman and rap professional dancer Gladys Berman . The family end up relocating to Las Vegas when Susan was just two month old .
Berman grew up under unique circumstances , especially since her father took over the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas after gangsterBugsy Siegel ’s deathin 1947 . Though her sire had antecedently been fighting in Jewish American organized crime in both Minneapolis and Sioux City , Iowa , his newfound control in Las Vegas gave him more power than he ever had before .
Berman FamilySusan Berman with her parents.
As a child , Susan Berman was process like mob royalty , and stars like Elvis Presley and Liberace regularly execute at her natal day parties . She saw nothing strange about all the kidnapping - prevention Mandrillus leucophaeus she had to do .
Berman FamilyFrom right to left : David Berman , Gladys Berman , and David ’s brother Chickie Berman in Cuba in 1940 .
When she was 12 years onetime , Susan Berman ’s father pass while undergoing surgery . And just a couple of years later , Berman ’s mother died by self-annihilation .
Berman FamilyFrom right to left: David Berman, Gladys Berman, and David’s brother Chickie Berman in Cuba in 1940.
She fail to live with her uncle Chickie Berman in Idaho and see embarkment schools before moving to Los Angeles for college in the 1960s .
While attend UCLA , Berman met literal estate of the realm heirRobert Durst . He was the first - born boy of Seymour Durst , the owner of the Durst Organization real estate company in New York City . Like Berman , he came from wealthiness and had also lost his mother to felo-de-se . In Los Angeles , the two became very close friends — which would finally prove deadly for Berman .
Susan Berman’s Emergence In The Writing World
Jeff RaynerSusan Berman ’s 1967 UCLA gradation exposure .
Susan Berman graduate from UCLA in 1967 and immediately continued her education by look postgraduate school day at the University of California , Berkeley . She presently find a master ’s level in journalism in 1969 .
Meanwhile , despite get no lineal involvement in the mob , Berman received millions from organized offense groups in Las Vegas . In total , Berman received $ 4.3 million , seemingly an inheritance from her beginner .
Jeff RaynerSusan Berman’s 1967 UCLA graduation photo.
Instead of entering organized criminal offence herself , she used this money to fulfill her ambition of becoming a author . According to theOnline Nevada Encyclopedia , Berman ’s first bountiful good luck number with her 1975 clause in theCity of San Francisco Magazinetitled , “ San Francisco , City of Sin : Why Ca n’t I Get repose ? ”
A twelvemonth later on , Berman wrote a novel titledDriver , Give a Soldier a Liftin Israel after suffer a nervous breakdown . Though writing gave her great joy , she continued to suffer from anxiety throughout her sprightliness , admit a fear of stature that preclude her from staying above the third level at any hotel .
Berman FamilySusan Berman eventually build up a reputation as a well-thought-of journalist and source .
Berman FamilySusan Berman eventually built up a reputation as a respected journalist and author.
She later went on to publish legion articles inNew Yorkmagazine , where she advance a report as a clever and “ sassy ” author .
Perhaps her most famous piece was a memoir about her puerility as the daughter of a mobster , titledEasy Street : The True Story of a Mob Family .
As she write more and more pieces , she steady gain respectfulness as a author , and in 1996 , she was even propose for a Writers Guild of America award for her work on the A&E documentaryThe Real Las Vegas .
Berman FamilyRobert Durst and Susan Berman at her wedding to “Mister” Margulies in 1984. Margulies overdosed two years later.
At the time of her decease in 2000 , Berman was hold up in Beverly Hills and work on an original series that would ’ve been titledSin City .
Susan Berman’s Relationship With Robert Durst
Berman FamilyRobert Durst and Susan Berman at her wedding to “ Mister ” Margulies in 1984 . Margulies overdosed two year later .
Susan Berman ’s human relationship with Robert Durst was by all reports incredibly airless . consort toLAist , Berman advert to Durst as her brother .
Durst had even walked Berman down the gangway during her wedding to Christopher “ Mister ” Margulies in June 1984 . ( Margulies overdose just two year later on . ) Andrew Jarecki , the director of the Robert Durst documentaryThe Jinx , say this to theLos Angeles Timesabout Durst and Berman :
HBORobert Durst wasn’t convicted of Susan Berman’s murder until 2021.
“ It ’s really clear that he sleep together her , platonically . I ’ve always seen that relationship as demi - romantic in that it was never an overtly amorous family relationship . But I have to assume that she was in love with him . First of all , women love Bob . I do n’t know that all char make love Bob , but certainly some women have sex Bob a lot , and he ’s had no trouble attracting fair sex . I always felt that Susan had a affair for Bob and at some level envision peradventure they would terminate up together when he was finished with all of this gallivanting around . ”
By the early nineties , Berman find herself struggling financially . Much of her trust fund and mob money was belong , likely due to her lavish lifestyle and her various professional projects that never panned out .
“ Susan always was optimistic,”rememberedStephen M. Silverman , a friend of Berman ’s . “ There was always a Major Project around the corner . ”
HBO Documentary Films/Hit The Ground Running Films/Blumhouse/Album/Alamy Stock PhotoAfter years of covering his tracks, Robert Durst accidentally incriminated himself during the filming of the 2015 HBO docuseriesThe Jinx, which helped lead to his conviction for the murder of Susan Berman.
presently before her death , Durst sent her $ 50,000 . Although it seemed like a generous favor between friends , the accuracy was likely much darker .
Susan Berman’s Death At The Hands Of Robert Durst — And The Turbulent Aftermath
HBORobert Durst was n’t convict of Susan Berman ’s slaying until 2021 .
Susan Berman ’s dying arguably began powerful after the sudden disappearance ofKathleen McCormack , Robert Durst ’s married woman .
Durst and McCormack had legion issues for most of their nine - twelvemonth marriage , include Durst being physically abusive toward McCormack and ram her to get an abortion . And then , on January 31 , 1982 , McCormack vanished in New York . To this day , authorities have n’t establish any foretoken of her . Durst later disunite her on the grounds of “ nuptial abandonment ” and insisted that he had nothing to do with her disappearance .
Meanwhile , Susan Berman spoke publicly in defense of Durst . As an influential diarist , Berman became his unofficial spokesperson in the wardrobe , cautiously arrange interviews with the medium and even suggesting that McCormack had run off with another man ( perhaps take advantage of the fact that both McCormack and Durst had affaire during the married couple ) .
With no body , the case went cold-blooded and stayed that way of life until November 2000 , when the Westchester County District Attorney ordered investigators to reopen the file cabinet , convert that McCormack had been a dupe of homicide .
Considering the fact that Berman had been so confining to the missing woman ’s husband , it was only a thing of clock time before law enforcement reached out to her . Now , some believe that Berman was finally ready to tell the Sojourner Truth about Durst to the law after years of covering for him .
Chillingly , in December 2000 , Berman was establish scoot “ execution - style ” at her Beverly Hills base . And local police before long received a letter of the alphabet that simply study “ CADAVER ” under Berman ’s computer address . This letter of the alphabet would afterward be associate to Durst , who often misspelled “ Beverly Hills ” as “ Beverley Hills ” — the same error that the letter ’s author made in the note ’s address .
Many theory emerge about who could ’ve been behind Berman ’s slaying . Some initially believed that it could ’ve been a pack hit — after all , she was sure revealing a circumstances of entropy about her aliveness as a mobster ’s daughter . Other theories focused on her landlord or business organisation handler . Durst ’s name come up , but he was not ab initio charged with her death .
HBO Documentary Films / Hit The Ground Running Films / Blumhouse / Album / Alamy Stock PhotoAfter years of cover up his tracks , Robert Durst unintentionally incriminated himself during the motion-picture photography of the 2015 HBO docuseriesThe Jinx , which helped extend to his judgment of conviction for the murder of Susan Berman .
Meanwhile , in 2001 , Durst was linked to yet another death , his elderly neighbor in Texas , Morris Black . Though Durst take on to killing Black , he claimed that it was ego - defense — and since he was able to afford some of the safe lawyer in the state , he was at last acquitted of murder in 2003 .
For a while , it seemed like Durst had bring forth away with everything . But in the end , his own haughtiness became his undoing . After the release of the filmAll Good Things , which was ground on Robert Durst and his kinship with Kathleen McCormack , in 2010 , Durst contacted the filmmaker , Andrew Jarecki , about doing a docudrama about his real - life story .
During the filming of the 2015 docuseries , titledThe Jinx , young grounds emerged in the Berman case , including a sample of Durst ’s handwriting that matched the “ remains note . ” Durst also profess to lying to authorization during the initial investigation of the McCormack case . He was even catch on a hot mic saying , “ What the the pits did I do ? … Killed them all , of course . ”
WhileThe Jinxwas still in the process of airing in 2015 , the 71 - year - old Durst was nab and agitate with the murder of Berman . He went on trial in 2021 and was ultimately found shamefaced of kill his friend . He was sentenced to life in prison house , and he was also charge with the murder of McCormack . However , he died at age 78 in 2022 before that trial run could happen .
For Berman ’s loved ones , DoJ for her murder did n’t come nearly soon enough . Sareb Kaufman , who ascertain her as a mother figure after his father date her , suppose , “ It ’s been a daily , soul - consuming , and crushing experience . I ’ve lost everything many times over because of him . ” And one of Berman ’s relatives said he visited her grave just to recite her she could now “ breathe easy . ”
After reading about Susan Berman , contain out somecolorized photos from the early days of organized crime in America . Then , go inside thebloody rise and decline of Bugsy Siegel , the mobster who helped ramp up Las Vegas .
