Texas Murder Suspect Skips Bail

Murder suspect Robert Durst, a wealthy developer who was previously questioned by the Los Angeles Police Department in connection with the killing of a Los Angeles writer, was declared a fugitive Tuesday after he failed to appear at a bail hearing here.

Durst, 58, was charged with the murder of a Galveston man last week but was released after posting $30,000 cash on bail of $300,000.

Prosecutors, who realized their suspect was a millionaire only after he was already back on the street, were seeking to set a higher bail Tuesday. They said they have no idea where Durst is and suggested that he may try to flee the country.

Prosecutors said they had been assured by defense attorney Mark Kelly that Durst would appear at the hearing.

Kelly, who has been quoted in earlier news reports as saying his client insisted on his innocence, declined to comment Tuesday on the case.

On Sept. 30, a dismembered body was discovered in Galveston Bay. The remains were determined to be those of Morris Black, 71, who lived in the apartment building where Durst apparently sometimes stayed.

Authorities said a trail of clues, including a paring knife and a .22-caliber pistol, led police to Durst. Galveston police said Los Angeles officers were curious whether a 9-millimeter gun found in Durst’s car might have been used to kill writer Susan Berman, who was found shot in the head in her Benedict Canyon house last Christmas Eve.

Durst has attracted attention from authorities because of the Berman case and the disappearance of his wife, Kathleen, in New York in 1982. He has not been named a suspect in either case.

Berman was a longtime friend of Durst and was being sought by New York state police for questioning about his wife’s disappearance when she was killed.

Tuesday afternoon Los Angeles police arrived in Galveston to discuss with local investigators the discovery of the loaded 9-millimeter gun.

Shortly after Durst failed to appear at Tuesday’s hearing, a Galveston County grand jury handed down two indictments against him, one for murder and the other for jumping bail.

He faces up to life in prison. His lawyer offered no information about Durst’s whereabouts but said in court that it had been at least a day since he had talked to the suspect. The attorney also said that Durst preferred not to be in Texas because reporters would seek him out, and that he feared for his safety.

Kelly did not say why.

Prosecutors presented evidence suggesting that Durst may have been in New Orleans in recent days.

According to a Dallas real estate agent, Durst called from New Orleans to Dallas to try to secure an apartment in his old complex so it would appear that he still lived there. He told police incorrectly that the Dallas apartment was his current address, which they viewed as a bail violation.

His effort failed. Police by then had already determined that the address was not Durst’s residence. He had moved out of the luxury high-rise in April, they said.

Durst’s apparent flight “doesn’t make us real happy, of course,” said Galveston Police Lt. Mike Putnal. “We are disappointed. This will cause a lot more work for us.”

Why Durst was in Galveston is a mystery. Police say he did not live in the windblown island town. Prosecutors say he had no known personal connections with anyone in Galveston, although he may have some relatives in the Houston area.

Authorities said Durst was identified as a “botany consultant” by someone who rented the Galveston apartment in Black’s building under the name Dorothy Ciner. The person told the landlord that Durst was a friend who would look in on the apartment occasionally. Durst has an acquaintance of this name, but police say the woman has not been in touch with him and has never been to Galveston.

Police are investigating the possibility that the person who rented the apartment was Durst in disguise.

According to landlord Klaus Dillmann, the woman was about Durst’s size and age, and wore an ash blond wig. She communicated with Dillmann only through written notes, explaining that several operations on her voice box had rendered her unable to speak, Dillmann said.

“I asked her, would she ever speak again? And she said, ‘I don’t think so.’ She wrote it, just like that. ‘I don’t think so.’ ”

Black’s dismembered body was found in Galveston Bay by a 13-year-old boy fishing with his father. The plastic bags containing Morris’ severed limbs also contained several items that led police back to a modest, beige apartment building with gables near the center of town in a district of century-old homes.

There, a trail of blood was discovered leading between Black and Ciner’s apartments. Police found the .22-caliber gun and a piece of trash bearing Durst’s name outside the building and the knife in Ciner’s apartment. A tip led them to arrest Durst on a Galveston street last week after he had apparently spent the night in a local inn under a false name. Authorities also recovered a comforter from a New Orleans dry cleaner that he allegedly dropped off at the business the previous day.

Prosecutors handling the Black case are waiting for laboratory results from blood samples on the knife, gun, comforter and other items, but say they believe they have a strong case against Durst.

By contrast, what happens next regarding Kathleen Durst’s disappearance and Susan Berman’s murder remains unclear.

Kathleen Durst, a medical student, had been married to Robert Durst nine years and was seeking a divorce when she vanished, leaving few clues.

Westchester County prosecutors, acting on a tip, recently reopened the case. They do not call Durst a suspect, but Dist. Atty. Jeanine Pirro said: “He has been on our radar screen a long time.”

Berman had known Durst since college, and the two had remained in touch. Before she died, New York investigators on the Kathleen Durst case had been seeking to interview her.

A warrant has been issued for Durst’s arrest, and as a fugitive he will not be offered bail if arrested again.

Police said they would issue alerts nationwide.

“Certainly with our own suspicions and his propensity to travel from state to state, we will solicit the assistance of the FBI,” Lt. Putnal said. “We are also contacting police where he has been and where he is likely to travel.”