According to his lawyer Dick DeGuerin, the New York real estate heir is having difficulty breathing and speaking while battling the disease in hospital after receiving his jail sentence in Susan Berman murder case.
- Oct 18, 2021
AceShowbiz - Robert Durst has been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19. The eccentric real estate scion millionaire is currently placed on a ventilator amid his battle with the virus after he was sentenced to life behind bars.
"All we know he's tested positive for Covid-19, he's in hospital and on a ventilator," his lawyer Dick DeGuerin told NBC News. "He looked awful Thursday, worst I've ever seen him. He was having difficulty breathing, he was having difficulty speaking." Dick also said he believed his client was vaccinated but didn't know if he had a vaccine booster.
This was not the first time Robert's health has been an issue since the trial. Back in June, he was briefly hospitalized following "some incident this morning involving his health." At the time, the judge denied his attorney's request to postpone the trial due to his bladder cancer diagnosis and other health problems.
Robert's coronavirus diagnosis came the same week he was sentenced to life in prison for murdering his longtime confidante, Susan, more than 20 years ago. The court judge also maintained the allegation that the 78-year-old New York real estate heir shot his friend in order to cover up the killing of his wife, Kathleen, in New York in 1982.
The judge dropped Robert's sentence after he was found guilty of murdering Susan as she knew too much about the disappearance of his wife, Kathleen, following his five-month trial. Over 100 people testified during the trial, including Robert's estranged brother, Douglas, HBO's "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst" filmmakers Marc Smerling and Andrew Jarecki as well as Susan's comedian friend Laraine Newman. Robert also testified from a wheelchair and spent 15 days on the stand.
"When Bob Durst killed Kathie, he killed Susan and Morris as well because once that happened, once he did that, there was no turning back," Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney John Lewin told jurors during the first week of trial. "Bob Durst is a person who is going to protect and take care of Bob Durst."
For decades, Robert denied he was in Los Angeles around the time of Susan's death. But later, his lawyer, Dick, admitted that his client was in Los Angeles and had plans to spend the holidays with Susan when he found her dead.
"When Bob showed up and found her dead he panicked," Dick claimed. "He wrote the anonymous [cadaver] letter so her body would be found, and he ran. He ran away all of his life."
