SUSAN Berman was brutally murdered in her LA apartment in December 2000.
American journalist and author, Susan Berman was shot to death with a 9mm gun at her apartment in Benedict Canyon.
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Who was Susan Berman?
Susan Berman was the daughter Davie Berman (a Jewish-American criminal figure who worked for Meyer Lanksy in Minneapolis and Las Vegas) and the Genovese crime families in Las Vegas and Minneapolis.
She wrote East Street in 1981. It was a story about her life as a mobster’s daughter. The $350,000 film rights were paid, but no film was made.
Susan claims her dad, Bugsy Siegel (murderous gangster) died during an operation. But there are signs that he had a heart attack. She was only twelve years old at the time.
She went on to become a journalist and worked for several newspapers, including The San Francisco Examiner.
In 1984, she married Christopher (“Mister”) Margulies and was walked down the aisle by long-time friend Robert Durst. Marguiles, who was overdosed on heroin in 1986, died.
Susan met Durst in UCLA’s late 1960s while she was studying. He is accused of murdering his first wife Kathie McCormack.
What happened to Susan Berman
Susan was found dead in her LA apartment at Christmas 2000.
After Durst admitted that he was one of the last people who saw Susan before her death, police never found the killer and suspect Durst, her friend and real estate tycoon friend, of foul play.
Durst was arrested in New Orleans in March 2015 and charged with first-degree killing in connection to Susan’s death.
Durst vehemently denied allegations he murdered Susan but admitted to visiting her flat and finding her body and leaving the “cadaver” note for police.
On September 17, 2021, Durst, now 78, was then convicted of the first-degree murder for shooting Berman after taking the stand and admitting he wrote the damning anonymous “confession” abouther death.
He is due to be sentenced October 18, 2021.
What has Robert Durst to say about Susan’s death?
A 78 year-old man told a LA courtroom on August 2021 that he entered Susan’s house that Christmas Eve using a key she had sent to him. He found her bloodied on the floor.
He said, “I did a second take. Susan lay on the floor.
“I shouted ‘Susan!’ a couple of times, then I quickly ran to the bedroom where she was. Her eyes were closed.”
Durst claimed that he checked Susan’s pulse and then lifted her off the ground. Durst then went to another room to call 911, but the phone line wasn’t working.
He left the scene and attempted to call authorities using a Sunset Boulevard pay phone, about two miles away.
Durst stated that he began to have reservations after he called an operator.
Durst replied, “I decided that I didn’t want to give them mine name.”
“I was aware that my voice is very recognizable even without a name.”
He said he instead opted to write what has come to be known as the cadaver note – a scrap of paper with Susan’s address and the word “cadaver” that was mailed to the Beverly Hills Police Department.
Durst confessed that he had lied to the FBI about writing the note several times over the years. Durst was also asked this question during an interview for HBO’s The Jinx.
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He said on Monday, August 16: “It’s a very difficult thing to believe.
“I mean, I have difficulty believing it myself, that I would write the letter if I had not killed Susan Berman”.
This all came to a head during the filming of The Jinx when he was confronted about the misspelling of the word “Beverly” – which appeared in the “cadaver” note and in previous letters he wrote to Susan.
Unaware he was still being recorded, he muttered the phrase “killed them all, of course,” which many have taken as a confession.