True Crime News Roundup: Robert Durst Charged For 1982 Murder Of His Wife
Plus: Alec Baldwin fatally shot a woman with a prop gun on set; a California man is accused of murdering his wife after she sought a divorce; Brian Laundrie’s remains are found in Florida; and the search for Gabby Petito and her fiancé turned up the remains of three other missing people.
Robert Durst takes the stand and testifies in the Susan Berman murder trial, August 2021. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Robert Durst charged with murdering his wife almost 40 years ago.
A complaint filed in a court in Lewisboro, New York, on October 19 charged Robert Durst with one count of second-degree murder in connection to the 1982 disappearance and presumed death of his wife, Kathleen McCormack Durst, CNN reported. She was declared dead in 2017, and her body has never been found. In September, Durst, 78, was found guilty of murdering his 55-year-old best friend, Susan Berman, at her Beverly Hills home in 2000. Berman died shortly before she was to speak with investigators about what happened to Durst’s missing wife. Durst was sentenced on October 14 to life without parole for the slaying.
Alec Baldwin fatally shoots cinematographer, injures director on his movie set.
A woman lost her life after actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun while rehearsing a gunfight scene on the set of his upcoming western. “As many of us have already heard, there was an accidental weapons discharge on a production titled Rust being filmed in New Mexico,” a union representing prop masters said in an email to members, according to the Los Angeles Times. “A live single round was accidentally fired on set by the principal actor, hitting both the Director of Photography, Local 600 member Halyna Hutchins, and Director Joel Souza. Both were rushed to the hospital.” Hutchins, 42, passed away from her injuries and Souza was treated and released. No charges have been filed and Santa Fe authorities are investigating the incident. Baldwin, 63, is reportedly cooperating with detectives and expressed his remorse about the October 21 shooting on social media. “There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours,” he wrote in a tweet.
Read more: LA Times
Missing woman’s husband charged with murder nine months after she disappeared.
Larry Millete, 40, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife, May “Maya” Millete. She vanished last January from the couple’s home in Chula Vista, California, and has not been seen or heard from since. Larry was arrested on October 19, and he entered the plea at his arraignment two days later. “Sometimes missing persons cases remain unsolved, but as the evidence unfolded in this case, meticulously and carefully, block-by-block, it pointed in one direction: May was murdered," San Diego County district attorney Summer Stephan, according to People. "The only thing we can do in the face of this senseless violence is to bring justice.” The prosecutor accused Larry of allegedly murdering the mother of three after she asked for a divorce.
Authorities confirm remains found in Florida preserve belong to fugitive Brian Laundrie.
A manhunt for Brian Laundrie, the 23-year-old Florida man who was a person of interest in the strangulation death of his fiancée Gabby Petito, 22, ended with the discovery of his skeletal remains in Florida on Oct. 20. “A comparison of dental records confirmed that the human remains found at the T. Mabry Carlton, Jr. Memorial Reserve and Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park are those of Brian Laundrie,” the FBI’s Denver Division said in a news release. Investigators also recovered a backpack and notebook near Laundrie’s body.
Read more: CrimeFeed
Searches for Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie turned up the bodies of three missing people.
Investigators following leads in the search for Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie recovered the bodies of multiple people not connected to the case. On September 18, authorities in Tillman’s Corner, Alabama, discovered a homeless man dead near a dumpster after receiving a tip Laundrie was spotted in the area, People reported. Ten days later, on September 28, the remains of Robert Lowery, a Texas father of two reported missing on August 20, were found in Wyoming’s Teton Pass in Bridger-Teton National Forest. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a coroner determined. Reported sightings of Laundrie in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains resulted in search teams finding the remains of 33-year-old Rhode Island man Josue Calderon in Watauga County. Calderon was fatally stabbed and his body dumped on the side of a road.
Read more: People
