With The Jinx Season 2 set to premiere soon, here’s everything you need to know about where Robert “Bob” Durst’s younger brother Douglas Durst is now.
The sibling rivalry between Robert and Douglas Durst was clear to see in Season 1 of The Jinx. When their father, Seymour, named Douglas the head of the family’s multi-billion-dollar New York real-estate empire, their relationship became even more strained.
Their bad blood was explored in further detail in the true crime series, showing Robert breaking a restraining order Douglas had obtained by walking up the steps to one of his properties. Even after Robert was arrested for the murder of his friend, Susan Berman, a new protection order was put in place preventing him from contacting the Durst family.
The Jinx creator Andrew Jarecki and his filmmaker crew continued to investigate Robert’s life and crimes for another eight years after the first chapter aired, culminating in the upcoming Season 2. Ahead of its release, here’s what we know about where Douglas is now.
The Jinx: Where is Douglas Durst now?
At age 79, Douglas Durst is still the chairman of the family-run real estate company, The Durst Organization. He lives in New York with his wife Susanne Durst, who he has three children with: Anita, Alexander, and Helena.
Douglas and his nephew, Jonathan “Jody” Durst, now run the business, the assets of which are worth an estimated $8.1 billion, according to Forbes.
Back in January this year, Douglas stepped down from his second stint as the chair of the Real Estate Board of New York, passing the torch to Two Trees Management principal Jed Walentas.
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Speaking to Commercial Observer at the time, he said: “I was nominated chair in January of 2020, and the biggest surprise was having to be chair during the first pandemic in 100 years. Dealing with that was very difficult, obviously. There was not a lot of knowledge about how to deal with it. But I think the city and state did a great job of keeping us all safe.”
In 2021, Douglas testified at Robert’s murder trial, which resulted in a life in prison without parole sentence for the 2000 killing of Susan. When asked in court how his brother felt about him, Douglas replied, “He’d like to murder me.”
He was also probed about Robert’s reaction to his ex-wife Kathleen “Kathie” McCormack’s 1982 disappearance, to which he said, “His tone was very neutral. There was no great anxiety in his tone. It seemed a little strange.” Although it’s long been suspected that Robert murdered Kathie, he died in prison before the trial could go ahead.
Years before The Jinx, Robert also fatally shot his neighbor, Morris Black, although he was acquitted of murder charges as his team successfully argued self-defense.
Douglas spoke in court about how all of this had tarnished the family name. “It’s the most embarrassing thing that I’ve ever encountered,” he said. “It’s very painful to have our names associated with these incidents.”
The Jinx – Part Two premieres on HBO on April 21 at 10pm ET / PT, where it will also be available to stream on Max, with new episodes dropping weekly. For more true crime, check out all of the new documentaries hitting streaming this month.
