The Berman Murders

For true crime readers obsessed with learning the full story, get the book that Publishers Weekly calls a "stirring account," and says, "Dogged reporting and expert pacing make this a good bet for true crime fans." At daybreak on January 6, 1986, a couple on a camping trip in the Mojave Desert set out for a stroll and never returned. The local sheriff eventually discovered that Barry and Louise Berman had been murdered. As years passed and the double homicide remained unsolved, the Berman case spawned speculation and conjecture. To date there’s never been an arrest in the case—let alone a conviction. This is the first book to tell the full story of the Berman murders and uncover a likely suspect.

Growing up, Susan Berman's childhood was idyllic. She was Las Vegas Mob royalty, the daughter of a Mob boss who ran the Flamingo and furnished his only child with anything money could buy. But halfway through her childhood, dream exploded. Susan's father died without warning during a routine surgery. Next, Susie Berman's mother died by her own hand the next year when she overdosing on drugs. Susie was whisked away from the only home she'd ever known, parentless and living with an uncle and his family and sent away to boarding school. Fast forward to college where Susan met her soul mate, Robert Durst. They became best friends and each other's confidants. Durst went to work for his wealthy father at the Durst Organization in Manhattan while Susan became a journalist, writing about women's cultural issues for newspapers and magazines. She followed Durst to New York, where he married the beautiful Kathie McCormack. Then, Kathie disappeared and Susan stood by her best friend Robert, despite suspicions that Durst had caused the demise of his wife. Twenty years later, as police closed in on Durst and reopened the case, seeking to interview his best friends, Susan was murdered. Few clues were found. Who did it and why? Was it the Mob? A trusted friend? Murder in Beverly Hills (an updated, revised edition of Murder of a Mafia Daughter) answers those questions. Exclusive information about the investigation is included in this edition, as well as new interviews of police detectives, Susan's friends, family and colleagues, and new information about Robert Durst is revealed.

"The story behind the suspicions. Robert Durst murdered Susan Berman"--Cover.

Former prosecutor Jeanine Pirro—the “true hero” (New York Post) of the hit HBO documentary series The Jinx—offers the transfixing true story of her tireless fifteen-year investigation into accused murderer Robert Durst for the disappearance of his wife Kathleen Durst. Former district attorney Jeanine Pirro was cast as the bad guy fifteen years ago when she reopened the cold case of Kathleen Durst, a young and beautiful fourth-year medical student who disappeared without a trace in 1982, never to be seen again. Kathie Durst’s husband was millionaire real estate heir Robert Durst, son of one of the wealthiest families in New York City—but though her friends and family suspected him of the worst, he escaped police investigation. Pirro, now the host of Justice with Judge Jeanine on Fox News, always believed in Durst’s guilt, and in this shocking book, she makes her case beyond a shadow of a doubt, revealing stunning, previously unknown secrets about the crimes he is accused of committing. For years, Pirro has crusaded for justice for the victims, and her impassioned perspective in the captivating HBO documentary series The Jinx made her one of its breakout stars. Featuring Pirro’s unique insider’s perspective on the crimes, as well as her exclusive interviews with many of the major players featured in the The Jinx, this comprehensive book is the definitive story of Robert Durst and his gruesome crimes—the one you didn’t see on television.

Murder played out in the spotlight of maximum publicity Does celebrityhood preclude a fair trial? Can the famous get away with behaviour off limits to most ordinary mortals? Here in a fascinating diagnosis of the shifting nature of high-profile justice is the fullest ever analysis of infamous and celebrity murder cases that have come to trial. This A-list selection looks in depth at 25 notable murders involving those who live their lives in the full beam of press and media headlights, including film starlets, tv actors, music legends, comedians, fashion moguls, movie directors, playwrights and aristocracy from the start of the twentieth century to the present day. All, from Fatty Arbuckle to John Lennon, are well known, and in each instance the story of their death is retold and the degree to which fame and its entourage played their part in death's final outcome examined. Among the cases included are: o The investigation surrounding the death of American film and TV star Robert Blake's wife, shot in his car after they dined together in a restaurant o The murder of silent-film star Ramon Navarro in his own home by gay lovers o The death of soul legend Marvin Gaye, shot by his own father during a family row o TV personality Jill Dando's shocking and untimely murder, gunned down on in broad daylight on her doorstep o Italy's trial of Patrizia Gucci for the murder of her husband, Maurizio, inheritor of the fashion family's fabulous fortune. The Mammoth Book of Celebrity Murder provides the clearest analysis yet of murder played out in the spotlight of maximum publicity.

“Murder in California: Abductions, Assassinations and Police Related Murders” profiles some of California’s most infamous murder cases. The edition more photographically transports you to several of the murder sites where the homicides occurred and/or images related to the case and perpetrator(s). The images and profiles offer a descriptive account, detailed location, and trial aftermath providing an important understanding into the further reaching effects of each crime. Convicted killers and their confirmed victims are identified. For criminals still living, their current incarceration location is provided. The captured snapshots portray visual testimonies of extinguished lives removed by acts of violence. Crime scenes often revert back into unremarkable landscape or unassuming buildings over the ensuing years and decades. Several have altered little since their moment of infamy. Many are passed daily by pedestrian and vehicular traffic unaware of a location’s unique significance. California has been the site for many notorious homicides. The following are portrayed in this edition: The San Jose Kidnapping of Brooke Hart and Resulting Mob Justice Eureka’s Karen Mitchell: Vanishing Into Speculation Kristin Smart: The Tangled Web Involving Fifth Amendment Silence Nicholas Markowitz: The Stolen Boy and Unforeseen Execution An Execution Amidst Rural Darkness: The Onion Field Killings The Patty Hearst Kidnapping: The Final Nail into the Coffin of Idealism Polly Klaas: The Abrupt Death of Innocence Rex Allen Krebs: Predestined Towards Violence The Mob Permanently Severs Relations With Bugsy Siegel Fung Little Pete Jing Toy: 19th Century San Francisco’s Chinatown Gangland Slaying Chauncey Bailey: The Price of Constitutional Protection Joseph The Animal Barboza: The Inevitability of a Lifestyle Path Dr. Marcus Foster: The Marginalized Assassination The Marin County Courthouse Shootout: Thirty Minutes That Forever Altered Courtroom Security Procedures The Mickey and Trudy Thompson Morning Driveway Execution The Political Killings of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk The East/West Coast Vendetta and Killing of Christopher Wallace a.k.a. Biggie Smalls Senator Robert F. Kennedy: The Assassination of Hope The Contract Killing of Vic Weiss: The Payback For Stealing Charles Crawford: The Fixer Loses His Influence The Wonderland Gang Killings and Fantasy Sex Industry The Slaying of Captain Walter Auble and Impressive Public Response Demetrius DuBose: A Shooting Death of the Nearly Famous Lovelle Mixon: A Desperate Final and Fatal Gamble Towards Escape The Newhall Shootout and Deadliest Firefight in California Highway Patrol History The North Hollywood Bank of America Doomed Heist and Subsequent Warfare Policeman Matthew Pavelka: Officer Down From Following A Fateful Back Up Oscar Grant III: When The Facts Behind a Killing Become Secondary Officer Thomas Guerry: A Legacy Award For An Abruptly Ended Life Author Marques Vickers’ own introduction into the expansive consequences of murder began with the 1968 killings of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jenson by the Zodiac killer in the author’s hometown. His writings detail the influence a homicide reverberates beyond simply the victim. Hundreds and often thousands may be touched by the arbitrariness and unfairness of life being terminated abruptly and prematurely.

This edition profiles 75 illustrated murder cases committed within California, Oregon, Washington, Northern Idaho and Montana. Accompanying photography returns the reader to the scene of the crime with precise listed locations. The most daunting dilemma of a murder investigation is typically uncovering proof beyond a reasonable doubt that a perpetrator committed a killing. The evolution of forensic technology has enabled investigators to match DNA profiles from evidence obtained at a crime scene with specific individual samplings. This development has resulted in several high profile cases ultimately achieving resolution. Some of the accompanying profiles have developed promising suspects and probable perpetrators, but lacked the tangible evidence or persuasive courtroom presentation to convict. In a few instances, due to the notoriety of the trial, the court of popular opinion did convict the defendant, yet they remain free of incarceration. Other cases have simply lacked accompanying evidence from the outset and subsequent clues or confessions have never materialized. For a victim’s immediate circle of family, acquaintances and even society in general, a lack of closure becomes an accompanying torment. Stolen lives deserve accountability and one cannot fully understand the enormity of loss without concrete explanations of motive. Given time, some of these cases may one day find closure. Some murderers do have a conscience and scientific advancements may one day piece together the fractured incoherency of inconclusive evidence. CALIFORNIA Unsolved Murders: The Zodiac Serial Killer, Black Dahlia, Rapper Notorious B.I.G>, Gangster Bugsy Siegel, Bonnie Lee Bakley, Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ronald Goldman, Joseph The Animal Barboza, Kevin Collins, Actress Virginia Rapp, Gangster Fung Little Pete Jing Toy, Film Director William Desmond Taylor, Actor Ted Healy, Sleepy Lagoon Killing, Geneva Elroy, Vic Weiss, Crib Founder Raymond Washington, Wonderland Murders, Karen Mitchell Disappearance, Susan Berman, Kristin Smart, Eastside Salinas Gang Killings, Santa Rose Hitchhiker Murders, Bob Domingos and Linda Edwards, Kym Morgan and Ramona Irene Price. Extended Cold Cases Resolved: Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen, Mickey and Trudy Thompson and Golden State Serial Killer OREGON State Prison Director Michael Francke, Diane Hank, Roma Ollison, Anne Jeanne Tingry-Le-Coz, Old Town Pizza Phantom, Alice Wells, Frank Akin, 1946 Willamette River Murder, Larry Peyton and Beverly Allan and Kyron Horman Extended Cold Cases Resolved: Federal Public defender Nancy Bergeson WASHINGTON Ann Marie Burr, Edwin Pratt, Judge Tom Wales, Chalisa Lewis, Louis Bellessa, Labor activist Laura Law, Charles Mattson, Nathan Trigger Gilstrap, Marsha Weatter and Katherine Allen, Tacoma’s Puyallup Avenue Prostitutes, Oleg Babichenko, Roseanne Pleasant, Susette Werner, Timothy Alioth and Donna Plew, Tia Hicks, Fred Cohen and James Jimmy Smith Extended Cold Cases Resolved: Barbara Hickey, Brian Cole, Michella Welch, Jennifer Bastian and Serial Killer Donna Perry NORTHERN IDAHO Remains of Fatty Carroll’s Murder Victims MONTANA Union agitator Frank Little, John Bozeman, Marjorie and Nancy McQuiston, Julianne Stallman, Florence Beauty Salon Massacre, Paul Maclean, Sheila Fallang-Jordan, Bobby Kelly, Mrs. John Dougherty, Nyleen Kay Marshall, Dr. Henry Cayley and Eva Hart Extended Cold Cases Resolved: Verna Joy Kvale and Donna Meagher