Team Crime Story:This week brought the announcements of two new TV Series from Crime Story Media. We continued our presentation of the series by Katherine Mader. And, we re-presented our latest piece about the Robert Durst Murder Trial.

Welcome to our summary of the week’s events at CrimeStory.com and The Crime Story Podcast.


On Thursday we called attention to this week’s announcements of Crime Story media projects at HBO (based Season three of the “Serial” Podcast with LeBron James and others producing) and Apple TV+ (based on the book “In with the Devil” with Dennis Lehane writing and producing). You can read those stories here.

On Wednesday and Thursday, we continued our new Crime Story series excerpting Inside the Robe: A Judge’s Candid Tale of Criminal Justice in America, by Judge Katherine Mader (Ret.) which best selling author Michael Connelly called: “a perfect book: engrossing and telling at the same time.”

In Part 15 of Inside the Robe, Judge Mader explores the temptation for a judge to do what she thinks is right when it conflicts with following the law. She also discusses security threats in a criminal courtroom as well as the particularly difficult task of trying a case involving the murder of a child.

In Part 16 Judge Mader offers a window into the camaraderie among Criminal Court Judges, the efforts that they make to be both fair and decisive, as well as the dreaded prospect of being reversed by an appellate court.

Today marks 39 years since the disappearance of  Kathleen (Kathie) McCormack Durst, who was last seen by her husband Robert Durst on January 31, 1982. In commemoration of that date, we have re-published — in its entirety — Charlie Bagli‘s four-part essay, Susy Berman’s Greatest Unfinished Story, a continuation of Crime Story’s ongoing coverage of the Los Angeles trial of Robert Durst for Berman‘s murder.

As part of their case, Los Angeles prosecutors have alleged that Durst killed Kathie and enlisted his friend Berman in helping him cover up his crime. They also allege that Susy’s knowledge of his guilt and the prospect of her speaking with the police motivated him to murder Susy 19 years later. Berman was found shot in the back of the head execution style in her home on the edge of Beverly Hills on December 24, 2000.

Charlie Bagli has been covering the Robert Durst mystery for two decades, mostly for The New York Times, but also for Los Angeles Magazine and Town & Country magazine and now for Crime Story.


Today marks 39 years since the disappearance of  Kathleen (Kathie) McCormack Durst, who was last seen by her husband Robert Durst on January 31, 1982. In commemoration of that date, we have re-published — in its entirety — Charlie Bagli‘s four-part essay, Susy Berman’s Greatest Unfinished Story, a continuation of Crime Story’s ongoing coverage of the Los Angeles trial of Robert Durst for Berman‘s murder.

As part of their case, Los Angeles prosecutors have alleged that Durst killed Kathie and enlisted his friend Berman in helping him cover up his crime. They also allege that Susy’s knowledge of his guilt and the prospect of her speaking with the police motivated him to murder Susy 19 years later. Berman was found shot in the back of the head execution style in her home on the edge of Beverly Hills on December 24, 2000.

Charlie Bagli has been covering the Robert Durst mystery for two decades, mostly for The New York Times, but also for Los Angeles Magazine and Town & Country magazine and now for Crime Story.

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