Durst's parole set to end Wednesday

Robert Durst, the eccentric millionaire who chopped his neighbor into pieces and dumped him in Galveston Bay, was acquitted of the neighbor's murder and later was arrested and imprisoned for other things, will soon be as free as you and me: His parole is set to end Wednesday, and his lawyer said Durst just wants to get out of the public eye. Not that Houstonist can tell the future, but it seems to us that the anonymity ship has already sailed.

In 2003, Durst was acquitted of a murder charge in connection with neighbor Morris Black's September 2001 death: Durst said the two were struggling over a pistol in Durst's apartment when Black suffered an accidental gunshot wound to the head; after Black died, Durst said he panicked, cut Black's body into pieces and dumped it in the bay. He jumped bail in October 2001 and fled to Pennsylvania, where he was caught the next month after shoplifting a sandwich and a newspaper from a supermarket. In 2004, Durst pleaded guilty to felony bail-jumping and evidence-tampering charges; then, late last year, he was arrested on parole violation charges after he visited his old Galveston neighborhood and the Galleria, where he ran into Judge Susan Criss, who presided over his trial. And in June, people immediately thought of Durst when a cat's severed head and front paws were found in front of Criss's house; an investigation into that incident is under way, and Durst remains a suspect though he has denied being in Galveston on the day the cat parts were placed. (Durst's whole story, which is well worth a read, is at the Crime Library.)

Durst's lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, said he thinks Durst "wants to fade into anonymity," but he may have a hard time doing that, since he causes a stir wherever he goes — and he keeps visiting places that make him seem ... well, creepy. For example, Durst was spotted earlier this month driving around the employee parking lot of the new Galveston County Justice Center, where Criss's office is located; DeGuerin said Durst just wanted to see what the building looked like. "Bob holds absolutely no animosity toward Judge Criss. She doesn't have anything to fear from him," DeGuerin said.

It's not clear what Durst will do once he's free, but DeGuerin said he definitely won't make his home in Galveston again: "He knows he's just radioactive there," the lawyer said.