Coed Allegedly Went to Durst's Store the Day She Disappeared

ByEMILY SHAPIRO ABCNews logo
Wednesday, March 25, 2015

A Middlebury College student went to Robert Durst's Vermont health food store the day she disappeared in 1971, police said Tuesday.

Middlebury police are now looking for tips as they investigate any potential connection between Durst and the 1971 cold case disappearance of 18-year-old Lynne Schulze.

The real estate heir moved to Vermont in 1971, Middlebury police said at a press conference Tuesday, and his wife Kathleen Durst joined him later. Durst spent no more than two years in the state, police added.

The police confirmed Tuesday that Schulze purchased dried prunes from Durst's health food store called All Good Things the day she went missing. But authorities cannot confirm if Durst was working that day. It's unknown if Durst and Schulze ever had any personal contact, according to police.

Last year police searched Durst's former property in the area, but didn't find anything of interest in Schulze's case, they said.

Schulze's body was never found, police said.

On Monday the department said in a statement, "We are aware of the connection between Robert Durst and the disappearance of Lynne Schulze." But Tuesday the police said they haven't received any tips since Monday's release and they are looking to talk to anyone with information.

The police are working with other agencies and the investigation is still open, the police said today.

On March 14, Durst was arrested in connection with the death of his friend Susan Berman in Los Angeles in 2000.

Durst's attorneys have said Durst is innocent.

"Bob Durst didn't kill Susan Berman and he doesn't know who did," Dick DeGuerin, his attorney, said last week.

While Durst has denied killing Berman, some believed he had a motive, allegedly wanting to silence her about the 1982 disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen Durst.

Kathleen Durst was officially declared dead in 2001, and Durst has said he has no idea what happened to her.

Durst was also charged in the 2001 killing of a neighbor in Galveston, Texas, but he claimed self-defense and was later found not guilty.

Durst is also being examined in connection with the 1997 disappearance of 16-year-old Karen Mitchell in Eureka, California. Mitchell's body was never found.

Durst is currently being held in New Orleans on weapons charges.

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