FBI probing potential Robert Durst links in several states' cold cases

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- As millionaire Robert Durst sits in jail accused of one murder, investigators are looking at whether he's connected to other unsolved murders across the country.

Authorities in New York, Vermont and California are all investigating possible Durst links to cold cases in those states.

Durst is currently charged with the 2000 capital murder of Susan Berman in Los Angeles.

The FBI is assisting in investigations, and director James Comey was in Houston, talking about the case.

"I know that we are doing a number of things in different field offices to run down leads. That is one of the powers of the FBI. We're everywhere in the United States," Comey said.

Even before Durst's arrest, eyewitnesses ran into him on the street out and about in Rice Village, not too far from where he lived. He was spotted wearing tennis shoes and a black backpack.

And, in Bellaire, customers talked about seeing Durst dine at Union Kitchen just last week, and he was talking about getting a ride out of town.

"It's very -- it makes me uneasy knowing that he was kind of close," waitress Enjolee Williams said.

The intense media attention surrounding Durst's arrest is bothering a Houston family with the same last name. Yolanda Durst's husband is named Robert Durst. He is a minister, and apparently years ago during Durst's galveston trial, they experienced the same problem.

"What do you think about having the same name as this guy who is all over TV? Well it's kind of scary, but I know my husband hadn't killed anyone," Yolanda Durst said. "Asked me who my husband was and where he, ya know, worked and lived and everything. And, I told him that my husband was black."

Durst remains in the mental health unit of Louisiana jail awaiting extradition. But authorities say he had guns and drugs in his hotel room when he was arrested in New Orleans. He may be prosecuted in Louisiana before he faces any other charges.