Bernice Herstein

Bernice Herstein (September 6, 1918 – November 8, 1950) was an American socialite, the wife of investor Seymour Durst and mother of their four children Robert, Douglas, Wendy and Thomas Durst.

Herstein was born into a Jewish family from Germany in Scarsdale, Westchester County, New York. She married Seymour Durst in 1940. She died under mysterious circumstances, falling from the roof of the family's Scarsdale home during the middle of the night, with her oldest child Robert (a suspected murderer) claiming to have been forced to witness the entire event while Douglas insists all four children were together at a neighbors house when she perished. Douglas Durst maintains his brother is attempting to blame their father and childhood events for his criminal behavior to garner public sympathy.