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Robert Durst Linked to Missing Simsbury College Student

Robert Durst, the real estate millionaire currently being held on murder and weapons charges in Louisiana, is now linked to the 1971 disappearance of a Simsbury college student.

Lynne Schulze, 18 at the time, was a freshman at Middlebury College in Vermont when she vanished on December 10, 1971. 

On the day Schulze disappeared, she was seen eating dried prunes outside of the All Good Things health food store in Middlebury, and was last seen standing across the street from the store and the Vermont Transit Bus station.

All Good Things was owned and operated at the time by Robert Durst, then 28 -- the same Robert Durst who was the subject of the HBO documentary series "The Jinx" -- and is currently being held without bond on weapons and murder charges.

Lynne Schulze's case went cold, but was reopened in 1992.

Middlebury Police Chief Thomas Hanley said that the case continues to generate leads, including a 2012 tip that put Robert Durst in close proximity with Schulze on the day of her disappearance. "It's certainly the most interesting (lead)," Hanley said. "We have somebody who is involved in some nefarious activity, and was proximate to a missing person we have now. So yeah it's something we are really going to inquire on."

Hanley said it is not clear whether Durst and Schulze knew each other, and Durst has never been questioned in Schulze's disappearance.

Hanley said his department continues to follow up on leads, and that the case is progressing. "We know a lot more now than we did six months ago, as far as who may have been around and who may have information that could be helpful to us," he said.

Hanley said his department is working with several outside agencies on the case, including the FBI.

Ray Hardman is Connecticut Public’s Arts and Culture Reporter. He is the host of CPTV’s Emmy-nominated original series Where Art Thou? Listeners to Connecticut Public Radio may know Ray as the local voice of Morning Edition, and later of All Things Considered.

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