Skip to main content

Robert Durst, subject of HBO documentary, arrested on murder charges

Robert Durst, subject of HBO documentary, arrested on murder charges

Share this story

The story of Robert Durst only gets stranger and stranger. The 71-year-old heir to one of New York's wealthiest real estate families was arrested in New Orleans yesterday and is being extradited to Los Angeles on a first-degree murder warrant. Durst is the subject of a six-part HBO documentary exploring the man's life and his connections to three separate murder mysteries. The finale airs tonight.

Officials have yet to announce details of the arrest, but Durst's attorney tells The New York Times that it's tied to the 2000 murder of Durst's friend and confidant Susan Berman in Los Angeles. Houston ABC affiliate KTRK reports that Durst's lawyer will not fight extradition, but he will mount a defense in Los Angeles. The New York Times' anonymous law enforcement sources say that FBI agents were involved in the arrest in New Orleans.

Robert Durst New Orleans

It's not yet known if the arrest is directly tied to the HBO documentary The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst. The documentary centers around 25 hours of exclusive interviews Durst granted to director Andrew Jarecki after the release of All Good Things, a film starring Ryan Gosling that centered on Durst's life. The enigmatic man sought to offer his side of the story, but the documentary may have reignited interest in his suspected murders.

The New York Times reported last week that law enforcement officials were interviewing witnesses in the Berman case. In one interview, The Jinx highlights a newly-discovered note hand-written by Durst before Berman's death. Its block-lettering and a misspelling appears to match an anonymous letter later sent to police informing them of a body in Berman's home. She was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in 2000. At the time, detectives were seeking to interview her regarding the disappearance of Durst's wife in 1982. In a separate 2001 incident, Durst admitted to killing and dismembering his neighbor in Galveston, Texas, but he pled self-defense.

Update 12:56PM ET: Added confirmation from Durst's lawyer that the arrest is connected to murder charges in the Berman case.