Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Make a sustaining gift today to support local journalism!

Robert Durst, Subject Of HBO's 'The Jinx,' Arrested In New Orleans

This booking photo provided by the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office shows Robert Durst, after his arrest Saturday in New Orleans on an extradition warrant to Los Angeles.
AP
This booking photo provided by the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office shows Robert Durst, after his arrest Saturday in New Orleans on an extradition warrant to Los Angeles.

Updated at 8:00 p.m. ET

At the conclusion of the HBO documentary The Jinx, the filmmakers presented audio of Robert Durst whispering to himself, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course" — an apparent reference to the alleged crimes that have clouded his life in suspicion.

The moment was caught on a camera Durst was wearing. The New York Times reports that more than two years passed between the recording of the interview and the discovery of that audio clip.

Our previous post continues:

Robert Durst, the troubled heir to a New York real estate fortune and subject of HBO's documentary The Jinx, has been arrested in New Orleans, the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office said.

Durst, 71, was arrested late Saturday on a warrant issued by Los Angeles County, his online arrest report said. His defense lawyer told, Chip Lewis, The Associated Press the FBI arrested Durst for the murder of his close friend Susan Berman in 2000.

Durst, whose life has been described by NPR as "undeniably bizarre," has been previously questioned in connection with the disappearance of his first wife in 1982 and Berman's killing in 2000. He was acquittedin a case involving the 2001 shooting and dismemberment of his neighbor in Galveston, Texas; he claimed self-defense in that case.

Those cases are the subject of HBO's documentary series, the final episode of which airs this evening.

Durst has maintained his innocence.

Lewis told the AP Durst will waive extradition and be transported to Los Angeles to face the charges.

As NPR noted in a review of All Good Things, a fictionalized account of Durst's life, the real estate heir's tale was "filled with disappearances, murders and nearly two decades spent in hiding under assumed names and an alternate gender."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Krishnadev Calamur is NPR's deputy Washington editor. In this role, he helps oversee planning of the Washington desk's news coverage. He also edits NPR's Supreme Court coverage. Previously, Calamur was an editor and staff writer at The Atlantic. This is his second stint at NPR, having previously worked on NPR's website from 2008-15. Calamur received an M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri.

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.