Robert Durst—who was arrested Saturday in New Orleans before HBO, on Sunday, aired an episode of the documentary The Jinx in which he appeared to confess to multiple murders—will be extradited to California to face charges that he shot his friend Susan Berman to death in Los Angeles in December 2000. Durst appeared in court in Louisiana today in shackles and waived his right to contest extradition. From the Los Angeles Times:
Police and prosecutors would not comment on what led them to accuse Durst now. But one source involved in the recent deliberations, who requested anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, said the documentary had played a role.
“As a result of investigative leads and additional evidence that has come to light in the past year, investigators have identified Robert Durst as the person responsible for Ms. Berman’s death,” the LAPD said in a statement issued Sunday.
Berman acted as Durst’s spokesperson after the 1982 disappearance of his wife, Kathie, in which he is also a suspect. Berman was killed shortly after she was contacted by New York authorities who had reopened an investigation into Kathie Durst’s disappearance. One of Durst’s attorneys, speaking on Fox News, said that Durst’s apparent confession—which he muttered to himself in a bathroom while wearing a microphone given to him by the filmmakers—did not necessarily implicate him because everyone has said things under their breath that they “probably didn’t mean.”
