One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Prosecutors Say 'The Jinx' Finale Triggered Timing Of Robert Durst's Arrest
New court documents released Monday reveal that HBO's docu-series The Jinx pushed the authorities to arrest the show's subject Robert Durst, the New York real estate heir and alleged murderer who arrived in Los Angeles to stand trial early last month. The L.A. Times reports that prosecutors say that the LAPD was "was forced to make a swift arrest of the real estate scion because of an HBO miniseries."
The millionaire was arrested for the 2000 murder of his long-time friend Susan Berman on March 14, 2015, a day before the season finale of the six-episode miniseries aired on HBO. Durst sort of confessed to her murder while filming the show—during one of director Andrew Jarecki's filmed interviews of the real estate scion, Durst headed to the bathroom with his microphone still on and muttered “What the hell did I do?” to himself. “Killed them all, of course.”
Court documents released last Friday made for more Durst headlines, with transcripts from a March 2015 jailhouse interview revealing that Durst told prosecutors that he had been high on meth at the time of the confession. “I was on meth, I was on meth the whole time … it should have been obvious,” Durst said, according to the L.A. Times.
The court documents released yesterday reveal that prosecutors felt that the timing of the show “made the need to arrest [Durst] in New Orleans all the more urgent,” especially given his wealth and history of fleeing from law enforcement.
“The Jinx’s final episode...was about to become public and [Durst] was about to hear for the first time this extremely damning evidence,” prosecutors wrote of the show's confession recording, according to the L.A. Times. “Preventing defendant’s flight, holding him accountable for his past actions, and protecting society from the danger he posed, were of the utmost importance.”
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
