He will be transported to California by mid-August, Los Angeles authorities said. Because Durst, 72, is a convicted felon, it is illegal for him to possess a firearm. Prosecutors announced Durst will face a murder charge in connection to the 2000 death of his friend Susan Berman.
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Eccentric millionaire and suspected murderer Robert Durst has accepted a plea on federal charges in New Orleans. He was never charged in the disappearance of his first wife. Durst has waived extradition but won’t immediately be sent to California until at least the sentencing.
Durst appeared to make an unwitting confession to a number of killings during filming of the acclaimed six-part HBO documentary “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst”.
He will forfeit some $117,000 that authorities found on him, along with the gun and marijuana.
He describing the proposed sentence as “the result of very intense negotiations” among federal prosecutors, Durst’s attorneys, and the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office, which originally brought a weapons charge against Durst. Durst split with the family when his younger brother was placed in charge of the family business, leading to a drawn- out legal battle.
The New York Times said he made the plea in federal court in New Orleans.
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Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael McMahon said after the sentencing that he suspects Durst was headed to Cuba to evade arrest in Berman’s killing. The maximum sentence would be 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He was formally arrested early on the day of the broadcast. He’ll serve his time at FCI Terminal Island, a low-security prison near Los Angeles. He has also been implicated in the 1982 disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen, and the 2001 dismemberment of a neighbor, Morris Black. In the final episode, which aired Sunday night, Durst was caught saying “What did I do? Killed them all, of course”, apparently unaware that a wireless microphone remained switched on while he used the bathroom.
