Wealthy New York eccentric Robert Durst arrested on murder warrant

Robert Durst, a wealthy and eccentric heir to a New York real estate fortune, has been arrested for murder just before Sunday’s finale in a six-part TV documentary about his links to two killings and the disappearance of his wife.

Durst was arrested by FBI agents on Saturday at a J.W. Marriott hotel in New Orleans, on a Los Angeles warrant for the murder of Susan Berman 15 years ago, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

Durst, 71, has never been charged in connection with the unsolved 2000 murder of Berman in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. She was killed as cold-case detectives prepared to question her in the 1982 disappearance of Durst’s wife, Kathie.

Durst moved to Texas after Berman’s death, where he lived as a woman before being acquitted in the 2001 dismemberment death of his Galveston neighbour, Morris Black. Durst said that killing was in self-defence.

Durst has always denied involvement in his wife’s disappearance or Berman’s murder.

Defense lawyer Chip Lewis, who successfully defended Durst in the Texas killing, said his client will waive extradition and be transported to Los Angeles to face the charges.