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The Jinx's Robert Durst Pleads Guilty To Illegal Gun Possession

The subject of HBO's documentary The Jinx is one step closer to a murder trial

liam-mathews
Liam Mathews

Robert Durst, the wealthy New York City real estate heir and murder suspect who was the subject of last year's HBO documentary miniseries The Jinx, pleaded guilty to illegal gun possession in New Orleans on Wednesday, the New York Times reports.

While arresting Durst, 72, on a murder warrant in March 2015, police found a .38-caliber revolver that, as a convicted felon, Durst was prohibited from having. As part of his plea deal, Durst will be sentenced to 85 months in federal prison.

Durst is the prime suspect in the murder of his friend Susan Berman, who was killed in 2000. He will be transferred to federal prison in Los Angeles to face charges in that case, and must be arraigned before Aug. 18.

Robert Durst charged with first-degree murder

Authorities believe Durst murdered Berman to prevent her from cooperating with investigators who were inquiring about the 1982 disappearance of Durst's wife Kathleen. Police suspect that Durst may have been involved in Kathleen's disappearance, but he was never charged.

In the final episode of The Jinx, filmmakers confronted Durst with similarities between the handwriting on a letter he wrote to Berman and a note sent to the LAPD alerting officers to the presence of Berman's dead body in her house in Beverly Hills. Shortly after that interview, Durst excused himself to the bathroom and, unaware that his microphone was still recording, said to himself, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."

Durst was also acquitted in the 2003 death of his neighbor Morris Black, despite admitting to killing Black by accident, cutting up his body and dumping it into a bay.