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Real Estate Scion Robert Durst Says He 'Killed Them All' On HBO Show, Is Arrested in New Orleans

Robert Durst, son of a wealthy New York real estate family and suspect in three murders, has been arrested for the murder of an associate fifteen years ago.
Pat Sullivan/AP

On the Sunday night finale of the HBO documentary series The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, the infamous son of a New York real estate mogul seems to admit during an unguarded moment that he murdered three people, including his wife and an associate who defended him amid accusations surrounding her murder.

"What the hell did I do?" Durst says in the final moments of the show. "Killed them all, of course." The private moment occurred while he was alone in a restroom with his mic still on and as the documentary crew is packing up. Two years had passed before the documentarians discovered the audio.

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Durst, a member of a wealthy New York real estate family and suspect in the three murders spanning 35 years in California, Texas, and New York, was arrested in New Orleans on Saturday night for one of the murders.

Information from the HBO series helped investigators collect new evidence, a law enforcement officer told the LA Times. Durst's arrest Saturday, at a New Orleans hotel, came just one day before Sunday's final episode of the show.

The 71-year-old was arrested on a warrant issued by the Los Angeles Police Department in connection with the murder of Los Angeles writer Susan Berman.

HBO Trailer for Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst

Durst has long denied any connection to Berman's death and his attorney told reporters they would fight the accusations, but a law enforcement officer said Durst is suspected of killing Berman because she had information about his wife's disappearance.

Durst's wife, Kathleen Durst, disappeared in 1982, and the case has never been solved. She was officially declared dead in 2001 and Durst has denied knowing any information about what happened to her.

Berman worked as an informal spokeswoman for Durst in the 1990's after his wife went missing, and helped defend him publicly against allegations he had contributed to his wife's disappearance.

When Berman died in Beverly Hills in 2000, police received an anonymous letter warning that a "cadaver" was at his home. The note misspelled the name "Beverley." In a recent episode of Jinx, a character disclosed that he had found a note from Durst that appeared exactly like the letter, "down to the misspelling of Beverley," the LA Times reported.

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After Durst's arrest Saturday he was scheduled to appear in court in New Orleans, his lawyer told ABC News.

"We will waive extradition in an attempt to expedite the process of getting into court in LA to answer and defend against the charges," Durst's attorney, Chip Lewis, told ABC.

Durst was also charged previously with the 2001 murder and dismemberment of a neighbor in Galveston, Texas, but he claimed self-defense and was ultimately acquitted.

Durst did not respond to reporters' requests for comment about his arrest, but partook in about 25 interviews for the HBO show.

Follow Meredith Hoffman on Twitter: @merhoffman