Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Real Estate Scion Robert Durst Pleads Guilty To Gun Charge in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS – Real estate heir and murder suspect Robert Durst pleaded guilty to a federal gun charge in New Orleans on Wednesday, setting the stage for his return to California to face charges in the 2000 death of a longtime friend.

Durst, 72, could be sentenced to seven years and one month in prison under his plea agreement, followed by three years of supervised release. He was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm after a search of his New Orleans hotel room last March turned up a handgun.

Shackled and wearing an orange jumpsuit, Durst appeared frail and thin at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt. He told the judge that he could not hear well and was taking many medications.

Engelhardt set an April 27 sentencing hearing, noting that he hoped to have Durst in California by mid-August. Prosecutors there want him in connection with the 2000 killing of writer Susan Berman. Durst’s lawyer has said his client is eager to prove his innocence.

Durst’s arrest in New Orleans came one day before the series finale of a 2015 HBO documentary entitled, “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.”

The show chronicled several police investigations of the multimillionaire, including the 2003 dismemberment killing of a male neighbor in Texas for which he was acquitted of murder, and the 1982 disappearance in New York of his wife, Kathleen.

Durst has been jailed in Louisiana since his arrest at a Marriott hotel, where authorities said he was staying under an assumed name with $42,000 in cash, a revolver, about five ounces of marijuana and a latex mask.

He initially pleaded not guilty to the gun charge, claiming the hotel search was illegal. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, based on his 2004 conviction for jumping bail and carrying a weapon across state lines as he tried to flee a murder prosecution in Texas

In the final episode of the HBO series, he was presented with evidence of his handwriting appearing to match that of Berman’s likely killer. Durst’s voice was captured on a microphone after the interview saying he had “killed them all.”

Durst has long been estranged from his family, known for its significant New York real estate holdings. Prosecutors say he is worth some $100 million. — Reuters

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.