‘The Jinx’s Robert Durst To Be Extradited

It was announced Tuesday that real estate heir and subject of HBO miniseries The Jinx, Robert Durst, will be extradited to Los Angeles on a murder charge, after prosecutors in Los Angeles officially charged Durst with the 2000 murder of his friend, Susan Berman, in March 2015. The trial is set to begin this summer. Durst has been in prison in Louisiana, after he had fled to New Orleans in March to escape the fallout from the documentary about his life, The Jinx. It was there, as Jezebel points out, that he was arrested for illegal possession of a firearm by a felon, and illegal possession of a firearm in the presence of a controlled substance — he's been in custody ever since.

Durst's lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, released the following statement to Bustle in response to the reports:

This was an agreement we reached with the LA prosecutors to expedite Bob Durst's trial in the Susan Berman murder case. Bob Durst didn't kill Susan Berman and doesn't know who did, and he's eager to prove it. He waived extradition in March, shortly after his arrest in New Orleans, but the Louisiana gun charges must be resolved first.

In the documentary, Durst’s close proximity to a number of deaths — including his wife’s in 1982 and Berman’s, his close friend, in 2000 — was evaluated in painstaking detail. As the Los Angeles Times points out, the finale of The Jinx depicted Durst walking away from his final interview, only for the following to take place:

Durst left his final interview to use the bathroom, appearing not to notice that his microphone was still recording as he muttered to himself, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."

It was in the middle of the documentary airing that Durst fled his home in Houston and ignited a manhunt that led police all the way to New Orleans. Since then, Los Angeles County officials have arrested him for the murder of Berman, and have been trying to extradite him back to California in order to proceed with the criminal trial.

This news has been a long time coming for the state of California and the city of Los Angeles: According to the Los Angeles Times , officials in the state have been trying for months to get Durst back within state lines after arresting him in connection with Berman's death — a woman whose murder Durst had otherwise not been connected to before the documentary aired.

According to The Wrap, Durst will return to Los Angeles for arraignment either on or before the date of Aug. 18, 2016.