US tycoon Durst denied bail, deemed flight risk

LOS ANGELES: Eccentric US tycoon Robert Durst was denied bail and deemed a flight risk, in his latest court hearing over the killing of a mobster’s daughter.

Durst remains behind bars in New Orleans on weapons and drug charges, despite his lawyer’s stated wish that the 71-year-old be transferred to Los Angeles to face murder charges.

The bail rejection was the latest twist in the case of Durst, a bizarre murder mystery laid bare in a TV documentary earlier this month.

Durst – the scion of a New York real estate dynasty worth US$ 4.4 billion – was charged in Los Angeles last week with murder over the 2000 death of his close friend Susan Berman.

He appeared to make an unwitting confession to a number of killings during filming of the acclaimed six-part HBO documentary ‘ The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst’.

In the final episode, Durst was heard muttering to himself, “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course,” apparently unaware that a wireless microphone remained switched on while he used the bathroom.

It was not clear if Durst was sincerely confessing, but authorities in Los Angeles reportedly said the documentary had played a role in their decision to seek the multimillionaire’s arrest for Berman’s murder.

Claiming that TV ratings are driving the prosecution, lawyers for Durst say they want the case to go to trial in California as soon as possible.

But prosecutors in New Orleans, where Durst was arrested on Saturday, are pursuing minor gun and drug charges against him.

When police arrived at his hotel room, he was found with a .38 caliber revolver and marijuana, police say.

Berman was shot in the back of her head at her home in Beverly Hills. — AFP