Robert Durst, a wealthy real estate heir, whose life is documented in a current HBO series for suspicions he is a serial killer, has been arrested in New Orleans.

The 71-year-old Durst was nabbed by the authorities in the lobby of J.W. Marriot Hotell in New Orleans, on Canal Street, across the French Quarter. His lawyer, Chip Lewis says, the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office took custody of him, based on an extradition warrant that sought to bring him back to California.

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His counsel confirmed that Durst is facing a murder charge and is being held without bond. Lewis has advised his client not to fight the extradition procedure at the magistrate of New Orleans.

Durst has acquired a reputation for notoriety, after he was linked to three deaths in Texas, Los Angeles and New York since 1982. His arrest in New Orleans is on the strenghth of a warrant, after the Los Angeles Police revived its probe into the death of his friend, Susan Berman, fifteen years ago in Galveston,Texas.

Berman was a daughter of a Las Vegas casino owner.

During the trial, Durst had admitted to dismembering the body of Berman, who was his former roommate. But even with this confession, Durst was acquitted of murder after his defense counsel, Lewis, was able to convinced the court that Berman's death was unintended.

Former Judge Susan Criss remembers the trial. She recalls she thought that she was dealing with a cunning serial killer, made all the more dangerous because of his wealth.

"I saw the pictures of the cut up body. That body was cut up like it has been done by a surgeon. He knew what sort of tools to use for this bone and that muscle," Criss says. "It would have been impossible for someone to do that, if it was their first murder attempt. That is a cold, calculating act."

However, the judge says what made the prosecution lose the case was that even if they dropped tha ball every step of the way, the defense came very prepared.

Upon learning about the arrest of Durst in New Orleans, his lawyer thinks, the timing of the arrest is suspect. He believes, there may be a conspiracy between the prosecutors and filmaker Andrew Jarecki.

Lewis says Jarecki wants the arrest to happen to jack up the publicity gimmick for the last episode of a documentary he produced on HBO, titled "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst."

The prosecutors have yet to comment on this.

TagsRobert Durst, The Jinx, Murder, HBO, New Orleans