Robert Durst Ordered to Stand Trial for 2000 Murder of Friend

(Bloomberg) -- New York real-estate heir Robert Durst was ordered to stand trial for the 2000 murder of his longtime confidante and friend Susan Berman.

A California state court judge on Thursday also ruled that when the 75-year-old goes on trial, prosecutors will be allowed to use statements by Berman as evidence. She admitted to helping Durst concoct an alibi for the death of his missing wife, Kathie, who disappeared in 1982, according to a statement from the Los Angeles district attorney’s office.

Durst was arrested in 2015 at a hotel in New Orleans, the day before HBO aired the final episode of “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.” The documentary explores the disappearance of Kathie Durst and the slaying of Berman, as well as Durst’s acquittal for the 2001 killing and dismembering of his neighbor in Galveston, Texas.

Durst has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.

To contact the reporter on this story: Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at epettersson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Wollman at ewollman@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg

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