Suspect Robert Durst charged with murder

NEW YORK, March 16 (UPI) -- Update 8:55 p.m. EST:

Prosecutors in Los Angeles on Monday charged Robert Durst with murder for the 2000 death of his friend, Susan Berman.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said Durst was charged with first-degree murder, which, under California law, carries the "special circumstances of murder of a witness and lying in wait." That makes him eligible for the death penalty if he's convicted.

Prosecutors haven't decided whether to seek the death penalty.

Christopher Bowman, a spokesman for the Orleans Parish district attorney's office, told the Los Angeles Times Durst doesn't face any charges in Louisiana at this point.

During a hearing Monday morning, Durst didn't fight his extradition to California. Officials said he won't be leaving Louisiana on Monday.

Original story follows:

Robert Durst, suspect in three murders and subject of a television documentary, was arrested the day after the broadcast of an apparent admission of guilt.

Durst, 71, has been implicated in the 1982 disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen, a case which has never been closed; in the death in 2000 in Los Angeles of a friend, Susan Berman and the shooting and dismemberment of a neighbor in 2001. The eccentric heir to a real estate empire consented to participation in a six-part HBO documentary of his life, "The Jinx," and in the episode broadcast Sunday could be heard muttering as he entered a bathroom, "There it is. You're caught. What the hell do I do? Killed them all, of course."

The day before, he was arrested in New Orleans in connection with Berman's death.

What may or may not be an admission of guilt was recorded during an interview conducted two years ago, the program's director, Andrew Jarecki, told ABC News Monday.

"I sat there in the edit room with my partners we just sort of shook our heads and it took a while to really understand the impact of it. It was so chilling to hear it. It's disturbing to hear it. It makes you very uncomfortable to hear it... We've been in contact with law enforcement for the past two years, so when we finally found that subsequent submission, what happens in the bathroom, we contacted them and we said, 'We have something more.'"

Jarecki added HBO's presentation schedule had no connection to the timing of the arrest.

A statement by the Los Angeles Police Department said an investigation into Berman's death has continued since 2006, and "investigators have identified Robert Durst as the person responsible for Ms. Berman's death." A New Orleans judge ordered Durst held without bond Sunday, with an extradition hearing scheduled for Monday.

Durst had denied killing Berman, although some investigators suspect he wanted to silence her about the disappearance of Kathleen Durst.