Robert Durst Hospitalized With COVID-19 Following Life Sentence in Susan Berman Murder

Robert Durst, the subject of the acclaimed 2015 HBO docuseries The Jinx who was earlier this month sentenced to life in the murder of his closest friend, has been hospitalized.

Attorney Dick DeGuerin said Saturday that his client had been hospitalized after contracting COVID-19, per the Associated Press. During his courtroom appearance earlier this week, DeGuerin added, Durst was “very, very sick.” The exact nature of Durst’s current condition isn’t known. A separate NBC News report, meanwhile, includes additional insight from DeGuerin.

“All we know he’s tested positive for COVID-19, he’s in hospital and on a ventilator,” DeGuerin said. “He looked awful Thursday, worst I’ve ever seen him. He was having difficulty breathing, he was having difficulty speaking.” DeGuerin also said he “believes” his client has been vaccinated.

Complex has reached out to DeGuerin’s office for comment.

On Thursday, 78-year-old Durst—the son of the late real estate mogul Seymour Durst—was sentenced to life in prison with parole over the 2000 murder of Susan Berman. As prosecutors detailed to the court, Durst shot Berman in the back of the head in December 2000 in an effort to keep information regarding his wife’s 1982 disappearance from being used against him in a reopened investigation. Durst is expected to appeal Thursday’s decision.

In August, admitted during testimony that he had regrets over appearing in director Andrew Jarecki’s The Jinx documentary, which famously featured damning remarks from Durst himself. Speaking to the jury, Durst said his participation in the project was a “very, very, very big mistake.”