The AP confused convicted murder suspect Robert Durst with Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst
On Sunday, 71-year-old real-estate scion Robert Durst was arrested the same weekend as the finale of "The Jinx," the HBO documentary series about him.
But the AP made a critical error in reporting the news - it confused Robert Durst with Fred Durst, the 44-year-old former frontman of Limp Bizkit.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A Louisiana State Police trooper says millionaire Robert Durst has been booked on weapons charges in that state - on top of a first-degree murder charge lodged by Los Angeles authorities. Trooper Melissa Matey told the Associated Press that an arrest warrant was issued for the former Limp Bizkit frontman and he was rebooked in the Orleans Parish Jail on Monday under two new charges.
It was only after Romenesko asked the AP's spokesperson to confirm the Robert Durst/Limp Bizkit error that the story was corrected:
The Associated Press reported erroneously that Robert Durst is a member of a band. He is a real estate heir; Fred Durst is the former frontman of Limp Bizkit.Robert Durst was arrested by FBI agents Saturday afternoon at a New Orleans hotel, a day before the final episode of the HBO series aired.FBI agents believed Durst may have wanted to flee the country, possibly to Cuba, as he registered under an alias at the hotel, paid with cash, and was found with fake documents, according to ABC News. Coincidentally, Saturday marked the first nonstop flight from New Orleans to Cuba since 1958, as pointed out by nola.com.Durst was formally charged on Monday in the first-degree murder of a longtime friend, writer Susan Berman, in a 15-year-old cold case. Also on Monday, Durst agreed to be extradited to Los Angeles County from New Orleans.
Long estranged from his powerful family with its major New York real estate holdings, the eccentric Durst has been tried and acquitted in the death of another person in Texas and was a suspect in the disappearance of his wife.