HBO's 'The Jinx' Sees Massive Ratings Spike During Series Finale

Robert Durst, the eccentric eldest son of a wealthy New York real-estate family, was arrested in New Orleans on Saturday in the 2000 murder of his friend Susan Berman.

For law enforcement, putting Durst in handcuffs was a task decades in the making. He was long thought to be involved in the disappearance of his wife in 1982, and was acquitted in the killing of a man in Galveston, Texas, in 2001.

But for HBO's "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst," a documentary series that followed the accusations against the alleged killer, the timing was impeccable.

According to Nielsen, the series finale, which aired less than 24 hours after Durst's arrest, was seen by approximately 802,000 viewers during its initial showing and 250,000 during an encore presentation, for a total of 1.05 million. The prior installment had only been viewed by 446,000 people.

In the final moments of the last episode -- in a revelation that shocked viewers and presented what seems to be the most damning piece of evidence in the saga so far -- Durst can be heard saying he "killed them all" while wearing a hot microphone in the bathroom.

H/T Variety