'The Jinx' not jinxed at Creative Arts Emmys

Andrew Jarecki's groundbreaking documentary series wins big at awards ceremony

Documentary filmmaker Andrew Jarecki has claimed the first Emmy of his career.

His riveting six-part mini-series The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst earned the top honor for Documentary or Nonfiction Series at the Creative Arts Emmys. The Jinx bested American Masters, Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History and The Sixties.

The Jinx also won the Emmy for Outstanding Picture Editing, with trophies going to Supervising Editor Richard Hankin, Editor Zac Stuart-Pontier and Co-Editors Caitlyn Green and Shelby Siegel 

Jarecki's series is a meticulous look at eccentric millionaire Robert Durst and his connection to two murders and the disappearance of his wife Kathie in 1982.

Jarecki uncovered an apparently damning piece of evidence in the unsolved 2000 murder of Durst's friend Susan Berman -- a letter Durst wrote to Berman in 1999 addressed to "Beverley [sic] Hills." Berman's killer wrote an anonymous letter to police, also addressed to "Beverley [sic] Hills." 

After Jarecki sprang the evidence on Durst, the latter denied responsibility but later -- not realizing his mic was still on -- Durst muttered to himself, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."

Photo courtesy NATAS

Hours before the airing of the sixth and final episode of The Jinx," in which Jarecki confronted Durst with the letter, the FBI arrested Durst on a first-degree murder charge, based on the newly-uncovered evidence.

If you haven't seen The Jinx, it's available via HBO Go.

Congrats to Andrew Jarecki, Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier on the scariest story ever: THE JINX. - JB pic.twitter.com/xasLLeshDG

— Blumhouse (@blumhouse) September 13, 2015

Winner for Documentary/Nonfiction Series at #EmmysArts is #TheJinx, @HBO pic.twitter.com/hOW2Tau39V

— Television Academy (@TelevisionAcad) September 13, 2015