Beverly Hills Murder
Who was Ronni Chasen? She was a behind the scenes Hollywood player, an A List publicist; which is one of those people who tells you that celebrities didn't say what they said when they said something stupid, or that they're suffering from dehydration or exhaustion when they've gone into rehab to dry out. She was the sister of a noted Hollywood producer. She was also a recent murder victim in a recent newsworthy crime that got her more name recognition outside the 30 mile zone than she was accustomed to in life. On her way home from the glitzy "Burlesque" premier she was shot in Beverly Hills.
Naturally when a noted Hollywood mover & shaker dies tongues start wagging. Only weeks after scoffing at talks of "starwhackers" pundits were calling this an organized hit on the celebrity spokesperson. Soon tongues would have something more concert to wag about. Shortly after the news broke America's Most Wanted received a tip that a small time hoodlum was going around town bragging that he was the one who whacked Chasen. Police would want to talk to Harold Martin Smith.
Smith, 43, was a small time ex con. He was also the guy who went around shooting his mouth off about being the Chasen killer. That's what the America's Most Wanted tipster said. That's also why police wanted a formal and in depth conversation with Smith. However if police were expected any answers from Smith they were probably disappointed. Mr Smith may have only presented the police with more questions.As the police were closing in on Smith he shot himself to death in the lobby of his low rent Santa Monica hotel. That's why Smith won't be answering any questions personally. It's also why the police have more inconvenient questions on their hands. The big red herring in the stew is the fact that the gun Smith shot himself with wasn't the Chasen murder weapon. Had it been it would've tied everything up into a nice little package tagged "case closed". Now the Chasen affair remains very much open as investigators speculate whether Smith may or may not have actually committed the crime. False confessions happen sometimes in murder cases; so Smith might have been trying to borrow some street cred by claiming credit for some one else's dirty deed. So the real murderer may still be out there.
Incidentally Chasen's brother is calling this one of those random things. He referred to the murder as probably road rage in a statement that made him sound more anxious to get the whole thing behind him than to find out what happened to his sister. Chasen, real name Ronnie Sue Cohen, left an estate of over $6 million behind her.
