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It didn’t take long, just a coupla hours, for Fox’s America’s Most Wanted TV show to pat itself on the back tonight for its pivotal role in helping solve the Ronni Chasen murder. The weekly series will air what it’s calling a “case update” this Saturday after profiling the murder back on a November 20th broadcast. Sounds like it coordinated the timing with the Beverly Hills Police Department. BHPD were acting on a tip from an anonymous AMW viewer when police investigators went to Harold Martin Smith’s Harvey Apartments where he shot and killed himself with what’s now known as the gun that also murdered Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen. “I’m very proud that this loyal AMW viewer had the guts to call our hotline to help solve this case,” said AMW host John Walsh in a statement. “After 23 years on the air, it reconfirms my belief that an average person can make a difference. It’s my hope that the Chasen family will now have some answers.” AMW is produced by STF Productions. John Walsh is also executive producer, and Steve Katz is co-executive producer.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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I imagine if you had given the BHPD the info that caught the murderer, you would also publicize it.
On the nose … good for you!!!
I respect John Walsh immensely, but this is a bunch of hogwash. There’s no way the execution of Ronni Chasen was a random act of violence, not with 5 direct hits in the chest. There’s no way someone on a scooter could have been that accurate. The police account and this guy who killed himself are a ruse to cover the truth. Ronni Chasen was killed randomly for sure, but I’m convinced it was a gang initiaton and the idea that gang members have travelled west into Beverly Hills is not a story the LAPD wants to tell.
Yes, it was a gang member on a bike. Not near enough to keep them busy in LA proper……
(Just wow…..)
You are “convinced” it was a “gang member”.
Not the suicidal maniac who owned the GUN that shot her.
Please… do explain WHY you are “convinced” it was a gang member? Do you have evidence? Or do you simply have preconceived ideas and ignorant presumptions?
Do you know the history of the LAPD and its off-shoot, the BHPD? The word corruption is synonymous with their efforts in spite of the heroism many cops show every day. From their stanpoint, case closed. But do you travel anywhere east of La Brea and South of Pico? Do you know anything about the gang culture in Los Angeles? I may not have any evidence to prove my theory, but the John Walsh story and police accounts are so outrageous that they have to be true, right? Come on Lem. “A loyal viewer” called the show with the tip? Don’t you live and work in Hollywood? This is fiction of the highest order and the fact that there’s nothing personal in these events is what makes them so tragic and so heinous.
Since she left millions of dollars to a relative, that relative should hire a private investigator to find the truth. I don’t believe a man on a bike at midnight (dark) shot five times at a random car. Makes no sense. Maybe it was the gun, but how did Smith get the gun?
Of course this wasn’t a gang initiation. Initiations are high school teens with little experience shooting. Let the police do their job. They have like one shooting a year in Bev Hills. They have time to get it right.
So much drama filled speculation on throughout boards. Turn off FX and read the police report when it’s done.
are we expected to believe this is solved? really?
Exactly my thoughts. The guy was on a bicycle like with peddles not one with a motor. How in the hell could anyone on a bicycle go at least 30mph. Hold the handle bar with one hand then shoot five accurate bullets to the chest of a passenger driving a car. Bullshit.
I cycle a lot and going any where over 25 mph requires skill with two hands.
I say this guy is a pure patsy. Someone gave him the gun in question and he blew his head off under pressure for reasons we may never know.
Not solved. Not random. This was just TMCE. (The Most Convenient Explanation)
“It didn’t take long… for Fox’s America’s Most Wanted TV show to pat itself on the back…”
Sounds like they solved it. Her murderer is dead. If Ms. Chasen were a member of my family, I would feel a (small) measure of relief and great gratitude toward the show.
As for Walsh, his family and his show, they’ve done a lot to change attitudes about crimes against children.
Guess what.
Ronni was related to a screenwriter who writes almost exclusively about getting away with murder.
This person (who I am afraid of and won’t name) came out 2 days ago and endorsed the “random act of violence theory” put forth by the beverly hills police department. That, to me, is strange given the circumstances but whatever.
Given that this “killer” on a bike claimed that he was paid for his actions, the cops should at least look at the screenwriter brother as a suspect.
Note to cops – you can look up his credits on IMDB. Many of his movies are about trails, murder and getting away with murder. I know it sounds weird, but this guy is probably one out of a few thousand people in the united states that’s literally thought about ways to beat a murder rap for over 30 years.
I don’t know if he was in the will or not, but if you’re the police – you gotta look at the connection.
This remains such a tregedy, and my pre-emptive apologies to those who loved Ronni and would take offense at the following from a guy (me) whose read only the la times, deadline hllywood, tmz and the huffington post…but this explanation of an ex-con randomly out for cash in the middle of beverly hills on a bicycle with a loaded gun, shooting 5 perfectly placed shots, NOT stealing a single thing, but picking up all five of his shell casings in the middle of the night and then leaving on a bicycle strains more believability than many of the fantastic theories batted around this message board.
Stranger still, this guy who was so terrified of being caught that he backtracked to pick up the casings, then BRAGGED about performing the killing and additionally bragged about how he was to receive 10,000 soon? this doesnt add up. not even close.
Still troubling as well is a burglary that takes place at her home years back, where only items of personal value are taken (that TWO crimes against Ronni said to be theft, where money WASNT taken…how often does that happen? both in beverly hills i believe?) and shortly thereafter she changes her Will not only to exclude a neice, but a HUGE fuck you to that Neice by leaving her ten dollars?!
Now this is the part i agree with mystery writer and i simultaneously apologize for because it involves her family…However its her family that in the absence of any evidence you look at first and foremost. Her brother, a screenwriter of 30 plus years whose thought of every heist, murder etcv possible says catagorically it was road rage. I sympathize with his loss, but this simply doesnt make sense. Road Rage? 5 perfectly shot bullets w/no casings because someone got out of their car to pick them up, roadrage? From a screenwriter whose JOB it is to make such stories make sense …eeek.
If anything were resonating here in the police report no one would start asking about WHY it was at first reported NOT the gun, then days later it was the gun etc…this is a screw up of epic and not very believable proportions. somethings very fishy here. The police seem to have done a 180 based on one thing, a gun that wasn’t now is…plausible, except for the fact that if it now is, it SIMPLY DOESNT MAKE SENSE. I hope more details come about so that it does…but im not optimistic.
If the gun was a revolver there wouldn’t be any casings to pick up. I’m not aware of the caliber or make of weapon being made public. When famous, popular, or well to do people suffer a violent fate its really hard for most to accept how unpredictable life can be even for those we designate as “too important” to suffer from random acts. Harold Smith, was clearly a loser from birth, making his involvement and the random killer theory all the more believable. As strange as it appears this may actually be the case of a pathetic loser looking for a weak target (elderly female) and not being able to even complete that task without botching the job. It happens all over America and apparently now Beverly Hills can be added to the list.
Thats why they call it a SENSELESS killing.
These Stalinist politicians are teaching low lifes, hey “the rich” are bad. You see a woman in a Mercedes, she’s probably a “pig” and her life has no value, so shoot her. When in fact she got that mercedes by working her ass off and probably came from a family who worked their ass off too.
You’re blaming this on the Tea Party?? REALLY?
@James Giantpeach
I doubt someone like Harold Smith gets his cues from any politician. I grew up with lots of guys like him and made headlines myself while being wrongfully implicated in a high profile crime. Not that any of that makes me an expert but lots of these guys who go in and out of prison all their lives aren’t too smart. They make bad choices over and over until they just can’t deal with the results anymore. Harold knew his life was over and probably was having suicidal thoughts prior to killing this poor woman.
Rather than blame politicians perhaps wealthy people should do more to better the world around then instead of engaging in self-indulgence. When people are denied jobs, loans, access to education, credit, health care, or any of the things necessary for a decent quality of life what do you really expect? Desperate people do desperate things. To be clear, I’m not condoning what happened but you just can’t go about your merry life while the number of discontented grows. Like it or not we’re all in this together.
I saw this article and thought the exact same thing. Something seems fishy about him.
I found the brother’s comments incomprehensible when I read them and immediately was suspicious of him because of his comment about it being road rage. Now to learn of his screenplays about getting away with murder, it boggles the mind he’d be so sanguine about a road rage theory. The ten dollars to the niece leads me to think Ronnie may have had some issues re: money and family member(s), maybe control issues involving her fortune. Maybe she refused to help one out when he needed some help, who knows. But for the cops to come out with this statement when ballistics are still not even finished is crazy!
According to video on ABC, her brother receives no inheritance, one of his daughters receives a great deal, and the other the $10. The story mentions $6 million, and that she talked about changing her will a couple of months ago. Her brother is now the executor; maybe she would have changed that, too. The items stolen from her home a few years ago were those of emotional value, like family heirlooms.
http://abcn.ws/eE2uoC
I’m hoping the police are really still investigating, and that their lone gunman theory is a ruse.
C’mon, seriously? A sketchy looking dude on a bike in the vicinity of the shooting in THAT neighborhood at that hour with the complete cavalry of BH’s finest there that quickly? I know people that live very close by to that vicinity, not a lot of bicyclists of any kind at that hour. This whole explanation is at best asinine.
Hard to believe it’s a random act of violence or robbery and the victim gets 5 bullets to the chest. When something doesn’t make sense in life, it usually means it’s not what really happened.
Sorry BHPD but this smells like damage control or at best, a red herring so they can focus in on who actually sponsored the hit without too much media noise and public attention. If that’s the case, I hope it works.
It was obvious from the start. You people just watch too many movies or think that something like this couldn’t possibly happen in beverly hills. This happens around other parts of LA on a daily basis. Get over it and get over yourselves. Just pathetic.
And Oswald was a lone gunman…
Where are the shell casings?
I am not the kind of person who sees conspiracies around every corner, but I can’t believe the BHPD explanation. I don’t think Harold Smith was the shooter, I think it was a professional hit. And I think the conspirators found a mentally disturbed suicidal ex-con to take the fall. Think about it…if you wanted to find a delusional suicide case living in a cheap hotel in LA that you could use for a patsy, well, unfortunately there is no shortage of delusional suicide cases living in cheap hotels in LA. I mean, it’s completely reasonable that you could find a patsy – like Harold Smith – and make sure he ended up with the murder weapon. I think a professional hit conspiracy with Harold Smith as a fall guy makes a lot more sense than the BHPD version of events.
My take? Smith either found the gun someplace or it was given to him. He was the patsy for this, which would explain the relatively low price tag he was bragging about. Come on–$10,000 for a murder this public? It defies common sense.
so, he was paid $10K to take the gun away and instead starts running his mouth and leads the police straight to him. When cornered, he used the gun to kill himself.
He was the perfect fall guy. Now the police can stop looking for the real killer or killers.
Now way this guy shot her 3, 4 or 5 times from a bicycle with that kind of precision, in the dark, then picked up his shell casings, IN THE DARK, and then rode off without taking anything. Which was the alleged purpose of the killing in the first place.
This whole scenario defies any kind of logic whatsoever.
Do professional “hit men” usually make a habit of looping random petty thieves into their plans?– “Hey, let’s give the murder weapon to some unrelaible weirdo. Maybe he’ll kill himself before telling the police who we are”.
The Beverly Hills Police Department should change their name to the Keystone Cops…
The problem with the BHPD saying they believe Howard Smith to be the murderer and that it was a random act just to throw off the media so they can focus in on the real murderer or whatever, is that they wouldn’t be able to successfully prosecute the real perp. They have already proven in the public eye that they are prone to accusation and inaccuracies by changing their findings to improve their public image, i.e. “We got our man!”
Listen I come from a family of cops and I’m all for good police work and solid investigation but this smells to high heaven.
We have to ask ourselves “If this guy didn’t really commit this murder, then who did or who would have the opportunity and or motive? Robbery doesn’t really appear to be the true motive for Ronni Chasen’s murder. So what was the reason? Who could benefit from her death? Who would have a grudge against her, and why?
It just seems very convenient that the guy is dead. Dead men tell no tales. And dead men can’t defend themselves.
It would be very interesting to know who the informant is that tipped off AMW, and their connection to Howard Smith. Also very convenient that America’s Most Wanted got this anonymous tip and sent the BHPD to question this guy.
By the way were there any witnesses other than the cops there who saw Howard Smith kill himself? I mean someone who’s not associated with the police? I can’t help but remember when several Hollywood Rampart Division cops were convicted of framing and even shooting people and manufacturing evidence to get convictions, to garner public praise and move up the ladder in the police department. Anybody else remember that a few years back?
Cops are not above committing crimes and even murder when it suits their purposes. I’m not saying that’s the case here but every angle should be explored. It could be a lot like having the fox watching the hen house.
Just food for thought.
We will probably never know if there were witnesses to Mr. Smith’s death.
Does Mr. Smith have a family? A background? Or is he a test tube patsy? I have not read anything about him other than his prison record.
Sorry, I meant Harold Smith. Not Howard Smith.
BS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Even if the guy somehow threatened her or was able to stop her momentarily, there is no fvking way he could have shot her while on a bike.
She would have slammed the gas pedal and sped away.
complete BS !!!!!!!!
Why don’t you use a few more exclamation points.
Yeah, if I were going to rob and shoot someone driving a car, I’d most certainly be riding a bike _and_ wouldn’t get the money I came to steal. Sure…
OK, so the conclusion being offered isn’t adequate for covering all the known facts, but there’s no excuse for all the Nancy Grace-style amateur detective bs or the libelling of Larry Cohen.
No one’s libelling Larry Cohen. Larry Cohen is her most direct relative. Thats who you look to in cases like this. Publicly, the statements he has made don’t make very much sense at all. People are postulating because they are upset and scared. Are some postulators insensitive, unintelligent, racist, and bigoted….sure, but that’s human nature. The point is, the BHPD has let down the community its sworn to protect, by providing a ridiculous explanation for a crime. So now the public has to try to make sense of this crime, because they dont want to eat sand today…Look to the people whose job it is to do and stay there, because human nature left to its own is pretty much always going to be nancy grace style amateur PI’ing (among other things).
Revolvers don’t leave casings.
She was stopped at the time of shooting.
Easy to hit your target from less than 3 feet.
Thank you! Geesh! This is the real world, not an episode of Law & Order (yet). Fer cryin’ out loud, I can hit a solid grouping from 3-feet.
The most interesting comment on this thread is posed by Desi — who was this anonymous tipster? I’m not a conspiracy theorist either, but I’m having a very difficult time processing the idea that a would-be robber would shoot someone FIVE times and then pick up the shell casings. She’s in a car. He’s on a bike. And he gets all five shots in the chest??????
It’s all too neat and I don’t buy it for a second.
Based on earlier reports, unless totally erroneous, this doesn’t add up at all. A small time criminal, desperate, who had no money and was thrown out of his apartment, instead of robbing someone on foot on the streets of Hollywood after they leave a play or a fancy restaurant, rides his bicycle over ten miles to Sunset and Whittier, not the busiest of streets at 12 midnight…waits for a lone car to pull up, rides up alongside it and tries to rob the passenger? Rather than put the pedal to the metal, since there is no traffic on that stretch at that hour, she enables the biker to get off five rounds then tries to drive away, crashing into a lamppost… No shell casings were originally reported found….hollowpoints were originally reported as the slugs used…nothing was missing on the victim…her purse and jewelry were still on her…and he ditched the bike and then did what….walk the ten miles or more back to the aparment he had been evicted from and bragged that we was waiting for a 10K windfall? That’s one helluva tale. Sounds more like Kramer and Newman’s explanation of the infamous Keith Hernandez spitball incident.
Agree, someone should have gotten the guy a map and he could have seen that Paramount studios and Larchmont were within a mile of him — duh.
Stop, please, with the exclamations of “conspiracy” because of the “missing” casings. Have none of you people ever heard of a little thing called a REVOLVER? There are a lot of things that are convenient about the story, but the fucking shell casings aren’t one of them. Stop watching so much TV and live in the real world for awhile.
So how easy is it to shoot so accurately five times in a row w a revolver?