Reporter Questions Beverly Hills Police's Conclusion On Hollywood Publicist's Murder Case
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — It has been six years to the day since Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen was murdered. The case is officially closed, but a bombshell report now claims investigators missed key evidence.
The report claims newly released documents from the Beverly Hills Police Department show that detectives had little to no proof on who really killed Chasen.
Police are standing by their investigation and call this new report baseless.
Chasen spent her last moments at the W Hotel premier party for the movie "Burlesque." She was shot and killed on her way home by a bicyclist who shot into her car.
Ed Lozzi knew Chasen for decades. "When Ronnie Chasen was murdered, and word got out; it turned the whole town upside down."
Beverly Hills police said Chasen's killer was Harold Smith - an unemployed ex-con who murdered Chasen in a random act of violence.
Smith committed suicide when police tried to question him. Gary Baum, senior writer for the Hollywood Reporter, obtained new documents from the case that he said cast fresh doubts on the findings.
"The ballistics they say matched, don't. It's an inconclusive report. There seems to be no video footage or any sort of evidence that actually places this man at the scene of the crime," Baum said.
Beverly Hills police said their final ballistics report proved Smith fired the gun that killed Chasen.
The department said Baum and others want this case to be about mystery and intrigue, but it was just a robbery gone bad.
Lozzi agreed. "In this town of creative minds and people who want to make movies and documentaries and people who want to expand this. This just couldn't be," he said.
"What we're looking at right now are portions of a total investigation. But from what we do see, it raises a lot of serious questions about competence and transparency.
The Beverly Hills Police Department has a new police chief since Chasen's murder case was closed. A spokesman says there is no plan to reopen it.