Ronni Chasen Murder Case Closed, Still BafflingS

Last November, veteran Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen was shot and killed for no apparent reason while driving her car (pictured) in Hollywood. After a couple of weeks of conspiracy theorizing, police pinned the crime on a random guy named Harold Smith, who shot himself dead as the police closed in on him. Now, police are officially closing the case. But uh... hmm.

We're no professional "Beverly Hills Cops," and we have no law enforcement expertise of any sort. Nor can we tie our own shoes. But based purely on common sense, a few aspects of this case still strike us as odd.

  • Police say the motive was "attempted robbery or road rage." Because, for one thing, her window was "open a few inches." Oh, well then, sure.
  • "[Police] determined that one of the bullets exited Chasen's body and then hit her again, possibly when she turned her body." We assume there was a grassy knoll involved.
  • The newest piece of information: the gun used to kill Chasen was stolen from a police officer. This information emerged... as police were closing the case.
There's just enough mystery left here for a voyeuristic true crime book by a tabloid veteran and a 48 Hours Mystery segment. I guess that's as it should be.

[Reuters. Photo: AP]