Publicist's Murder Stumps Cops

Police have few leads on who killed Ronni Chasen
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 18, 2010 10:42 AM CST
Ronni Chasen's Murder Stumps Cops, Baffles Hollywood
This image provided Chasen and Company shows Hollywood publicist Ronni Sue Chasen, who was shot to death Tuesday Nov. 16, 2010 in her Mercedes-Benz in a Beverly Hills, Calif., neighborhood.   (AP Photo/Chasen and Company)

The death of celebrity publicist Ronni Chasen is a real-life Hollywood murder mystery, and police are stumped. Nearly half of the Beverly Hills Police Department is working on the case, the Daily Beast reports, but they have little evidence, no motive, and no witnesses. Chasen was found fatally shot in her car—witnesses reported hearing five shots, the New York Times reports—which had crashed into a light post on a street full of million-dollar mansions. The passenger side window was shattered, but police aren't sure if that was the result of the accident, the gunshots, or some other force, the Los Angeles Times reports. Oddly, there was no other gunshot damage to the car, and no bullet casings were found.

Chasen had been at an afterparty for the premiere of Burlesque, which she left shortly after midnight, and she had called and left a voicemail to-do list for her assistant just six minutes before the shooting. Police believe Chasen was shot before hitting the light post, but beyond that, many questions remain: Was it road rage? A carjacking? Was she followed? Was the culprit in the car with her? Was she targeted? Was it a robbery? Friends and colleagues are offering a $100,000 reward in an effort to glean more information, and detectives are looking for video surveillance from nearby homes, clubs, and restaurants.
(More Ronni Chasen stories.)

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