Murder of Hollywood Publicist is Finally Solved, Police Say
Jan. 19 2011, Published 6:15 a.m. ET
Two months after Ronni Chasen was mysteriously shot following a movie premiere, final ballistics reports prove that bike-riding marksman Harold Martin Smith murdered the top Hollywood publicist, cops say.
Beverly Hills Police Chief David Snowden said Chasen's mysterious death on November 16 was not part of a Hollywood-style conspiracy, as many had suggested.
"That man is the man that shot her, there is no conspiracy, nothing else was involved," Snowden told the Hollywood Reporter.
PHOTO: Last Picture Of Slain Ronni Chasen
"I know a lot of people don't like to see it end like that -- they'd rather have something more dramatic, but that's just the way it is.
"The facts are the facts."
Smith - an unemployed felon who killed himself December 1 before police could reach him for questioning - acted alone in the shocking crime, Snowden said.
The gun used in Smith's suicide and Chasen's murder was the same weapon, he added.
Snowden had revealed in a press conference on December 8 that police believed Smith had used a bicycle to get to and from the scene of the crime near the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Whittier Drive in Beverly Hills.
The gunman then shot 64-year-old Chasen, who was on her way home from the Burlesque during an attempted robbery.
EXCLUSIVE AUDIO: Ronni Chasen's Suspect's Suicide: Hear the Shocking 911 Call
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RadarOnline.com exclusively reported last month that Smith had a history of car burglaries stemming from 1992 and had previously served time in jail for a drug conviction.
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