The Beverly Hills Police Department’s crime scene investigation team documented the aftermath of Ronni Chasen’s murder in the morning hours of Nov. 16, 2010. She was shot four times through the passenger window of her black Mercedes-Benz E350 as she headed west along Sunset Boulevard, preparing to veer south on Whittier Drive via the left-hand turn lane.
According to the autopsy report, two bullets hit her chest without causing immediate catastrophic damage. Another hit her right upper arm. A fourth, the most rapidly fatal, entered through her right shoulder and struck her heart. No shell casings, live rounds or weapon were recovered at the intersection – only glass from her passenger window.
Despite her dire injuries, Chasen glided one-fourth of a mile down curving Whittier Dr. before the Mercedes knocked over a concrete light pole, crushing the front right end of the vehicle and deploying her airbag. A couple driving past found her within minutes, followed by Beverly Hills Police Department patrol officers, who’d been alerted to the sound of gunfire by neighbors.
Police files indicate officers found Chasen slumped forward with blood dripping from her nose, a gurgling sound emanating from her mouth, eyes wide open but not blinking. They were unable to locate her pulse. She was transported to nearby Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and soon pronounced dead.
Chasen’s shoes – satin leopard print kitten heel Manolo Blahnik pumps – remained by the gas pedal. (Click here for high-res photo)
Chasen’s Prada purse sat on the passenger seat amid glass shards and nail polish bottles. (Click here for high-res photo)
Paperwork on the floor indicated more hustling to be done for the ongoing awards season: pursuing coverage with NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered for Trent Reznor and Atticus Finch’s composer contributions to The Social Network. (Click here for high-res photo)
“I don’t think any of us know what happened,” says producer Lili Fini Zanuck, a longtime friend. “The idea that she was in pain in her final moments is more than I can handle. It breaks my heart.”
Two weeks later, on Dec. 1, acting on a tip to America’s Most Wanted, Beverly Hills Police detectives confronted suspect Harold Smith in the small lobby of his Hollywood flophouse, the Harvey apartment building.
Smith allegedly responded by brandishing a stainless steel .38 Smith & Wesson Model 67 revolver in his right hand and fatally shooting himself through the brain. His bicycle – the mode of transport detectives contend he utilized to commit the homicide – rested inches away from his body. (Click here for high-res photo)
The Beverly Hills Police Department claims Smith’s gun was responsible for Chasen’s murder. However, the ballistics report used as the basis for this declaration, revealed by The Hollywood Reporter for the first time, is inconclusive.
The Harvey’s lobby, like many other common areas in the building, was recorded by closed-circuit security cameras (see computer in management office) the night of Smith’s death. The Beverly Hills Police Department has so far declined to release footage of what transpired during the encounter with their suspect. (Click here for high-res photo)