All language subtitles for ReSolved s01e12 Ronni Chasen.eng

- A mystery worthy of Hollywood,

but tragically it's no fiction.

- Ronni Chasen was one
of the most high-profile

and high-powered
publicists in all of Hollywood.

Inside Hollywood, she
was a towering figure.

- So I would like to dedicate
this star in loving memory

to my friend, the
great Ronni Chasen.

- She was driving down Sunset
to turn left on Whittier Drive.

Four bullets shatter
her passenger window.

- The Hollywood
blogosphere is consumed

by this real-life whodunit.

- These are the things of which
conspiracy theories are made.

- I call this an unsolved murder

because I was never
totally convinced.

- What would lead
somebody to hire a hitman?

- Maybe she owed
money to powerful people.

- There was one theory
that Ronni Chasen

was killed over an
art deal that went bad.

- We're learning more
now about the large fortune

Chasen left behind.

- All roads kinda lead
back to the Russian mob.

- They shot her four times,
and all four shots hit their target.

- Something just didn't add up.

- They just couldn't
find anything.

- This is where we get
into some weird stuff, right?

- 911 Emergency.

- The official narrative
doesn't tell the whole story.

- But you really have
to look at everything.

You still have to go
down that rabbit hole.

You still have to
go down that path.

- When a celebrity dies, the
search for answers moves online,

and the truth may
be one click away.

It's just past midnight
on November 16, 2010,

in the heart of Beverly Hills.

Suddenly, the sounds
of crunching metal

and breaking glass shatter
the early-morning silence.

But this is no
mere car accident.

The crime is murder.

And when the
victim is identified,

all of Hollywood is shocked.

The driver is 64-year-old
Ronni Chasen,

publicist to movie
stars and studio moguls.

When police arrive at the
scene, she is barely alive.

She dies less than an
hour later at the hospital.

Ronni Chasen was one
of the Hollywood elite.

She was a behind-the-scenes
power broker

whose influence rivaled

that of movie stars
and studio executives.

I'm Pete Hammond, and I work
in the entertainment business.

When she died, it was
just such a blow to people.

I always thought that she was a
very generous and good person.

- My name is Ryan Katzenbach,

and I am an independent
film producer/documentarian.

Ronni definitely moved in
a... In an A-list environment.

She was definitely
very, very well known.

And she was very
good at what she did.

So Ronni grew up a New Yorker,

along with her
brother Larry Cohen.

And, of course,
Larry, as we know,

became a filmmaker
in his own right.

- Her brother Larry Cohen...
Kind of protective of her,

I think, growing up.

You know, the big
brother, the younger sister.

- In the 1970s, Ronni
Cohen arrives in Hollywood

with dreams of
becoming an actor.

Instead, she discovers she
has a knack for public relations.

Ronni Cohen
becomes Ronni Chasen.

She takes her new
name from a famous

Beverly Hills restaurant.

During the 1980s and
'90s, Ronni Chasen rises

to the upper echelon of
the Hollywood publicity elite.

A celebrity among celebrities,

she pulls the strings behind
multi-million dollar deals

and blockbuster Oscar campaigns.

- So she became an expert

in the soundtrack
business of film composers.

And that was... At that time,
nobody specialized in that.

And she had big people,
like John Williams,

that were devoted to her.

- I would like to
dedicate this star

in loving memory to my
friend, the great Ronni Chasen.

- She was really the person
who sort of invented the way

that movies and producers
campaign for Academy Awards.

- Ronni Chasen's clients
accumulate Oscar gold,

and the upward trajectory of
her career seems unstoppable...

until one fateful night.

News of Ronni Chasen's death

sends a shock wave
through Hollywood.

- This is jaw-droppingly
shocking.

I mean, I couldn't believe it.

- My wife and I
were just crestfallen.

We were stunned.

It was definitely major,
major news in the industry.

There's no question about it.

- While Ronni Chasen's
friends and family mourn,

the mystery over
her death grows.

Before long, Hollywood

becomes obsessed with
Ronni Chasen's murder.

- Movie publicist
Ronni Chasen...

- Ronni Chasen...
- Ronni Chasen...

- Ronni Chasen...
- Ronni Chasen...

- The breaking news
of Ronni Chasen's death

was almost as big

as when Sharon Tate was
killed by the Manson family

because both crimes
were senseless

and both crimes
targeted celebrities.

- Adding to the
mystery is the fact that

for weeks after the murder,

police announce no
suspects, and no motive.

Beverly Hills
investigators scramble

to put the pieces of
the crime together.

- And the police, in the
course of two weeks,

just really came
up empty-handed.

They couldn't find anything.

In desperation, Ronni's
high-roller friends

offer a reward for
information leading

to the arrest and
conviction of her murderer.

- Harold Matzner,
who is the chairman

of the Palm Springs
International Film Festival,

who had worked with Ronni

for many decades, put
up a $100,000 reward

for the arrest and
conviction of Ronni's killer.

- The reward leads to
the first break in the case.

After the money is mentioned
on "America's Most Wanted,"

a tipster calls the TV show.

- An individual called
"America's Most Wanted,"

stating that he lived in
an apartment building

in East Hollywood...

The Harvey Apartments
on Santa Monica Boulevard.

And he stated that
he had a neighbor

that lived in the building that
he felt was acting suspicious,

and that he believed
that this individual

was the perpetrator of
Ronni Chasen's murder.

So "America's Most
Wanted" relayed that phone tip

to the Beverly Hills
Police Department.

- Police descend on the dingy
Harvey Apartments building.

And then, a shocking twist
worthy of a Hollywood movie.

Just as police are about
to question the man

identified by the tipster,

he pulls out a gun and
shoots himself in the head.

The dead man is
identified as Harold Smith,

a petty criminal with
a history of robbery.

- And a week later, the
Beverly Hills Police Department

holds a press conference,

and they announce
that Harold Smith

is the guy that... That
committed the crime.

They also state that the
gun that he was carrying

was the same gun used
to kill Ronni Chasen.

- Police conclude that
after riding his bicycle

from Hollywood to Beverly Hills,
Harold Smith killed Ronni Chasen

during a botched
robbery attempt.

Eight months later,
they close the case.

But to Ronni's
family and friends,

as well as a legion of
Internet investigators,

the police version
simply doesn't hold up.

- It made no sense to me.

Just a random act like that?

I call this an unsolved murder

because I was never
totally convinced.

This... This... Something
just didn't add up.

- Things like this don't
happen in Beverly Hills.

You know, Beverly
Hills likes to think

that it is this mecca
of... of luxury and safety,

that crime like this does not
come knocking on their doors.

- A lot of people didn't
trust in the, you know,

Beverly Hills mayor's office,

where they want to shut
these things up right away.

You have a community
of very rich people

who do not want crime
running rampant there,

and the police know that.

- So there was great pressure
on this department to solve this.

And I feel like they were gonna
do whatever they needed to

to bring this case to a close.

- Police consider
the murder solved.

But in online chat rooms,
conspiracy websites,

and even TikTok videos,

the investigation
becomes an obsession.

Theories multiply,
claiming that Ronni Chasen

was the victim
of a targeted hit...

for family gambling debts...

an art fraud scheme
turned deadly...

or for some other
reason closer to home.

- My name is Justin Ling.

I am a freelance
investigative journalist

who specializes
in misinformation,

conspiracy theories,
and crazy nonsense.

As an investigative journalist,
I obviously have access

to some tools that
regular people don't have,

whether that's legal
databases, financial databases.

But a lot of the times,
investigating is really just

about knowing what to
look for, what to ask for.

That can get you some
pretty effective results.

Ronni Chasen's death had
all the elements of a story

that I could really
sink my teeth into.

You have a seemingly
random murder,

a quick police
investigation that comes up

with only one suspect,
who doesn't really fit the bill.

The suspect's dead, so you
never actually get a confession.

And on top of that,
there's all of these theories

flying around about the real
motivation for the murder.

There's really a feeling like
justice was never done here

and there's still work
that needs doing.

- There are a lot of people
that I talk to in this industry

that, like me, don't feel

that the real murderer
of Ronni Chasen

has ever been apprehended.

- So my name is
Deanna Thompson, and I

am, like, what they
would call a "Web sleuth."

And I investigate crimes
that happen on the Internet

on my nights and weekends.

My work was featured
in a documentary called

"Don't 'F' with Cats."

I have, like, an
insatiable thirst

for justice and fairness.

I don't like when
people are bullied

or being treated unfairly
by the justice system.

Ronni was, like, an
A-type personality.

She stood up for her
clients, her friends, her family.

She was successful in a
really male-dominated industry.

I can totally relate to that,

so I empathize
greatly with Ronni.

- As an experienced
Internet sleuth,

Deanna often works in secret.

She uses a series
of alternate accounts

to observe conversations
unfolding online

and to troll for clues.

- So, like, if there's a thread
about Ronni Chasen, right,

I'll revive it many years
later and say something like,

"So what do you guys really
think happened to Ronni Chasen?"

And I'll just, like, kind
of, like, light a spark again

to get people talking about it.

- In the case of Ronni
Chasen's murder,

Deanna discovers that
widespread skepticism

about the case persists,
kept alive by Ronni's friends

and by social media.

- Welcome back to Part 3
of the Ronni Chasen case,

and now we're gonna talk about

why the investigation seemed
to have been done haphazardly.

- The source of much of
the doubt about the case

comes from serious questions

about how the Beverly
Hills Police Department

handled the crime scene
during their initial investigation.

- So the Beverly Hills
Police Department

investigated this crime,

and their lack of
investigative skills

when it comes to homicides
was evident from the get-go.

Like, when you
think of Beverly Hills,

you don't think of murder.

So, they don't have
a lot of experience

in investigating homicide.

- We don't have crimes like
this in the city of Beverly Hills,

so it is a surprise to us.

We've got numerous
investigators at the scene

that are trying to piece
this thing together.

- What there is, is a
police investigation

that frankly doesn't
look complete to me.

- The things that the Beverly
Hills Police Department

did not do in the course
of this investigation

dealing with ballistics
and fingerprints...

It was absolutely
shocking to me.

- That is going to
raise suspicions

about the case, for sure.

- What happened in the six
minutes between the phone call

and when Ronni Chasen was shot?

- Nobody can place Harold
Smith at the scene of the crime.

- And that makes me wonder if

there's actually still
a suspect out there.

- Superstar publicist
Ronni Chasen

has a roster of A-list
talent in her pocket

and the keys to
Hollywood in her hand.

- When people talk
about the Hollywood elite,

picture Ronni Chasen.

- When her meteoric
rise is cut short by murder,

the Beverly Hills
Police Department

says it's simply a
robbery gone bad.

But Internet sleuths suspect

there is more to the
case than meets the eye.

In an attempt to come
up with their own theories

about what really happened,

cyber detectives turn their
attention to the final hours

leading up to Ronni
Chasen's death.

Fittingly, her
last night on earth

begins with a red-carpet
movie premiere.

- So she was at a party

for a movie premiere
called "Burlesque."

And she was mingling
and talking with people

and generally seen as a
jovial person at the party.

- After the premiere,
Chasen's next stop

was the afterparty at
the W Hollywood Hotel.

It was packed with celebrities,
including, amongst others,

Christina Aguilera.

- Around midnight,
she left the party

in her 2010 black Mercedes.

She was going home to her
apartment on Wilshire Boulevard.

She was driving down Sunset,

and she was planning to
turn left on Whittier Drive,

which is, like, a really
common Beverly Hills shortcut.

- At 12:22 a.m., she calls her
office and leaves instructions

to her staff for
the next morning.

- Six minutes or so

after she finished
that last phone call

was when Beverly
Hills got the phone call

that there had been a solo
car collision on Whittier Drive.

And that's when the Beverly
Hills Police Department

responded to the scene.

What happened in the six
minutes between the phone call

and when Ronni Chasen was shot?

We know very little.

This is the Beverly
Hills Police Department's

report number 62 in the file.

It says that Harold Smith
approached Ronni Chasen

on the early morning
hours of November 16th,

that he may have come
up to her for the purpose

of asking her for change
or money or whatever,

that Ronni put the
window down a few inches,

she said something
that pissed him off,

and that he then
proceeded to walk around

the car to the passenger
side, where he simply walks up

to the passenger side window,
produces this .38 handgun,

and shoots her four times.

- So Ronni did
not die instantly.

She was able to
make the left-hand turn,

and she kind of, like,
crashed into, like, a light pole.

So then the neighbors come out,

they see her kind
of slumped over.

The police arrive
very soon after,

and they don't find a pulse.

She's, like, rushed to
Cedars-Sinai Hospital,

and she's pronounced
dead at 1:12 a.m.

- The official police report
seems compelling... at first.

But to trained
cyber investigators,

there are serious shortcomings
in this version of events.

- I'm a true crime author,
and I'm a criminal investigator

for my local
sheriff's department.

My background is in
Army counterintelligence.

I also have experience and
training in forensic science

and criminal justice.

Generally the first couple
days after a murder occurs

are the most important
in the investigation.

It's your best chance
of finding witnesses,

of finding video
surveillance, of getting tips.

Within those first couple days,

the Beverly Hills P.D.
had no solid leads.

They had no suspects.

- After two weeks, few details
are released to the public.

It seems as if the investigation
has already hit a dead end.

- Ronni's murder came across
as almost a purely random event.

- As Internet sleuths
scrutinize the evidence,

cracks begin to appear
in the police account,

starting with their
handling of the crime scene.

In fact, it appears
some rudimentary

investigative procedures
weren't followed.

- In the documents
that were released,

there was no mention of them

dusting the passenger side
of her car for fingerprints.

- So they didn't investigate
the scene properly.

They didn't properly
document information.

They didn't take video
evidence of the scene.

They didn't fingerprint the car.

They just didn't process
the scene properly.

So, when you
miss that first step,

like, this really important
step in the investigation,

everything that comes
after it is suspect.

- As cyber detectives
delve deeper

into the police
version of events,

even more doubts come to light.

For example, the police
claim that Harold Smith's motive

was robbery.

But nothing was stolen.

- We have photos
from the crime scene.

Her purse is literally
just sitting there

on the passenger seat.

It would have taken,
like, seconds to grab.

And he didn't.

- It just seemed
so weird, you know.

Why wouldn't they rob her?

Why wouldn't they take stuff?

- But the biggest blow to
the police version of events

is the fact that not
a single eyewitness

can place Harold Smith

anywhere near the
scene of the crime.

- And not one camera
anywhere caught Harold Smith.

It's Beverly Hills, okay?

There's surveillance
cameras every 3 feet.

I find that very suspicious.

- So you have this black
man in Beverly Hills in 2010

at 12:30 at night riding his
bike down Sunset Boulevard,

and literally nobody saw it?

He would have stood
out like a sore thumb.

A black man standing
around with a bike

in this very affluent
area of Los Angeles...

It never would have happened.

And it's disgusting
to... to say that,

but that's just the
society we live in.

- In fact, the only evidence
police have that links

Harold Smith to the murder
is the gun found in his hand

at the time of his suicide.

- They found those
Hydra-Shok bullets

loaded in the gun that
Harold shot himself with.

These are bullets,
hollow-point bullets.

The point is literally hollow.

And, of course, when it comes
in contact with bone and tissue,

it opens up like this
for the purpose of doing

as much damage as possible.

I mean, if you shoot somebody
with a hollow-point bullet,

your intention is to kill them.

They also found those
bullets present in Ronni's body

when they did the autopsy.

- It looks like a
strong connection.

But Hydra-Shok is a
popular type of ammunition.

And the police ballistics
report can't say for sure

that the gun found
on Harold Smith

is a match for the weapon
used to kill Ronni Chasen.

- The ballistics report is
not entirely conclusive, okay?

It's... The language in it is
something, like, "You know,

this gun could
have fired that bullet.

It could have fired
this caliber of bullet."

But it doesn't
distinctly say, "Yes,

this is a 100% absolute match."

- With so many questions
hanging over the case,

it seems baffling police

would declare Ronni
Chasen's murder solved.

- So we're to believe that
he managed to find a firearm,

that he was a perfect shot,

that he managed to steal exactly
nothing, yet left a woman dead.

And that's the
explanation we get?

- There's a phrase
called "confirmation bias,"

and that occurs when an
investigator kind of latches

onto a particular suspect

and they will
take in information

that supports their theory
and supports their suspect.

And that makes me wonder if
other information got ignored

or pushed aside

and if there's actually
still a suspect out there.

- My name is Myrl Stebens.

I've been doing criminal
defense investigations since 1980.

I've been practicing as
a licensed investigator

and forensics expert in
Fresno County since 1988.

If you was to
take this to trial,

and you had an impartial,
truly impartial jury,

a good defense attorney,

there is reasonable doubt

as to whether Harold
actually did this or not.

To me, it was a... A
glossed-over investigation

by Beverly Hills
Police Department

to get it off the front page.

- With doubts undermining
the official narrative

that Ronni Chasen's murder

was simply a tragically
bungled robbery,

Internet sleuths investigate
an alternative explanation...

That Chasen was possibly
the victim of a professional hit.

- It was a nice, steady
gunshot... bam, bam.

It wasn't somebody that
was a novice with a weapon.

- All four shots
hit their target.

- Did someone hand Harold
this gun thinking or hoping

the murder would
get pinned on him?

- In Hollywood, Ronni
Chasen's celebrity rivals

that of movie stars.

When she is murdered,
police say it's simply case

of robbery gone bad,

but her friends
and family believe

there is more to the
story than meets the eye.

- It seemed like a random crime

because that's the
way they painted it.

A lot of people didn't trust

in the Beverly
Hills mayor's office,

where they want to shut
these things up right away,

find a culprit,

bring them to justice quickly,
and calm the community.

That's the way of the
world in Beverly Hills.

- After carefully scrutinizing
the police version of events,

Internet detectives
take their search online...

and discover evidence
that points not to a robbery,

but to the work of a
professional hitman.

- At first, I thought, "Nah.

Like, let me tackle

that theory and
disprove that one first.

It seems the
easiest to disprove."

The problem was, I
couldn't disprove it.

Whoever shot Ronni
meant to kill her.

They shot her four times, and
all four shots hit their target.

The four shots to her body
tell us the shooter had intent

to kill the person
in that driver's seat.

- It was alleged at that time

that this was not
a professional hit

because of the
number... The placement

of the injury
sites on her chest.

But when I looked at it,
I looked at it differently.

And the shot group were...
Was really tight in particular

around her shoulder area,

the entrance, and then
the exit wounds on her back,

and then across
to her breast areas.

That demonstrated to
me that it was a nice,

steady gunshot... bam, bam.

- The shot pattern that...
that Ronni endured was here,

here, here, and here, through
the breasts and into the arm,

you know, and that
was a very tight cluster.

And...

that would seem to
indicate, you know,

somebody who is a
professional sharpshooter,

somebody who's definitely
got a background in firearms,

someone who probably
goes to the firing range

and keeps that skill very honed.

- I go to the gun range

probably once a week.

And if I can have
the kind of accuracy

that is portrayed
in Ronni's pattern,

then I'm doing pretty good.

So for me, the person shooting
the weapon has some experience.

- The hitman theory raises
the possibility that Harold Smith,

if, in fact, he was present
at the crime scene,

wasn't simply a robber,
but a hired assassin.

- So the idea of this
hit is, either there was

a professional assassin who
was dispatched to kill Chasen

or somebody paid
Smith to do it, knowing

they probably wouldn't
be linked back to it.

In fact, some of
Smith's neighbors

say that he was
bragging about the hit

and that he had been
paid $10,000 to do it.

- He was telling my
husband, "Someone hired me.

And I'm just
getting a big payoff.

And I'll be expecting $10,000."

- But to experts, the
idea that Harold Smith

was a hitman sounds absurd.

- My name is Jay Albanese.
I am a criminologist.

I specialize in the study of
organized crime and corruption.

He was low-rent.

He was not, you
know, in that category.

He clearly didn't belong to
any organized crime group,

was not affiliated
in any way, all right?

That would be the first case in
the history of organized crime

committed by a
felon on a bicycle,

because obviously
in that line of work,

you always have to
have an escape route.

And a bicycle is a pretty
horrible escape route.

- Harold Smith was just...

He was a burglar.
He was a robber.

He spent quite a bit of
time in prison for doing so.

He seemed pretty
desperate for money,

at least by all accounts from,
like, the people that knew him.

He was often bragging

that he was going to be
getting a... a payout soon.

He did not want to
go back to prison.

He made that very clear
with... In talking with people

that he knew.

- The other thing about this
that you have to remember

is that...

if the gun that Harold
had was the gun used

to kill Ronni Chasen,

we have no idea when he got it.

We have no idea if he picked
that gun up that afternoon.

We have nothing that
proves that he had that gun

for any duration of time.

Did someone hand Harold this gun

thinking or hoping the murder
would get pinned on him?

- By closely reviewing
the crime scene photos,

independent investigators

discover an even more
disturbing possibility.

- When you look
at his right hand,

he has the weapon
in the palm of his hand

with the butt of the weapon
in the palm of his hand.

That's not how you fall.

That... That... Pull
the trigger here. Relax.

He's not gonna grip that all
the way down to the ground.

And even on impact,
that gun is gonna bounce.

So there's a lot of questions
that... that I have about

that particular
reported incident.

- So there is some maybe
speculation that the detective

shot Harold Smith and,
like, planted the gun.

- Even the gun has a shady past.

- The gun that Harold Smith
used allegedly to kill himself,

that is also the gun
that allegedly killed

Ronni Chasen, belonged
to a former LAPD officer.

We don't know what the
confrontation looked like

between the police
department and Harold Smith.

- We actually know from
some of the investigative files

that police did pursue
the idea that gambling debt

may have been involved
in Chasen's death.

- Ronni Chasen is a
publicist to the stars

and a Hollywood
celebrity in her own right.

After she is gunned down,
independent investigators

make a shocking discovery

about the weapon police
claim was used in her murder.

- The gun that Harold Smith
supposedly had in his possession

at the time of his suicide...

The gun belonged to
a retired LAPD officer.

- An LAPD officer's home
was... was burglarized,

and his gun was stolen.

So there is some
maybe speculation

that they shot Harold...

You know, the detective
shot Harold Smith

and, like, planted the gun.

- I mean, was Harold a patsy?

- There's no evidence of that.

But because the Beverly Hills
Police Department has been

so secretive with
the information,

it just kind of fuels
those conspiracy theories.

- It made it seem to others
that Smith, a black man,

was an easy scapegoat since
he had a previous criminal record

and spent almost
two decades in prison.

- There was a
surveillance camera

in the lobby of the
apartment complex

that Harold Smith
killed himself at.

But the footage has
never been released,

so we don't know what
the confrontation looked like

between the police
department and Harold Smith.

- After repeated attempts,
Beverly Hills Police Department

has still never released to
me the surveillance footage

from the lobby that
shows that suicide,

if, in fact, it was a suicide.

- While there is no evidence
Harold Smith was a mob assassin,

some online commentators
continue to speculate

that a professional killer
might have been responsible

for Ronni Chasen's murder.

- So whenever you're
investigating the possibility

that something was
a professional hit,

you want to look for
a couple of things.

You know, why would
somebody want them dead?

But also why would
someone want to pay for it?

There has to be pretty
big stakes on the table

in order for this level of
risk and cost to be worth it.

- Ronni didn't do
anything other than work.

I mean, she just worked.

The woman never... Never
stopped working, you know.

And that's the thing.

I mean, why would
anyone want to kill her?

- So when police did these
background checks on Chasen,

they didn't really
find anything.

She was, by all
accounts, squeaky clean.

There was no mob connections,
no huge pile of gambling debt.

It just did not seem like
anyone would want her dead.

- Ronni Chasen might
have had a spotless record,

but some online
commentators speculate

that someone close
to her might have owed

the mob half-a-million dollars
in unpaid gambling debts.

- We actually know from
some of the investigative files

that police did pursue
the idea that gambling debt

may have been involved
in Chasen's death.

In fact, they honed in on
Larry Cohen, Chasen's brother.

They'd asked him about
whether or not he owed

any significant amount of
money because of gambling.

- Much of the
gambling in Los Angeles

is known to be controlled

by a particularly brutal
faction of organized crime.

- I've reported on
a lot of high-profile

crime stories over the years.

Everything from serial killers,

to unsolved disappearances,

to organized crime writ large.

It's pretty well known that
the Russian mob controls

most of the gambling in L.A.

So, if there were
any significant debts

that got incurred, chances
are the Russian mob

would be the ones
coming to collect.

So when the mob needs to collect
money it believes they're owed,

and they can't shake
down the person

who's actually
racked up the debts,

sometimes they will turn
to friends or family members

who might be good for the money.

The idea here goes that Chasen
became the de facto person

responsible for
this possible debt

and that the mob wanted
their money from her.

Following this
theory, it is possible

that they had her killed.

- Larry Cohen, who died
in 2019 of natural causes,

strongly denied ever
having gambling debts.

- Now, he has flatly denied this

both to police
and in the public,

saying he doesn't play
poker, he doesn't play slots,

he doesn't gamble at all.

But nevertheless, the idea
that there was potentially

hundreds of thousands of dollars

in money owed to
the mob, it's lingered.

- Without hard evidence,
the theory that Larry Cohen

or someone else close to Ronni
Chasen owed the mob money

for gambling debts
remains mere speculation.

And there is another problem
with the gambling debt theory.

- Organized crime doesn't
tend to go straight to murder.

When you start killing
people and their families,

they don't tend
to be more willing

to give you the
money they owe you.

That tends to be a final point,

not a starting of
the negotiations.

- The only time a
murder would occur

is to set examples for others.

So the motive would
be very plain to anybody.

Otherwise, it has no point,
because you would only do it

for, you know, a
deterrent purpose

within the... The
loan-sharking world.

- With no evidence or leads,

the gambling theory
seems to hit a dead end.

But as independent
investigators continue to sift

through media reports
and Internet chatter,

they discover another
theory spreading online.

- Ronni had expensive taste,
and she surrounded herself with,

like, this really
beautiful, exquisite art.

- After her death, some of
Chasen's friends told media

they believed
that she was killed

because of an art
deal gone south.

A lot of art deals
go down in cash,

which, of course, is
preferred by organized crime.

- Ronni Chasen
was an art collector,

and that is a
known fact, for sure.

- These are the things of which
conspiracy theories are made.

- Ronni Chasen is

a behind-the-scenes
Hollywood puppetmaster,

guiding careers and
directing Oscar campaigns.

- Ronni Chasen
was a big celebrity

in the celebrity circle.

So she was famous
to famous people.

- When she is murdered,
Internet sleuths explore

the theory she was the
victim of a professional hit

and look for a possible motive.

- After her death, some of
Chasen's friends told media

they believed
that she was killed

because of an art
deal gone south.

We've known for many
years that organized crime

loves to push dirty money
through shady art deals.

So why would the Russian
mob be interested in art?

Well, there's a couple
of possible reasons.

I mean, for one,
if you're the mob

and you have a piece of
stolen art or counterfeit art,

if you put it through
an intermediary,

somebody who has cachet,

someone who's
kind of high profile,

neither the buyer, nor the cops,

are probably gonna look
too closely at that transaction.

The other thing about art
is that it has no set price.

So it's potentially a great
vehicle to move money

that you may
have earned illicitly,

like through drug dealing.

A lot of art deals
go down in cash,

which, of course, is
preferred by organized crime.

- $30,000 cash is a big burden

because you can't go
into a car dealership

and buy a car with it, right?

They have to report
big cash, right?

It'd be much easier
to buy a piece of art

because generally it would
be a private exchange.

It wouldn't involve a bank.

So that would make it
easier to launder that money.

Then you hold
on to it for a while,

and then you would sell the
art at some auction somewhere.

- It's possible that
Chasen found herself

on the wrong end
of one of those deals.

- Adding fuel to
this theory online

is the fact that Ronni Chasen's
connection to the art world

isn't simply business...

It's personal.

- Ronni Chasen had
a very good friend

who was a very prominent,

very well-known art
dealer in Los Angeles.

She always had nice
art in her in her condo

because he would loan her art

and she would hang it in
her condo for a few weeks

or a few months until he
needed it back for his gallery,

and then he would
replace it with a new piece.

- It naturally suggests that
he may have some knowledge

about what happened.

Police looked into
him on the possibility

that he could have
been the one behind it,

but nothing turned up.

- But while this
theory hits a wall,

there's a tantalizing
coincidence

that suggests to
some that an art deal

may have played a
role in Chasen's murder.

- Some people have pointed
out the irony in the fact

that Harold Smith shares a name

with one of the most
famous detectives

who investigated art theft.

- That Harold Smith was an
insurance company detective

who investigated the Isabella
Stewart Gardner Museum robbery

in 1990.

Nearly half-a-billion dollars
worth of fine art was stolen.

The robbery was never solved

and remains the largest
art heist in history.

- Yeah, the fact that
the name was the same

is... is interesting.

And these are the things
of which conspiracy theories

are made.

However, I haven't seen any
link between that Harold Smith,

the former detective
involved in art theft,

and the Harold Smith who
allegedly killed Ronni Chasen.

- Harold Smith shares a
name with a famous detective

who investigated art theft.

But so do thousands
of other Harold Smiths

across the country.

- To independent investigators,
the art-deal-gone-bad theory

seems to be nothing more
than Internet speculation.

- There's absolutely no evidence

or no validity to that
rumor whatsoever.

- One of the biggest indicators
that Chasen was not involved

in some shady art dealing

is the fact that of
her whole collection,

which is pretty impressive,

not a single piece was
worth more than $30,000.

No one's ever been
able to provide any details

to back up this theory beyond
some rampant speculation.

- While there may not be enough
evidence to support the theory

that Ronni Chasen was
murdered over an art deal gone bad,

the topic of her financial
worth raises a new

and intriguing rabbit hole
for the online investigators...

That Ronni Chasen
was killed for her money.

- The media reported that
Ronni was worth $6.1 million,

okay, which is, of course, a
substantial amount of money.

But the reality is, is that
Ronni was worth more than that,

considerably more than that.

- There's been some media
reports that her brother Larry Cohen

believed that shortly
before her death,

Ronni changed her will.

- One of her nieces
got quite the snub.

She only got $10
from Chasen's estate.

Some people think there
may have been a grudge.

- After Hollywood
insider Ronni Chasen

is brutally gunned down

in what police claim
is a botched robbery,

she leaves a fortune
of more than $6 million.

- Ronni did very,
very well in her life.

She did well for herself.

She was very wealthy at the
time that she was murdered.

And in any homicide case,

you have to look at the
people closest to the victim,

and you have to look
at who got the money.

- Who stands to
benefit from the death?

And the first place
you would look

would be at... At
legal documents.

She had a family,
she had insurance.

She had a will.

Yeah, you'd want to
be looking very carefully

at all of those
potential beneficiaries.

- Ronni was married
once when she was young,

but it didn't last long,
and she never remarried.

She had a niece that she adored,

but she didn't have
any children of her own.

- Ronni Chasen
actually has two nieces...

Daughters of her
brother Larry Cohen.

She left the bulk of
her fortune to one niece,

but considerably
less to the other.

- One thing that arose suspicion

after Chasen's
death was her will.

One of her nieces
got quite the snub.

She only got $10
from Chasen's estate.

That led to some people think
there may have been a grudge.

- She left Melissa the entire
residue of her estate, you know.

So Jill got $10, and Melissa
basically got everything else.

That would probably
sting a little bit, yeah.

- The reason for the
unequal division in the will

is shrouded in mystery.

But it is unusual enough that
the police interview Jill Gatsby

about her relationship
with her aunt.

Jill Gatsby publicly states

she does not bear
her late aunt any ill will,

and there seems to be no
evidence suggesting otherwise.

- So in a letter to the
website Showbiz411,

Jill Gatsby stated,

"As for the $10, that's
a real family secret

regarding Ronni and
my career as a writer,

which I am choosing to
keep to myself at this time.

Perhaps one day the
whole truth will be told.

But for now, it's time
to mourn and pray

"that whoever did this
is brought to justice."

- Ultimately, speculation

that the unequal inheritance
in Ronni Chasen's will

might have some connection
to her murder leads nowhere.

- There's really
nothing supporting it.

It is just another dead end

in a perplexing
and frustrating story.

- But to some people
following the case,

there remains yet another twist.

Online commentators
wonder if a second version

of Chasen's will might exist.

- There's been some media
reports that her brother Larry Cohen

believed that shortly
before her death,

Ronni changed her will.

- Larry Cohen, Chasen's brother,

seemed to believe that
Chasen had amended her will

shortly before her death
and it had gone missing.

Friends backed up this idea,

saying that Chasen had talked
pretty openly about changing

her will in the months
before her death,

but it never really appeared.

It really seems to be
yet another loose end

in a story that is full of them.

- Like many of the theories

swirling around Ronni
Chasen's murder,

the topic of her will raises
fascinating questions,

but provides no
definitive answers.

- The troubling part of
the Ronni Chasen murder

is the fact that we have
no idea who committed it.

- What there is, is a
police investigation

that frankly doesn't
look complete to me.

And I can imagine that
her family and her friends

probably still have
a lot of questions

about what really happened

because the official narrative,

this idea of a random
killing, it doesn't quite fit.

Police might call it solved,

but I guarantee
you a lot of people

who cared about Chasen
don't consider this case closed.

- In November 2022, The
Hollywood Reporter posted an article,

and it was kind of
like a call to action

to reopen the Ronni Chasen case.

There is such a feeling

that justice has not been
done for Ronni Chasen.

And, you know, this
article coming out 12 years

after her murder
really just proves

and gives
credibility to that fact.

Her family and friends and
Ronni herself deserve some justice.

- In order to do right by Ronni,
who's the victim in this case,

I do think the murder
needs to be re-examined.

- I personally do not feel
justice was completely done

for Ronni Chasen,

and I hope someday it will be.

- What gnaws at me in this story

is justice.

This woman who was
doing nothing wrong,

she met a horrific fate
that she did not deserve.

I would like to
see justice for her.

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