Who to believe in Chasen case

by YankeeJim | December 7, 2010 at 08:53 am

129 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

We could not believe Harold Martin Smith when he told neighbors and confessed to the police that he killed Ronni Chasen before he committed suicide. No one knows what to believe about the gambling debt scenario. Then there are rumors about a pattern of violence in LA featuring a deranged African American driving wildly and pointing a pistol.

So, LAPD is trying to address the public with some facts of their own.

I am going back to the wee gee table and call up Columbo.

“Ronni Chasen slaying: Rumors about similar crimes in area not true, records show
December 7, 2010 | 7:20 am

In the weeks since Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen was slain in Beverly Hills, there have been rumors circulating of a series of carjackings and other violent crimes in the area.

But according to interviews and crime records, there is no evidence these crimes have actually occurred.

Through a department spokesman, Beverly Hills police described reports that their city has been hit by a string of carjackings and shootings in the area of Coldwater Canyon Avenue and Benedict Canyon Road as "demonstrably false."

They noted that they have no report of a woman who had been threatened with a gun on Benedict Canyon Road, which has been rumored. Nor do they have any record of other violent crimes carjackings or crimes with guns in the Coldwater-Benedict corridor.

Los Angeles police say they had no record of similar crimes in the area. Crime L.A., the Los Angeles Times crime database, show no such crimes there in recent months.

Rodney Kemerer, vice president of the Benedict Canyon Assn., which represents over 2,400 homes in the area, said his group has not received any calls about any specific incident of violence nor have they been made aware of an upswing in violent crime from residents or police.

"We (the BCA) are saddened and shocked by the recent Beverly Hills shooting and death, but, as far as we know, this is not part of a larger violent crime wave or trend," Kemerer said. "Apparently, this is all rumor."

The Daily Beast reported Monday on an e-mail that has been circulating among neighbors about a series of shootings and carjackings in recent months in the area of Coldwater Canyon Road and Benedict Canyon Road.

-- Andrew Blankstein”