America’s Most Wanted apparently still gets serious results.
John Walsh, who’s been catching bad guys for years as host of the long-running Fox series, says it was a tip from his show that led Beverly Hills cops straight to the suspected triggerman who slayed Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen.
A segment on Chasen’s murder aired on Nov. 20, four days after she was shot to death while driving home from the Burlesque premiere. Walsh says the show’s hotline started ringing soon after.
MORE: Read about five other mysterious Hollywood murders
“I believe they respoded to a tip we had passed on. BHPD reached out to us. We have been working closely with Bevery Hills police,” Walsh tells the Los Angeles Times.
The suspect, an ex-con named Harold Martin Smith, had a history of drug and gun arrests and bragged that he had been hired to murder Chasen. He shot and killed himself in front of police late Wednesday.
But there’s still no official word from detectives on how Smith is linked to the 64-year-old publicist.
Authorities insist the investigation is still open, though Chasen’s friends have floated theories ranging from a “crime of passion” to unpaid gambling debts to a business deal gone bad.
Meanwhile, the publicist’s last known will has been made public. She was worth an estimated $6 million and was very generous to her heirs, with the exception of one neice who got only 10 bucks.
However, Chasen’s brother, the coexecutor of her estate, believes a more recent will was drafted but he has yet to find it.
by Marianne Garvey
