No Such Thing As Bad Publicity

As long as they spell your name right.

Hollywood Publicist Ronni Chasen Murdered in Beverly Hills

from mediabistro.com: FishbowlLA by Matthew Fleischer

64-year-old Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen was shot at least five times in the chest late last night and died. Her body was found in her car, which had crashed into a lightpost in Beverly hills.

The LA Times has the rather gory details of a neighbor discovering her body:

Nahid Shekarchian, a 33-year Beverly Hills resident of the neighborhood who lives just south of the house where Chasen’s car crashed, told The Times that sometime after midnight she heard gunshots — “boom-boom-boom” — and opened the curtain of her upstairs bedroom.
She told her daughter-in-law to call 911 and went outside to see what had happened. Shekarchian said the woman in the car was bleeding profusely from her nose and had blood on her chest. She added that the window on the passenger side of the front seat had been shattered.
Another neighbor walked to the car window and asked: “Can I help you?” Shekarchian said the driver “was breathing very heavily” and did not respond.

Chasen had attended the premiere of the Cher movie “Burlesque”at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre as well as an after-party at the W in Hollywood. The photo above is the last known photo taken of Chasen, via Radar Online.
Photo: Getty Images

Above is from a feed. Below, what we found after the reader link encountered a 404.

By Tina Dupuy on November 16, 2010 2:17 PM

Publicist Ronni Chasen was murdered last night on her way home from an after-party after the premier of the new Cher film “Burlesque.” The 64-year-old was, according to police, shot five times in her car. LAT reporter Andrew Blankstein explained that the police are not releasing the detail of if she was shot from the inside of her car or the outside. Chasen is right in the center of the Hollywood community and connected to many in the press as well. “It’s a crime that sends shock waves through LA,” said Blankstein.

Indeed. Especially since it happened in one of the nicest areas of Los Angeles, where you move to so you won’t get shot to death in your car.

At this point the motive isn’t clear, what has been made apparent, at least to reporters, the case is pretty wide open.

Rest in peace Ronni.

Other titles we considered: "Hollywood Plays For Keeps;" "Can I Help You?"