LAPD investigates knife purportedly found at O.J. Simpson home
ASSOCIATED PRESS
O.J. Simpson arrived in court in Oct. 2008 before being found guilty on all 12 charges, including felony kidnapping, armed robbery and conspiracy at the Clark County Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas. Los Angeles police are investigating a knife purportedly found some time ago at the former home of O.J. Simpson, who was acquitted of murder charges in the 1994 stabbing deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
LOS ANGELES » More than 20 years after O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife and a friend were stabbed to death, police revealed today they are examining a knife that was reportedly found at the home where the former football star was living at the time.
The announcement marked yet another twist in a case that’s had more unexpected turns than television’s best crime shows. The knife was believed to have been recovered by a construction worker tearing down the house. The worker then gave it to an off-duty police officer who was working as a security guard at a filming location, police said.
It was unclear when the knife was found and how long it was held by the officer, who is now retired. The knife was being analyzed by a Los Angeles Police Department crime lab for DNA or other material that could possibly link it to the killings.
Capt. Andy Neiman stressed that the authenticity of the story was not confirmed and that investigators were looking into whether “this whole story is possibly bogus from the get-go.”
“It’s unusual how this all of a sudden becomes a huge story during this time,” Neiman added, referring to the popular “People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” anthology that is airing on the FX television channel.
Simpson was charged and acquitted in the slayings. Even if the knife is linked to him, legal experts say he could not be criminally charged again because of protections against double jeopardy.
Don't miss out on what's happening!
Stay in touch with top news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
“If they were going to find this knife and make it useful in the murder trial, they should have found it 20 years ago, and they didn’t,” said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and longtime observer of the Simpson case. “It will just raise more questions about the incompetence of the investigation and probably lead to more books and more movies.”
The weapon used in the killings has been a mystery for decades. Other knives have surfaced during the case but were not linked to the crimes.
In 1994, a salesman testified at a preliminary hearing that he sold Simpson a knife before the killings.
That same month a woman turned in a red-stained kitchen knife she said she found near Simpson’s home, and a handle and a piece of blade of a knife were found in a tank that collects waste from airplanes at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, where Simpson flew the night of the killings.
In 1998, a residential construction crew found a folding-blade knife in Simpson’s former neighborhood, but police said there was no evidence to show it was related to any crime.
The bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and friend Ronald Goldman were found stabbed multiple times outside her home on June 12, 1994.
The discovery led to the so-called “Trial of the Century,” in which Simpson was represented by a team of high-profile attorneys led by the flamboyant Johnnie Cochran. A jury acquitted Simpson in 1995 after deliberating only four hours.
In 1997, a civil court jury found him liable for the slayings and awarded $33.5 million in damages to the victims’ families.
Fred Goldman, father of victim Ron Goldman, declined to discuss this latest turn in the case.
“He doesn’t feel he has much to say at this point. He wants to wait until he knows more,” Goldman’s wife, Patti Goldman, said during a brief phone interview.
Simpson’s Brentwood mansion was torn down after he moved to Florida following his acquittal.
Simpson, who has always maintained his innocence in the killings, is now serving a sentence of nine to 33 years in a Nevada prison for a 2007 armed robbery and kidnapping conviction in which he tried to retrieve football memorabilia. He is eligible for parole next year.
His Las Vegas lawyer said he had not talked to Simpson about the knife but questioned who was in possession of it over the years.
“The only thing I’ve heard is that some cop claims some other guy claims he found a knife on some property,” attorney Malcolm LaVergne said. “From what I can see, there’s no chain of custody.”
Simpson becomes eligible for parole in 2017. If the knife turns out to be linked to him, that fact could be raised at his hearing.
“The Nevada Parole Board may consider and give relevant weight to any evidence that bears on whether the release of the petitioning inmate could constitute a danger to the public,” the state attorney general’s office said in a statement.
Authorities do not know the identity of the person who found the knife and have asked that he or she come forward.
Police are also looking into whether criminal charges could be filed against the officer who held onto the knife, Neiman said, adding that any officer who comes into contact with evidence is required to turn it over to investigators in all circumstances.
___
Associated Press writers John Antczak and Christine Armario in Los Angeles and Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed to this story.
24 responses to “LAPD investigates knife purportedly found at O.J. Simpson home”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
What a babooz!
This ongoing saga serves to remind us that Justice in America is NOT color blind, but shows a strong bias toward GREEN.
The celeb perp had enough of the long green to buy a dream team who in turn seated a nullification jury that would have acquitted the defendant even had he confess on the witness stand. Once that sorry excuse for a jury was empaneled in the courtroom of an equally sorry judge, it took nothing more than a few kindergarten level rhymes (“If it doen’t fit, you must acquit) to obtain the verdict that was bought and paid for.
In this zoo-like ambience the defense had no trouble replacing the perp as defendant with the LAPD whom this sad sack jury found guilty by way of some long awaited pay back.
Those of the White persuasion were appalled even as those whose distant origins can be found in Africa were overjoyed. Finally it was Whitey’s turn to suffer kangaroo courtroom mistreatment.
all true of course. OJ got away with murder. I am not white but hey, we all know the truth.
And, after all when all is said and done, white lives do NOT matter, eh?
I typically distance this subject like the plague. However, I’m again saddened that this matter continues to plague the front-pages of irresponsible gossip-rags. Facts, as I honestly and personally know them: The majority of my family hails from Santa Monica Canyon and the Brentwood area. We frequented “Josephina’s” when we were there and when I attended UCLA. “Nicole” was an addicted “COCAINE-WHORE”. Denise Brown was the ugly-duckling sister of Nicole and extremely jealous of her sister. “Denise” was dating, at the time of the incident, a MAJOR Columbian Cocaine-Dealer and Smuggler, who lived in Miami, Florida. “The Browns” were nobody’s until O.J. secured for them the West L.A. “Hertz” franchises. Ron Goldman was so strung-out on Cocaine he would literally do anything to pack his nose and most of his Waiter-Tips were little WHITE PACKAGES (and vice-versa). My family were close friends and clients of Robert Kardashian. LAPD was outrageously out-of-control at the time of this incident. Also, at the time, most of Southern California was “SNOW-BLIND”. It is a well known fact that several of the detectives involved in this case were maligned with Drug Lords and Smuggling and Dealing. “Marcia Clark” would have sold her soul for any publicity to advance her reputation and status. All of these are FACTS that weren’t permitted to be aired in court–for a variety of reasons (mostly “Trades” between the Prosecution and Defense). So, YOU FILL-IN-THE-BLANKS AND CONNECT THE DOTS. I’m not defending ANYONE in that situation, but, suffice to say–they were all “MESSED-UP”! And, as Patty Hearst said in an interview: “If you are looking for trouble–you can easily find it… None of these people were ANGELS… To paraphrase “Fred Rogers”: “Who are the people in your neighborhood?”
Maybe OJ did NOT commit the murder. It is possible OJ’s son, Jason, who is a chef that carries around knives and knows how to use them to effectively cut animal and other meat, was diagnosed with intermittent rage disorder and prescribed Depakote to control his rage and seizures; was arrested 4 times (DUI, assault with a deadly weapon, etc), attempted suicide and had a prior arrest for violence against a girlfriend. Jsaon also stopped taking Depakote 2 months before the murder of Nicole and Brown. In addition, the son’s biological mother was OJ’s first wife whom OJ divorced and “abandoned” her in favor of Nicole which must have caused great grief on his biological mother and to Jason, who would be expected to have lots of rage, hate and motivation to cause harm to Nicole who in Jason’s mind is caused suffering to his biological mother. The stab wounds to Nicole and Brown was numerous and excessive and reflects the killer had incrdible rage against Nicole and Brown who happened to be with her at the time. After the fact it is speculated OJ visited the crime scene after his son murdered Nicole and Brown and did all he could to PROTECT him, including taking the murder rap as he figured, and he was RIGHT, that he could beat the rap. It is also appears true that LAPD rushed to judgement with OJ and planted evidence to bolster their case against him. That is why the evidence during was so tainted, INCLUDING this after the fact finding of a knife so many years later, which looks like nothing more than another planted evidence to try to blame OJ for the murder absolve the LAPD for their massive failures from top to bottom in this case.
White lives don’t matter because of ONE 22-year-old celebrity murder case, huh?
Well, clearly you are angry enough to unpack OJ like an antique firearm and blast away at those liberal, leftest, anti-“whitey (probably gay),” folks “whose distant origins can be found in Africa.” You’re a bad shot.
ONE case, no matter how foo-bhar, does not a systemic bias against you make. Note the use of the word, “finally” in your own kangaroo court, thing.
You have a lot of nerve invoking the false equivalency of BLM. But, knock yourself out. Drawing attention to the number of times that murderers — whose distant origins can not be found in Africa — does not exactly boost your victim points.
Best clean the LeMat and put it back in the box… And, bandage the foot.
The retired police officer who had the knife was obviously thinkin….CASHIN IN ON FUTURE $$$$$$$.
How? Or maybe the question is, what?
Perhaps its being brought to light now because of the American Crime Story TV series on the murders?
It’s been reported that the now retired officer intended to display the knife, along with the LAPD case number assigned to the murders, in some kind of shadow box mounted on a wall in his home. If this story proves true, it adds to the impression that the LAPD is composed of anything but California’s finest. Of major law enforcement agencies, only the Dallas PD has a worse reputation.
Wonder if the retired cop was a detective?
That’s… Gross.
No matter. Cause Simpson probably will die behind bars.
OJ still has 4 more years to serve and will appeal to the Nevada State Supreme Court in attempt to gain his freedom on the grounds that he did not receive a fair trial. He did get a parole from nine 33 sentences. He was convicted in October 2008 for his current crime.
Musta been dropped by a Palestinian.
could have been dropped by Putin.
If the knife was found in OJ’s own yard – seems like the police could have easily found it on his property with a simple metal detector. This is very bizarre.
There was also a pic of a knife in the bathroom. Pic was taken during the original 1994 investigation by police. As I remember the knife looked like a swiss army type. That knife later disappeared. Anyone know the status of that knife? The recently surfaced knife does not seem to match the bathroom knife…
O.J was on the board of directors of the Forschner Group Inc., the country’s leading seller of Swiss Army knives, so it’s been supposed he had ready access to samples of the Victorinox brand of Swiss Army knives. Detective Fuhrman, among others, observed an empty Victorinox box in Simpson’s house the day after the murders. However, it wasn’t collected as evidence at the time and vanished soon thereafter.
Interesting. As I remember the swiss army knife has a saw blade on it. That saw blade seemed to match the serrated cut marks on the victims.
He should hire Hillary to represent him.
O.J. did it and he knows it. When O.J. Simpson was performing for USC in the late 1960s, we were in awe of him. Had he gone to The Pittsburgh Steelers, he would have won four Super Bowls. O.J. tough luck, however u know what happened, we know how Johnny Cochran pulled it off in Judge Ito’s courtroom and the man up there knows. Just tell us, baby.
WOW “inverse” I didn’t know all of this before, but I do recall the theory of O.J.’s son–vaguely. While you point-out MALFEASANCE on the part of LAPD/Detectives–I’m thinking the detectives… Statute of limitations? Too much, too many, and they were all profiting–in one way or another. I was at an age where I was hitting all the clubs in Hollyweird and ending-up in after hour bars in Marina Del Rey. I saw too much and saw all those prominent named L.A. moguls doing things I didn’t know existed; and in the bathrooms and Hollyweird party’s. God Blessed me–I have a deviated septum and my Angels restricted my diet to Hemp-related products… I was more worried about waxing my board and which beach to wakeup on…