This week on BuzzFeed Unsolved we discuss the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman. Or as you may know it, the case of OJ Simpson, who was Nicole's ex-husband, a Hall of Fame running back in the National Football League, and the case's top suspect. Also, I was a little boy when this happened. But you do know a fair amount.
Yeah. I mean, for anyone our age, he's just... Yeah, I actually never even knew he played football, I just knew him as the guy who probably murdered somebody. Yeah.
And his name was The Juice. His name was The Juice. There's a lot to unpack here, so... Let's just get into it.
In the early morning of June 13th, 1994, at 1210 AM, the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman were found outside Nicole's Brentwood townhouse, stabbed to death. So right now we're on our way to Nicole Simpson's house. That's it over there. I feel awful.
You're not crazy about this. No. Such a cheery evening here in Brentwood.
Yeah. Oh, thanks. At the time, Nicole and OJ Simpson were divorced. and living in separate residences, both located in Brentwood.
The bodies were discovered by two neighbors who were literally led to the crime scene by Nicole's dog, a dog that multiple neighbors would say was incessantly barking around the time of the murders. So like I said, the dog led the neighbors down the street. I'm not sure if it was this way or that way, but the dog led them to the entrance and they just saw the blood coming out to the sidewalk. This whole place has been renovated, so the entrance right now is in a different place than it was back then. You know what occurs to me, though, is how close all those apartments were.
And how it's like... And how no one heard. For some reason, yeah, I always imagined the street was bigger and things were a little more separated. But everything's kind of on top of each other there.
I imagine some people would have had to hear something. That's a good point. I never thought about that. Let's go through the established and highly detailed timeline. On June 12, 1994, at 6.30 p.m., Nicole, her children, and others arrive at dinner at a restaurant called Mezzaluna.
At 9.15 p.m., Nicole's sister calls Mezzaluna to say that her mother had left her glasses there. Ronald Goldman goes to pick up the glasses. At 9 to 9.30 p.m., Brian Cato Kalin and O.J. Simpson go to McDonald's for dinner. I can't imagine McDonald's was pleased to hear that.
I'm sure they wished he left that out of the testimony. Was that in the testimony? I mean, it had to be.
It's on the official timeline. Oof. Well, free...
It did get a lot of media coverage. I guess. Free advertising.
I suppose. At 9.45 p.m., Kato and OJ return home from McDonald's. Kato was staying with OJ in his guest house at the time.
At 9.48 to 9.50 p.m., Goldman leaves Mezzaluna with a white envelope containing Nicole's mother's glasses. At 10.15 p.m., Nicole Simpson's neighbor hears a dog bark and cry while he is watching TV. The prosecution would later cite these barks as the barks of Nicole's dog, who is theoretically crying out at the murder of its owner, Nicole.
So. They're going by dog bark. They're going by dog bark.
In a lot of ways, this dog. Is the real hero of the story, it seems like. I don't know if there's a lot of heroes in this one, Ryan. No, no, but the dog.
If you want to give it to the dog, then sure. I'll give it to the dog. I'd like to have something happy about this story.
The dog is a regular lassie. For the sake of just keeping this less bleak, let's show a picture of an Akita right now. I think we could all use that.
Please. Okay. Hey, something jolly. Yeah, something jolly. At 10.25 PM, a limousine driver named Ellen Park arrives at OJ's home.
OJ was scheduled to leave on a red-eye that night from LA to Chicago at 11.45pm. At 10.40pm, OJ's guest, Kato, heard three loud thumps on an outside wall of the guest house he is staying in. From 10.40 to 10.55pm, Alan Park, the limo driver, buzzes OJ's intercom several times.
but there is no answer. Just before 11 p.m., the limo driver sees a shadowy figure, six feet tall, 200 pounds, walking across the driveway towards the house. At about 11 p.m., the limo driver tries buzzing the intercom again, and this time, OJ answers. OJ tells the limo driver that he had overslept and had just gotten out of the shower.
Doesn't look too good. Doesn't look too good. Could have been a coyote.
What? Los Angeles has got its fair share of coyotes running around. A six foot tall coyote that weighed 200 pounds. By the way, for it being a shadowy figure, this guy seems to have a very accurate description. I know.
Yeah. Six feet, 200 pounds. but very shadowy, smell of McDonald's.
At 11.45 p.m., O.J. departs on an American Airlines flight to Chicago. And taking us back to the start, at 12.10 a.m., the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman are discovered outside her townhouse, stabbed to death. Evidence found at the crime scene included a bloodstained glove left by the suspected killer, a knitted hat, and a bloody footprint. Detectives would arrive at OJ's house at 5 a.m.
and would discover some key pieces of evidence, but we'll get into that later. Meanwhile, OJ's flight lands in Chicago. According to lead prosecutor Marsha Clark, Detective Ron Phillips called OJ to inform him that his ex-wife was dead. OJ's first response? Quote, who killed her?
End quote. Not good. Not, how did she die? Nope.
What happened? Who killed her? Yeah, that's not the go-to there.
OJ was questioned for three hours by the LAPD, but released. On June 17th, 1994, four days later, OJ was charged with two counts of murder. But he famously did not surrender to the police and was declared a fugitive. The resulting low-speed police chase of OJ on the freeways of Southern California in his white Ford Bronco is a lasting memory for anybody familiar with the case. Do you remember that?
I actually don't. I think I was not too on top of the news cycle then, because I was watching Power Rangers or something, but I was not, uh... Yeah, that's true. Maybe you were just eating cereal or some shit like that.
Yeah. So I was probably taking a dump or something. Is that all you did at that age? That's all I did was take dumps.
Oh, well. In my pants. It's a weird childhood. OJ was in the passenger seat. The car was being driven by his friend, Al Cowlings, who would later explain he didn't stop due to the fact that OJ was apparently holding a gun to his own head in the car, and that OJ was suicidal.
In fact, a suicide note by OJ was found, but we'll get to that in a bit. So right now, we're going about the speed that OJ was when the chase was happening, and we're in... rush hour traffic for the most part in LA. I thought he was going even slower.
I can't say I feel exhilarated right now, nor do I feel like Vin Diesel. During the chase, they recorded a phone call between OJ and homicide detective Tom Lang. Here's some audio from that.
Nobody's gonna get hurt. I'm the only one that deserves. No, you don't deserve that.
You do not deserve to get hurt. You do not deserve to get hurt. Don't do this. All I did was love Nicole. All I did was love her.
The chase would end at OJ's home in Brentwood. Inside the car, they found, in what I imagine was unintentional humor, makeup adhesive, a fake mustache and goatee, OJ's passport, and a gun. Just try to picture one of the most famous people in the world trying to sneak into TSA with a glued-on mustache.
and thinking that it's gonna work out. I can't believe he was even considering it. It's a little juvenile.
OJ surrendered to the police at 8.51 p.m. Let's go over OJ's suicide note. Aside from thanking those who meant a lot to him in his life, OJ professed his innocence. Quote, first, everyone understand, I have nothing to do with Nicole's murder. I loved her.
Always have and always will. If we had a problem, it's because I loved her so much."And with that, let's get into the suspects. Unlike our other cases, this case has one clear top suspect, OJ Simpson. So let's break this down into two sections. Why OJ is the killer and why OJ isn't the killer. Let's start with why he could have done it. First off, let's start with a possible motive. OJ and Nicole Simpson had been going through a break, and around the time of the murders, Nicole and Ronald Goldman had reportedly grown increasingly close, leading some to speculate that they were perhaps more than friends, though Goldman said that wasn't the case. That obviously is a clear motive right there. Yeah, well, I mean even if Goldman had said that that wasn't the case, I don't think that's gonna matter No, he's spending any time. I mean that's a meme now the guy you shouldn't be worried about right? Yeah Yeah, so in the most extreme case now Let's return to the timeline if the murders did in fact occur around 1015 when the dog barking began as the prosecution suggested That would give OJ enough time to commit the murders clean himself up and be back at his house by 11 p.m. to greet the limo driver. Right now we're heading over to OJ's Rockingham Estate, which was actually only six minutes away from Nicole's townhouse. So it's feasible, especially if he was clipping. Damn, these houses are nice. Yeah, these are very nice houses. That's, I think, it. That supposedly is it. Yeah. Oh, boy. So this is the former site of OJ's Rockingham estate. It was demolished in 1998, but happy to leave. Going into DNA evidence, OJ's blood, as well as Nicole's and Goldman's, were found on the glove left at the scene of the crime. Further damning was the fact that this glove matched a glove found within OJ's estate behind the guest house near the area where OJ's friend Kato heard loud thumps at 10.40 p.m.. Both gloves had blood on them that matched Nicole, Goldman, and OJ. OJ also had a cut on his finger the day after the murders when the police interviewed him. The knitted hat found at the crime scene contained hairs that were proven to be OJ's by the FBI Hair and Fiber Laboratory. Also found at OJ's residence was Nicole's blood on a sock. Blood was also found in his driveway. The bloody shoe print found at the crime scene matched OJ's size, and the sole pattern matched another pair that OJ owned at the time. OJ had also purchased a knife, matching the type the coroner predicted the killer used. Though, the knife and the shoes were never found. This is where a lot of people, uh... Sort of draw the line, right? When you have three separate pieces of evidence that have DNA connotations linking you to the murder. If you're looking at... At the surface here, boy oh boy. That's an avalanche of he done it right there. Yeah. So, maybe we should just show a picture of that dog again. Just like, yeah, just every time we get sad, show the picture of the dog. And bring that up. Bring that bad boy up. It's right there. Good. That's a good dog. Good dog. Another key detail was the fact that OJ had been a perpetrator of spousal abuse against Nicole Simpson in the past, reportedly resulting in nine police visits to the Simpson residence responding to domestic disturbance calls. In 1989, OJ was found guilty for spousal abuse and pled no contest to the charges. Bizarrely, OJ himself actually wrote a book in 2006 called If I Did It, a hypothetical account of the murders. Though the book was first canceled due to public outrage, it was later published. Published with the profits going to the Goldman family. Oh, boy. It's uh... Holy shit. That's all I have to say to that. You're just uh... Oh! Redefining. This guy's got some nads on him, and in the worst way possible. For those that are new to this case, O.J. Simpson was found not guilty in court. Despite the DNA evidence found at the crime scene, the defense team called to the attention of the jury technical mistakes made by the forensic team, which created some doubt over the evidence. Evidence was not packaged correctly. and even left in a van to overheat. This ultimately led to them suggesting that the crime scene may have been contaminated. Grasping at straws. I don't know, I'm not a scientist. I'm not a forensic artist. I know, I know you're not. Yeah, I mean, in case you're wondering, I'm not. He is not. But, uh... From my knucklehead perspective, this looks very bad. During the trial, the defense team had OJ try on the glove found at the crime scene, and it was too small, leading to the now famous line by his lawyer, quote, if it doesn't fit. you must acquit."End quote. Catchy.
He Dr. Seussed his way out of a murder, so. Though, it's worth mentioning the prosecution team was against having OJ try on the glove because it had been frozen and unfrozen multiple times as a preservation method, and had also been covered in blood. I don't know how glove freezing works, frankly.
I'm not a glove freeze artist. No. Many believe that race played a factor in OJ's acquittal due to the events that surrounded the trial. In 1992, race riots occurred due to the LAPD's senseless and horrific beating of a black man named Rodney King, a beating for which the assaulting officers were acquitted of all charges.
The defense strategically used law enforcement racism as a reason for OJ's charges. They showed a video of Simpson handcuffed as soon as he returned from Chicago, demonstrating the Russian judgment by the police. Perhaps one of their biggest arguments was centered around Detective Mark Furman. During the trial, the defense played for the jury a tape of audio in which Detective Furman was recorded using racial slurs over 40 times in one recorded sitting.
This is noteworthy because Detective Furman was the first man to step inside OJ's Brentwood Rockingham estate after the murders occurred, a feat he accomplished by jumping over the wall of OJ's estate. This is a critical detail because according to Detective Furman's own testimony, it was during this time after he jumped the wall. that he alone discovered the notorious matching bloody glove behind OJ's guest house.
With this information, the defense was able to suggest that Detective Furman planted the glove and perhaps all other evidence found at OJ's estate, effectively tainting the evidence, regardless of whether or not it was true. Christopher Darden, a deputy district attorney assigned to the OJ case, summarized it in this quote. Quote, it will do one thing. It will upset the black jurors.
It will say, Whose side are you on? The man or those? The jury was made up of eight black people, one hispanic person, one white person, and two people of mixed race.
All these things considered, the jury reached the verdict of not guilty after less than four hours of deliberation. However, it's worth mentioning that OJ lost the eventual civil case for the wrongful deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, with the jury awarding their families 33.5 million in punitive damages. This episode is bumming me out, Ryan. I know.
This is a very depressing case. This is the worst. But if OJ didn't kill his ex-wife and Ronald Goldman, then who did? Let's get into some alternate suspects. The first suspect is serial killer Glenn Rogers.
In an investigation discovery documentary, Clay Rogers, the brother of serial killer Glenn Rogers, said that while on death row, his brother Glenn confessed to murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Though, even if this theory is true, OJ would still be guilty. Glenn Rogers reportedly had been hired by OJ to steal a pair of Nicole's earrings from her condo, but was told to kill her if she got in the way.
However, it's possible that Rogers was serving a six-week jail sentence at the time of the murders, and thus lied about his involvement. I feel like people in prison for murder And serial killers tend to just... Claim things?
Yeah, why do they do that? Sometimes people will claim things, uh, in an effort to make themselves seem more accomplished in that field, I suppose. Well, none of us are impressed. No, I'm not in for it. Serial killers.
Yeah, that's gonna really let it sink in. They're gonna see this video and be like, he's right, pack it up, you know what? What are we doing? Stop it. You're really hitting at their heart right now.
Stop it. Keep going, keep going, maybe it'll make a difference. Stop serial killing. The last suspect is Jason Simpson, OJ's son, and is the sole theory of famed private investigator Bill Deere, who is one of the few private investigators to be inducted into the Police Hall of Fame.
Though... It's worth mentioning that many have discredited Deere's case as almost entirely circumstantial. Nonetheless, Deere presents his theory in a book, and the highlights are as follows.
At the time of Nicole and Goldman's murders, Jason was on probation after having attacked his former boss with a knife. According to Deere, Jason had also attacked a former girlfriend named Jennifer Green. Deere also spoke to another former girlfriend of Jason's, named Dee Dee, who claimed Jason almost broke her back.
after throwing her into a bathtub, and perhaps even more suspiciously, cut off her hair with a knife, giving Jason two reported assaults involving a knife. Deer also reportedly obtained medical records of Jason's, illegally some might add, by dressing up and impersonating a doctor at Cedars-Sinai Hospital for two weeks where Jason had been a patient. I don't like this guy.
I mean, he tricked people in a hospital for two weeks. People were murdered. And this guy's playing dress-up?
I know, but I'm just saying. He's like, whoa, what if I do this? Whoa!
Well, he was doing it because he was chasing-I put on a funny wig! In his mind, he was chasing justice. I mean, apparently the police hall of fame thought so, so. Is that a real thing? Yes, it is.
I wouldn't be surprised if it was just him making that up. He's in different costumes being like, Yes, we're a real organization! He cuts the video.
Yes, hello, I'm the president. Hey, looks like that other guy who's just got a mustache. According to Deer, Jason had been diagnosed with Intermittent Rage Disorder. And around the time of the murders, Jason stopped taking the prescribed antipsychotic drugs.
This was also during the time when Jason reportedly told doctors he was, quote, going to rage. Jason's alibi was that he was working at a restaurant that night. Deer feels this is a flimsy alibi. due to the fact that his time card is reportedly handwritten, which could suggest it was forged after the murders.
This reportedly handwritten time card looks even more suspicious when you consider the fact that the electronic time clock at the restaurant was fully functional that night. Deer also reportedly has pictures of Jason wearing a knitted hat that bears resemblance to the one found at the scene of the crime. Pictures that only exist before the murders and not after.
To cap this off, Deer suggests that OJ was only present at the scene of the crime to protect his son, and that this would explain his bizarre behavior after the murders, such as the infamous Bronco chase. But, as mentioned before, many have discredited Deer's case as almost entirely circumstantial. Unrelated to this case, on September 16, 2007, OJ was connected to a robbery in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the 2008 trial that followed, OJ was found guilty for 12 counts, including armed robbery and kidnapping. And was sentenced to 33 years in prison.
According to CNN, the overall percentage of Americans who believe OJ did murder Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman has increased from 66% in 1994 to 83% in 2014. Certainly there are a lot of implications. Nuanced, very nuanced. I feel dirty, I feel like I need to take a shower, and then a bath. Yeah. And then another shower.
Yeah. Need a drink. Well thanks Ryan, this has been a blast. Yeah, let's just go.
Ouch. Perhaps one day we will have a definite answer for who was responsible for the tragic murders of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman. For now, the case officially remains unsolved.