Hollywood has had many famous cases but this shocking and brutal murder is arguably one of the most infamous and is still debated today.
Nicole Brown was born on May 19 1959 in Frankfurt, Germany to Juditha Anne "Judy" Brown (nee Baur, January 21 1931 - November 8 2020) and Louis Hezekiel "Lou" Brown, Jr (August 10 1923 - July 3 2014). Her mother was German and her father American, they met when he was stationed in Germany as a correspondent for an American Army magazine called Stars and Stripes.
The couple initially settled down in Frankfurt having their first two daughters, Denise and Nicole. When Nicole and Denise were toddlers they moved to the US, settling down in Garden Grove, California, the Browns then had two more daughters, Dominique and Tanya. Nicole had no problem fitting into the California life and often gravitated to the beach and was named Homecoming Queen at her high school.
Nicole met famous American footballer O.J. Simpson aka The Juice who was nearing the end of a successful career at this point in 1977 when she was eighteen and working as a waitress in an upscale Beverley Hills private club called The Daisy. Simpson was actually still married to his first wife, Marguerite, who was at the time pregnant with their daughter but Nicole and Simpson started dating. Simpson and Marguerite divorced in March 1979.
Simpson and Nicole got married on February 2 1985, five years after his retirement from professional football, the marriage would last seven years during which they had two children, Sydney (b. 1985) and Justin (b. 1988). It became apparent that Simpson had been physically abusive to Nicole during their marriage, a police report of an incident that happened on New Years Day 1989, states that Simpson shouted "I don't want that woman (Nicole) sleeping in my bed anymore! I got two women, and I don't want that woman in my bed anymore.". After about sixty-two incidents Nicole called the police eight times but they only arrested Simpson once in 1989, after which he pleaded no contest to the charges of spousal abuse, Nicole later dropped the charges after her parents refused to help her and instead pushed her to reconcile with Simpson due to Lou Brown setting up a lucrative Hertz dealership.
Their marriage was later described as a textbook abusive marriage, Nicole had signed a pre-nup that had forbade her from working while in the marriage, Nicole had said she was reluctant about reporting Simpson for the abuse as she was financially dependent on him. She also detailed one incident where Simpson broke her arm during a fight to prevent him from being arrested, Nicole had told emergency staff at the hospital that she had fallen off a bike, she also described how Simpson would attack her in public and in front of family and friends.
Nicole eventually filed for divorce on February 25 1992, citing irreconcilable differences, at the time of their split Simpson told Nicole of a one year affair he had had with actress and model Tawny Kitaen, he apparently gave her expensive diamond earrings and the affair only ended when Tawny married David Coverdale in 1989.
Nicole seemed to thrive being single after the divorce, Simpson was ordered to pay $10,000 each month in Child Support. She was often seen driving her Ferrari and would be seen with friends at clubs and out dancing when she wasn't being a devoted mother. Following the divorce Nicole and Simpson got back together.
After their initial split Nicole described how Simpson had stalked and harassed her, even spying on her with her new boyfriend. She said she feared for her life after Simpson had threatened her stating if he ever saw her with another man he would kill her, following this Nicole made a will. Nicole called women's shelter, Sojourn, on June 8 1994, as she was considering staying there because she was afraid of what Simpson would do to her as she was refusing his pleas to get back together and she had reported that the spare keys to her house had gone missing a few weeks earlier. These keys would be found on Simpson after the murders. Nicole had told her mother she was scared of Simpson saying "I go to the gas station he's there. I'm driving and he's behind me.".
On October 25 1993, Nicole rang 911 crying and saying that "He (Simpson) is going to beat the shit out of me"; when police arrived Nicole was secretly recorded by an officer and she described Simpson as "he gets a very animalistic look in him, all his veins pop out, his eyes are black and just black, I mean cold, like an animal. I mean very, very weird. And when you see it, it just scares me." Nicole also stated that Simpson hadn't hit her in four years. In the spring of 1994, Nicole told her family and friends she had had enough of the roller coaster relationship, the couple would split for the final time when Nicole moved out of their home with the help of her friend Robin Greer.
Nicole lived at 875 South Bundy Drive in Brentwood, Los Angeles with her two children after her split with Simpson. On the evening of June 12 1994, Nicole and Simpson both attended their daughter Sydney's dance recital at her school and afterwards went to eat at the Mezzaluna Restaurant, they did not invite Simpson. One of the waiters was Ron Goldman, who had become a close friend of Nicole's recently. After the family went to Ben & Jerry's before returning home. The manager of Mezzaluna recalled that Nicole's mother had called at 9.37pm about a pair of lost glasses, the manager found them and as Ron was a friend he offered to take them to Nicole after his shift had finished at 9.50pm.
Simpson during this time ate from McDonald's with Kato Kaelin, a bit part actor who had been living in Simpson's guest house. Rumours have circulated that Simpson was on drugs that evening and a New York Times Post reporter, Cindy Adams, said that the pair actually went to a local Burger King where a well known drug dealer, only known as J.R., admitted to selling crystal meth there.
Nicole's neighbours testified they heard large amounts of barking throughout the night starting at around 10.15pm. At 10.55pm, a dog walker who lived a few blocks away came across Nicole's Akita barking in the street outside her home, the dogs legs were covered in blood and tried to follow the man home, the dog walker tried to walk the dog home but it resisted. He left the dog with a neighbouring couple who offered to keep the dog overnight as the dog was agitated. The couple decided to take the dog home and at around midnight they reached where the dog had originally been found. It was then they saw the body of Nicole lying in a fetal position outside her home, after police arrived they then found the body of Ron Goldman nearby. The front door to the home was open but it didn't look like it had been opened by force and there was no sign anyone had entered the home.
Nicole's body was found face down and barefoot at the bottom of the stairs leading to the front door. The walkway leading to the stairs was covered in blood but the soles of Nicole's feet were clean, this lead investigators to believe that Nicole was the first to be killed and that she was the intended target. She had been stabbed 12 times in the head and neck but there were few defensive marks on her hands, this implied that a short struggle happened. One wound ran deep into her neck severing her carotid artery. A bruise on her upper back indicated that the killer had returned to Nicole's body after killing Ron, pulled her head back by her hair and slit her throat. Her larynx could be seen through the gaping wound in her neck and vertebra C3 was incised, this meant that Nicole's head was barely attached to her body and was nearly decapitated. She was 35 years old.
Ron's body was lying nearby close to a tree and the fence. He had been stabbed 25 times in the body and neck but there were few defensive wounds on his hands once again suggesting a short struggle had taken place. Forensic evidence from the coroner had alleged that the killer had stabbed Ron with one hand while holding him in a chokehold. Ron was 25 years old. Two of the cuts on Ron appeared to have been from the killer drawing the knife across his throat in a threatening manner. Ron had most likely lost his strength after cuts to the throat, head, face and chest causing him to lose blood pressure and vitality and ended with him finally slumping to the floor near the fence. It was said in court that Ron would have died within five minutes had he not received immediate medical treatment and that there was a possibility he could have survived if treatment had been given, much to the distress of the Goldman family who decided to be in court for the shocking display of Ron's autopsy report in the trial, which even disturbed and upset the jury, who had not been overly moved by Nicole's injuries until photos were shown. It is thought that Ron was killed in less than a minute and that Nicole lay unconscious nearby before the killer delivered the final injury to her..
Near Ron's body there was a blue knit cap, a left hand extra large Arms Isotoner light leather glove and an envelope containing the glasses that Ron was returning. A trail of the killers bloody footprints ran through the back gate and to the left some drops of the killers blood were found suggesting that he was bleeding from the left hand, after measuring the footprints it was found that the killer had walked away from the murder scene and not ran.
On June 12, Simpson was due to board a plane to Chicago where he was due to play golf the following day. A limousine had been hired to take Simpson to the airport for his 11.45pm flight and the driver had arrived early at Simpson's Rockingham estate at 10.25pm. After circling the estate to best figure out where would be best to park he rang the intercom at 10.40pm getting no answer, the driver noted that the house was dark and no one appeared to be home. He tried to get a hold of his boss to get Simpson's home phone to alert him that he was outside, he later testified that while he was doing this he saw a figure the same size of Simpson enter the house through the front door before lights came on, he didn't see what direction the figure had come from. The driver also testified that he saw Simpson's house number on the curb outside the estate but no car was parked outside. The prosecution presented exhibits that clearly showed Simpson's Ford Bronco parked outside next to the curb with the house number on. The Ford Bronco was found the next morning meaning the limo driver would have seen the car when he went to pick Simpson up.
Around the time the driver saw this figure, at around 10.50pm, Kaelin heard three thumps on the wall against the guest house where he was staying, he went outside to see what the noises were but didn't venture down the dark south walkway where a bloody glove would be later found. Kaelin instead walked down to the front gate and let in the driver and finally Simpson emerged from the house claiming he had overslept. Both the driver and Kaelin would testify that Simpson seemed agitated that night.
During the ride to the airport Simpson complained about it being hot and was sweating although it was not a warm night. The driver also stated that Simpson had four bags of luggage but Simpson was protective over a knapsack and wouldn't let the driver touch it. A porter at the airport confirmed that Simpson only checked three bags that night and another witness stated they saw Simpson discarding items from a bag into a trash can at the airport. Police believe this is how the murder weapon, shoes and clothes that Simpson wore during the murders were disposed of.
After learning of Nicole's identity the police wanted to not only inform Simpson of Nicole's murder but also they wanted him to collect the couples children who had been asleep in the house at the time of the murders. Detectives buzzed the intercom at his estate for 30 minutes with no answer, they noticed that Simpson's car was parked at an odd angle and that there was blood on the door, which police took to mean that maybe someone was hurt inside the house. One officer scaled the walls and unlocked the gate for the others to enter. Police then spoke to Kaelin who informed them of the odd thumps and police then found a blood stained right glove, the glove was confirmed to be the mate of the left hand glove found next to Ron's body. This evidence is thought to be the probable cause on which an arrest warrant for Simpson was issued.
After Simpson was informed of Nicole's death he was reported to be very upset but oddly unconcerned of the circumstances around her death. Simpson only asked if the children had witnessed the murder of their mother but wasn't concerned if the killer had harmed the children in any way. When taken in for questioning police noticed that Simpson had a cut on his finger on his left hand, where the killer had also injured themselves, at first Simpson said the injury happened in Chicago after learning of Nicole's death but after police told him that blood had been found in his car he then admitted to the injury happening on June 12 but that he didn't remember how. He willingly provided a DNA sample and was released. After putting together a "Dream Team" of lawyers Simpson began treatment for depression, the preliminary results from the DNA tests came back with matches to Simpson but the District Attorney delayed filing charges until the full results came back.
On June 17, detectives recommended Simpson be charged with two counts of first degree murder with special circumstances after the final DNA tests came back. The LAPD notified Simpson's lawyer, Robert Shapiro, at 8.30am that Simpson should hand himself in. At 9.30am, Shapiro went to see Simpson at his friend Robert Kardashian's home where he had been staying since his release, he told Simpson to hand himself in by 11am, an hour after the charges had been filed. Police had agreed to this as they didn't think someone as famous (and as recognisable) as Simpson would attempt to flee and also as Simpson had displayed suicidal thoughts so the delay was also so Simpson could seek professional help. He also wrote three sealed letters, one to his children, one to his mother and one to the public and updated his will. After Simpson failed to turn himself in and had left Kardashian's home with friend Al Cowlings, Simpson was declared a fugitive.
At 5pm, Kardashian read Simpson's public letter, it started off "First everyone understand I had nothing to do with Nicole's murder." He then described the fights with Nicole and their decision not to get back together, he then asked the media "as a last wish" not to bother his children. He wrote to his then-girlfriend Paula Barbieri, "I'm sorry... we're not going to have, our chance... As I leave, you'll be in my thoughts." It also included "I can't go on" and an apology to the Goldman family. The letter concluded, "Don't feel sorry for me. I have had a great life, great friends. Please think of the real O.J. and not this lost person." Most people understood this to be a suicide note; Simpson's mother collapsed after hearing it, and reporters joined the search for Simpson. At Kardashian's press conference, Shapiro said that he and Simpson's psychiatrists agreed with the suicide note interpretation. Through television, Shapiro appealed to Simpson to surrender.
At 5.51pm, Simpson called 911 and the call was traced to the Santa Ana Freeway and at 6.20pm another driver called police to report someone who looked like Simpson was riding in a Bronco on the I-5 freeway heading north. After police caught up with the car Cowlings yelled to police that Simpson was in the back seat and was pointing a gun to his own head. A long and much publicised chase started after the Bronco.
Police managed to get Simpson's former coach, John McKay, to reach out to Simpson via the radio in the car, as both men cried Simpson finally said "Ok, coach, I won't do anything stupid. I promise". After police tried to convince Simpson over the phone to throw the gun out the window for the sake of his mother and children he said that he was "the only one who deserved to get hurt" and was "just gonna go with Nicole" and he apologised for not turning himself in. Cowling could be heard in the background pleading with Simpson to surrender and to end the chase peacefully.
Simpson reportedly demanded to speak to his mother before surrendering, the chase ended at 8pm at his Brentwood estate where his son, Jason, ran out of the house gesturing widely and where 27 SWAT officers waited. After remaining in the Bronco for a further 45 minutes, Simpson got out the Bronco at 8.50pm with a framed family photo and went inside for an hour, police said that he spoke to his mother and when Shapiro arrived he then surrendered. In the Bronco police found $8,000 in cash, a change of clothing, a loaded .357 Magnum, a US passport, family photos and a disguise kit with a goatee and moustache.
Simpson's defence tried to blame hitmen hired by drug dealers for the murders of Nicole and Ron after Nicole's friend who had been staying in her house but had recently left had failed to pay for her drugs but this was dismissed as there was no evidence to back this up. The case also suffered due to the suspect being famous as testimony and the knowledge that Simpson had bought a 12 inch stiletto knife six weeks before the murder, this knife was recovered and determined to be similar to the one used in the murders but the witness sold their story to the press like many others making it useless.
The jury caused a lot of tension as the defence had tried to claim the police had behaved in a racially motivated way rather than had followed the evidence and there was also the problem of Simpson's fame, many admired him especially those in the black community. There were problems as well with the motive as the abuse Nicole suffered was a prelude to her murder, media reports stated that the African-American women on the jury were less likely to be sympathetic to Nicole as she was white and interracial marriage was an issue at the time. The deeper issues in society had definitely taken a toll on the decisions and interpretation of the evidence and facts, especially with the jury.
The prosecution said the motive for the murder was the domestic abuse and obsession with Nicole that Simpson had displayed after their divorce that led to the murders. On the night of the murders, Nicole and Simpson had attended the dance recital of their daughter and that Simpson had been angry with Nicole for wearing a black dress he deemed too tight. Simpson's then girlfriend had also wanted to attend the recital but was not invited by her boyfriend. After Simpson returned home to a voicemail informing him that his girlfriend no longer wanted to be in the relationship. Simpson then drove over to Nicole's where he begged her to get back together and she refused leading Simpson to kill her in a "final act of control", Ron was unfortunate to come across the scene and was murdered as well either to remove an eye witness or out of rage.
Documented evidence of Simpson's abuse was shown through photos of injuries sustained, police logs and audio where Simpson can be heard yelling and possibly hitting Nicole while she is on the phone to the police. A friend of the couple testified that Simpson had not wanted to take a polygraph test as he had had many dreams about killing Nicole. Nicole's sister tearfully took the stand as well recalling her seeing Simpson pick up Nicole and hurl her against a wall and then physically throw her out of the house during an argument. Sixty-two separate incidents of domestic abuse were shown to the jury including three previously unknown cases that came to light after the discovery of a bank box containing Nicole's detailed journal entires of the abuse. As some of the accounts were written by Nicole and told by her to friends and family they were dismissed as hear say due to Nicole being dead and being unable to be cross examined so forty-four were brought before the jury.
The domestic violence portion of the case was dropped by the prosecution on June 20 1995. Originally said to be due to the DNA evidence being strong but this was later proved to be false. A juror was dismissed as she had not disclosed being a victim of domestic abuse and she later stated to the press that the abuse claims were "a whole lot of nothing" and also said "that doesn't mean he's guilty of murder", the prosecution clearly realised that if a juror who was a victim of abuse herself wasn't moved by Nicole's story than none of them would. The jurors later called the domestic abuse portion of the case a "waste of time". The lawyers later stated they thought race played a factor in the jurors dismissal of Nicole's abuse by Simpson.
The coroner put Nicole's death as between 10pm and 10.30pm. Kaelin testified that he last saw Simpson at 9.36pm that evening and was not seen again until 10.54pm. It is thought that Simpson drove his Bronco to and from the murders and when he saw the limo driver had panicked and changed his plan to use the front door to the back door hence the noises Kaelin heard when he realised the security system would not allow Simpson to enter through the back. He discarded the glove, came back and got in through the front while the driver and Kaelin were busy.
The whole trial was based upon DNA evidence, the blood created what would be a witness statement as it apparently left a trail from the scene to Simpson's bedroom at Rockingham. It included:
Simpson's DNA found on blood drops next to the bloody footprints near the victims at the crime scene. Probability of error 1 in 9.7 billion.
Simpson's DNA was found on a trail of blood drops leading away from the victims, towards and on the back gate. Probability of error 1 in 200.
Simpson's, Ron's and Nicole's DNA was found on blood on the outside of the door and inside Simpson's Bronco. Probability of error was 1 in 200.
Simpson's DNA found on blood drops leading to the area where his Bronco was parked at the front door entrance at Rockingham.
Simpson's, Ron's and Nicole's DNA found on a bloody glove found at the back of his home.
Simpson's and Nicole's DNA found on a bloody pair of socks in Simpson's bedroom. Probability of error 1 in 6.8 billion.
Hair and fiber evidence was also found:
The fibers of the glove found at Rockingham matched those of the glove at the crime scene.
Both of the victims, the two gloves and the blue knit cap worn by the killer had hair on them consistent with Simpson, the hat had hairs deeply imbedded in the fibers indicating it had been worn multiple times by the killer.
Dark blue cotton was found on both victims. The video of the dance recital showed Simpson wearing a similar shirt. Kaelin testified Simpson was wearing the shirt when they got home from McDonald's but not when he answered the door to the limo driver. Police searches never found the shirt.
Hair consistent with Ron was on Nicole and hair consistent with Nicole was found on Ron, this supported the theory that Nicole was killed first then Ron and then the killer returned to Nicole to slit her throat. Nicole's hair was found on the glove at Rockingham and was torn, further supporting the claim the killer had grabbed Nicole by the hair.
Fibers that were only used in the 1993 - 1994 model Ford Bronco were found on both victims, the knit cap and both gloves.
The glove found at Rockingham and hair and clothing fibers consistent with Simpson, Nicole and Ron as well as fibers from the Bronco and Nicole's Akita.
The shoe prints were determined to come from an expensive and rare pair of Bruno Magli Italian shoes in a size 12, that is Simpson's size. Only Bloomingdales sells them and only 29 pairs were sold in the US and one of those stores is where Simpson often buys his shoes. Simpson denied owing those shoes and it couldn't be proved he had indeed bought them. All of the evidence gathered was discredited by the defence as being corrupted by the police and lab technicians to which they tried to prove were planted but testing that ironically came from the prosecution's request proved that nothing had been planted and any cross contamination had come from mistakes due to, for example, not changing gloves for every bit of evidence and using a plastic bag for evidence rather than a paper one.
An iconic part of the trail was when Simpson was asked to try on the glove found at his home, when he tried he seemingly struggled and couldn't get it on. Due to the glove being saturated in blood and frozen and refrozen the glove must have shrunk and the prosecution brought someone who worked for the glove company to testify that the glove had indeed shrunk and that at normal size it would have fitted Simpson fine.
The closing argument caused drama as Simpson's defence lawyer, now Johnny Cohcran, stated that one of the officers (Mark Fuhrman) who he had accused of planting evidence (without solid proof) and being a racist after damning audio was shown of him using racial slurs, was worse than Hitler declaring him "a genocidal racist, a perjurer, America's worst nightmare and the personification of evil". Fred Goldman (Ron's father) was deeply offended by the comparison as he was Jewish calling him "the worst kind of racist" and a "sick man" and criticised Cohcran for associating with a known black supremacist, Louis Farrakhan. Robert Shapiro was also offended as he was also Jewish.
Fear spread that race riots similar to those in 1992 would erupt across LA and the rest of the country if Simpson was convicted with the LAPD getting ready for anything that might happen. At 10.07am on Tuesday 3 October 1995, Simpson was acquitted on both counts of murder. After the verdict one of the jurors even gave Simpson a black power fist raised salute, this juror was a former member of the revolutionary Black Panther Party that prosecutors had for some reason left on the panel. The verdict was described by the Brown family as an appalling miscarriage of justice.
The verdict left people divided with most black people surveyed saying they believed justice had been served and that Simpson had been framed with some suggesting that Fuhrman was the killer. Most white people, 75%, disagreed and believed it was racially motivated. In 2016, most black people now believe Simpson was in fact the killer. Shapiro has come out since and confirmed that the defence did play the "race card".
In 1996, Fred Goldman and Sharon Rufo, the parents of Ron Goldman, filed a suit against Simpson for wrongful death while Nicole's estate brought a suit for survivors. Photographic evidence of Simpson wearing the Bruno Magli shoes were brought to light. The jury awarded Nicole and Simpson's children (Nicole's only children) $12.6 million from their father as recipients of their mothers estate. The victims families were awarded $33.5 million in compensation and punitive damages, this therefore finds Simpson as responsible for the murders.
In 2008, it was announced that Simpson would be releasing a book titled, If I Did It, the book would contain an account based on a hypothetical confession. It was meant to come out along with a Fox special featuring Simpson but due to public criticism it was cancelled. The Goldman family were later awarded the rights to the book. The title was changed then to If I Did It: Confessions of a Killer, the "f" in If is styled to look very small so the title looks like I did it. The Goldman's came under fire for releasing the book especially from Nicole's family.
Simpson was jailed in 2007 regarding an attempt to steal materials Simpson claimed were his, he was sentenced to a minimum of 33 years. He was later released after nine years and moved to Florida, it is one of the few states that protects someones home and pensions from being seized in civil suits. The Goldman's have stated they have received 1% of the $33.5 million that Simpson owes them.
At Apollo's Raven we believe that Simpson is the one responsible for these brutal murders, the amount of evidence, the domestic abuse and motive all point to him. Nicole and Ron were robbed of justice after a shameful use of race was used to try and free Simpson, it is cases like this that makes genuine cases not taken seriously. The jurors later admitted to saying Simpson was innocent to get justice for racially motivated incidents with police and one juror said she was annoyed at Nicole "allowing" herself to be abused, that is such an awful statement and that juror should be ashamed of herself. In a difficult case involving a famous person, that inflamed racial tensions on purpose it was a shambles and that Simpson is hiding in Florida so he doesn't have to pay the settlement is cowardly. Ron Goldman in particular is forgotten in the case even though his part in it is quite tragic as he seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, simply returning some glasses his friend left. Nicole's murder is very savage, clearly the person who killed her was angry with her you don't go to such brutal measures for just anyone, it would have taken a large amount of strength to kill both of them in such a savage manner in so little time and with not a large amount of struggle from the victims, something a professional football player could easily do.
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