Knife found on O.J. Simpson’s property ‘inconsistent’ with murders: Reports
Multiple sources say the knife found on O.J. Simpson’s property is likely not related to the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
Los Angeles police revealed the existence of the knife last Friday and said it would undergo forensic testing, which is expected to take two weeks. It was recently turned in to authorities by a retired traffic cop, who said the weapon was given to him nearly 15 years ago by a construction worker who found it on Simpson’s former property.
NBC News reported Thursday that multiple law enforcement sources said the characteristics and condition of the knife do not match the weapon used in the sensational murders that captivated the country for years. It also did not appear to have been buried long enough to be on the property at the time of the murders.
On Saturday, the L.A. Times cited sources reporting similar findings.
Former LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman, who was involved in the Simpson case, has also weighed in, saying it should be simple to determine if the knife was involved in the slayings.
“It can only be a certain width, length and thickness, or it simply isn’t the weapon,” he told Fox News. “The autopsy results, especially on Ron Goldman, were very specific.”
O.J. Simpson, who is serving time in a Nevada prison for armed robbery, was arrested and tried for the murders of his ex-wife and her friend Goldman; he was found not guilty. Because of double jeopardy laws, he cannot be retried in the case even if the murder weapon is found.
However, the discovery could impact how long he remains incarcerated. He’s serving nine to 33 years in a prison an hour outside of Reno and is eligible for parole next year. The parole board could take into account “any evidence that bears on whether the release of the petitioning inmate could constitute a danger to the public,” a spokeswoman from Nevada’s attorney general’s office told Yahoo News.
The Juice, as he was called during his years as a popular NFL player for the Buffalo Bills, expressed little concern about how the discovery could affect his parole.
His former manager told People magazine that Simpson is “just ignoring it. He’s not talking about it. … He’s definitely shrugging it off.”
A new TV miniseries, “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” recounts the events of the murder, arrest and trial, and has revived public interest in the case.
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