The Shocking Case Of O.J. Simpson

**The Shocking Case of O.J. Simpson** is a video made by Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej, uploaded onto YouTube on March 4, 2017. It was the eleventh episode of the first season of BuzzFeed Unsolved: True Crime, and the eighteenth episode overall. You can find it here.

## Description

Did O.J. really do it (Yes he did) Presented by Trial & Error. Tuesdays 9/8c only on NBC.

## Notable Events

This was the first ever *BuzzFeed: Unsolved* episode to be sponsored.

## Background

At 12:10 a.m. on June 13, 1994, the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman were found by two neighbors, who had been led there by Nicole's dog. They were found outside Nicole's Brentwood residence, stabbed to death. Suspecting Nicole and Ronald to be murdered by Nicole's ex-husband, a timeline was made by detectives on the scene after going through the case extensively.

On June 12, at 6:30 p.m., Nicole, her children, and others arrived for dinner at the restaurant Mezzaluna.

At 9:15 p.m., Nicole's sister called Mezzaluna to inform them that her mother had left her glasses there, and Ronald went to pick up the glasses.

From 9 to 9:30 p.m., Brian "Kato" Kaelin and O. J. Simpson (Nicole's ex-husband) went to McDonald's for dinner. At 9:45 p.m., they returned home to Simpson's home, as Kaelin was staying in his guest house at the time.

At 9:48 to 9:50 p.m., Ronald left Mezzaluna with Nicole's mother's glasses in an envelope.

At 10:15 p.m., Nicole's neighbor reported hearing a dog bark and cry. It was theorized that these barks were caused by witnessing the murders.

At 10:25 p.m., Allan Park, Simpson's limo driver, arrived at his house, as Simpson was scheduled for an 11:45 p.m. flight. At 10:50 p.m., Kaelin heard three loud thumps on the outside wall of the guest house.

From 10:40 to 10:55 p.m., Park buzzed Simpson's intercom repeatedly, but there was no answer. Just before 11 p.m., he sighted a shadowy figure walking across the driveway. The figure was described to be 6 feet tall and weighing around 200 pounds. At 11 p.m., Park buzzed again, receiving an answer this time: that Simpson had overslept and was just getting out of the shower.

At 11:45 p.m., Simpson departed on the flight to Chicago, and the bodies were found at 12:10 a.m. Pieces of evidence found at the crime scene included a bloodstained glove, a knit hat, and a bloody footprint. Once Simpson had landed, Detective Ron Phillips called him to inform him that his ex-wife was dead―and his response was "who killed her?"

Simpson was questioned for three hours and released, but on June 17, he was charged with two counts of murder. He refused to surrender and was declared a fugitive, then led police on a low-speed car chase with his friend, Al Cowlings, driving the Ford Bronco. Cowlings would later declare that the reason he did not stop was because Simpson was holding a gun to his own head.

During the chase, a phone call between Simpson and homicide detective Tom Lange recorded Simpson as saying that "[he was] the only one that deserve[d]... [he was] gonna get hurt... All [he] did was love Nicole, all [he] did was love her." When the chase eventually ended, and Simpson surrendered at 8:51 p.m., police found makeup adhesive, a fake mustache, a passport, and a gun inside Simpson's car. They also found a suicide note from him as well, reading "first, everyone understand. I had 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."

O. J. Simpson was the first suspect; for clear reasons―most notably, previous contact with Nicole through marriage, fleeing from police, DNA evidence against him, and previous spousal abuse convictions. The others consisted of Glen Rogers, suspected because of his own confession, and Jason Simpson, due to apparent anger issues, including previous attacks on two girlfriends and a boss.

Simpson was found not guilty after less than four hours of deliberation. In court, the defense argued that race had played a factor in the case, and that a white detective assigned to the case had been working to make Simpson, who was black, appear guilty. Deputy district attorney Christopher Darden was quoted as saying that "[The argument] will do one thing. It will upset the black jurors. It will say, whose side are you on, 'the man' or 'the brothers'?" Later, people would claim that only because the majority of the jury was black, Simpson was found not guilty.

Simpson later lost the civil case for the wrongful deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, and the jury awarded their families 33.5 million dollars in punitive damages.

Ryan and Shane explore the area around the house where Nicole and Ronald were found. They also drive on the highway where the police chase occurred. Ryan remarks that the speed does not feel "exhilarating."

On September 16, 2007, Simpson was connected to a robbery in Las Vegas, and was found guilty on twelve counts, including armed robbery and kidnapping. He was sentenced to thirty-three years in prison, but was released on October 1, 2017, after a parole hearing. He had served almost nine years in prison. Nicole was buried in Ascension Cemetery, in Lake Forest, California; and Ronald Goldman was buried in Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park, in Westlake Village, California.

## Theories

* O. J. Simpson murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
	+ During the time of the murder, Nicole and Simpson had been going through a break, and she and Ronald had reportedly become close. This was speculated to be a motive for Simpson to murder them both.
	+ Simpson had previously been charged with spousal abuse against Nicole, which had resulted in nine police visits to their home.
	+ If the murders had occurred around 10:15 p.m., it would give Simpson enough time to get back to his own home and clean up before going to his limo driver at 11 p.m.
	+ The blood found on the glove at the crime scene matched his, as well as matching Nicole's and Ronald's. The glove also matched another found at Simpson's estate, behind the guest house and where Brian Kaelin had heard the thumping noises. Both gloves were stained with the same blood.
	+ A sock that was stained with Nicole's blood was found at Simpson's estate as well. There was also blood in his driveway, and the bloody footprint found at the crime scene matched the size and sole of a pair of shoes that Simpson owned at the time, although the shoes were never found. Also, the hat found at the crime scene, through FBI fiber analysis, contained Simpson's hair.
	+ The day after the murder, Simpson was found to have a cut on his finger. Simpson had recently purchased a knife that matched the type that the coroner predicted the killer had used on the victims. The knife was also never found.
	+ In 2006, Simpson published a book titled "If I Did It," a hypothetical account of the murders if he had committed them. Though it was canceled due to public outrage, it was later released, having all profits going to the Goldman family.
	+ However, evidence in the case was mishandled by the forensics team, and the team for Simpson drew attention to this, eventually suggesting that the crime scene had been contaminated.
	+ The defense implied that race may have played a factor. They argued that the crime scene may have altered by Mark Fuhrman, an LAPD detective. Fuhrman had been recorded using racial slurs over forty times in one sitting, and he had been the first one inside Simpson's estate after the murders occurred. Furhman alone had discovered the glove as well, leading the defense to theorize that he had planted the glove.
	+ Additionally, the gloves found did not fit Simpson, although this could be due to the fact that the gloves had been frozen and unfrozen many different times, possibly leading to shrinkage.
* Glen Rogers murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. This theory was popularized by his brother, Clay Rogers.
	+ Clay Rogers claimed that while on death row, Rogers confessed to their murders.
	+ Rogers had also been apparently hired by Simpson to steal a pair of Nicole's earrings, but was told to "kill her if she got in the way."
	+ However, Rogers may have been serving a sentence in jail at the time of the murders.
* Jason Simpson, son of O. J. Simpson, murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. This theory was made by Bill Dear, a private investigator, in his book "O.J. Is Innocent and I Can Prove It: The Shocking Truth about the Murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman."
	+ At the time of the murders, Simpson had attacked his former boss with a knife and was on probation. He had also attacked a former girlfriend, Jennifer Green. Another former girlfriend had claimed that Simpson had almost broken her back after throwing her into a bathtub, and cut off her hair with a knife.
	+ Dear, while impersonating a doctor at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, reportedly illegally obtained copies of Simpson's medical records. These records allegedly said that Simpson had been diagnosed with intermittent rage disorder, also known as intermittent explosive disorder, or IED, and that at the time of the murders, Simpson had stopped taking the prescribed anti-psychotic drugs.
	+ However, at the time of the murders, Simpson said he had been working at a restaurant, and his time card supported this. Dear theorized that, because the card was handwritten, it could have been written after the murders had been committed, and that it was suspicious because the electronic time card machine was fully operational that night.
	+ Dear also claimed that there were pictures of Simpson wearing a similar knit hat to the one found at the crime scene, although this picture did not seem to exist after the murders.

## Quotes

* Ryan (laughing): "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."
	+ Shane: "It is a little... juvenile."
* Shane (after hearing the case against Simpson): "This is where a lot of people, uh... sorta draw the line, right?"
	+ Ryan: (wheeze) "When you have three separate pieces of evidence that have DNA connotations linking you to the murder..."
	+ Shane: "If you're looking at―at the surface here... boy oh boy."
* Shane (on Rogers' claim): "Well, none of us are impressed, serial killers."
	+ Ryan: "No, I'm not impressed. Yeah, that's really gonna let it sink in. They're gonna see this video and be like, 'he's right. Pack it up. You know what, let's―what're we―what're we doing?'"
	+ Shane (to serial killers): "Stop it."
	+ Ryan: "You're―you're really hitting their heart right now. Keep going, keep going, maybe you'll make a difference."
	+ Shane (half-heartedly): "Stop it. Stop... serial killing."
* Shane (on Bill Dear): "I don't like this guy."
	+ Ryan: "I mean, he tricked people in a hospital for two weeks."
	+ Shane: "People were murdered! And this guy's playing dress-up?"

## Trivia

* This episode, along with The Strange Disappearance of D. B. Cooper, was sponsored by NBC's *Trial & Error.*