https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._J._Simpson_murder_case
On the evening of June 12, 1994, Brown and Simpson both attended their daughter Sydney's dance recital at Paul Revere Middle School. Afterwards, Brown and her family went to eat at Mezzaluna restaurant; they did not invite Simpson to join them. One of the waiters at the restaurant was Ron Goldman, who had become close friends with Brown in recent weeks,
[51] but was not assigned to the Brown family's table.
[52] Brown and her children then went to
Ben & Jerry's before returning to Brown's condominium in
Bundy Drive,
Brentwood.
[53] The manager of Mezzaluna recounted that Brown's mother telephoned the restaurant at 9:37 p.m. about a pair of lost eyeglasses. The manager found the glasses and put them in a white envelope, which Goldman took with him as he left the restaurant at the end of his shift at 9:50 p.m., intending to drop it off at Brown's place.
[54][55] Meanwhile, Simpson ate takeout food from
McDonald's with
Kato Kaelin, a
bit-part actor and family friend who had been given the use of a guest house on Simpson's estate. Rumors circulated that Simpson had been on drugs at the time of the murder, and the
New York Post's Cindy Adams reported that the pair had actually gone to a local
Burger King, where a prominent drug dealer known only as "J. R." had admitted to selling them
crystal meth.
[56][57]
Brown's neighbors testified that they heard profuse barking coming from outside throughout the night, beginning around 10:15 p.m. Around 10:55 p.m., a dogwalker who lived a few blocks away from Brown came across Brown's
Akita dog barking in the street outside her home. The Akita, whose legs were covered in blood, followed the man home; he tried to walk the dog back to where he found it, but the dog resisted. Later on, he left the Akita with a neighboring couple who offered to keep the dog overnight; as the dog was agitated, the couple decided to walk it back to where it had been found. Around midnight, as they reached the area where the Akita had been found, the dog stopped outside Brown's home and the couple saw Brown's body lying outside the house. Police called to the scene found Goldman's body near Brown's.
[58]
The front door to Brown's condominium was open when the bodies were found, but there were no signs that anyone had entered the building, by breaking in or otherwise. Brown's body was lying face down and barefoot at the bottom of the stairs leading to the door.
[59] The walkway leading to the stairs was covered in blood, but the soles of Brown's feet were clean; based on this evidence, investigators concluded that she was the first person to be killed and the intended target.
[60] She had been stabbed multiple times in the head and neck, but there were few
defensive wounds on her hands, implying a short struggle to investigators. The final wound inflicted ran deep into her neck, severing her
carotid artery. A large bruise in the center of her upper back indicated to investigators that, after killing Goldman, the assailant returned to Brown's body, stood on her back, pulled her head back by the hair and slit her throat.
[61][62] Her
larynx could be seen through the gaping wound in her neck, and
vertebra C3 was incised;
[62] Brown's head barely remained attached to her body.
[63][64][65]
Goldman's body lay nearby, close to a tree and the fence. He had been stabbed multiple times in the body and neck, but there were relatively few defensive wounds on his hands, signifying a short struggle to investigators.
[66] Forensic evidence from the Los Angeles County
coroner alleged that the assailant stabbed Goldman with one hand while holding him in a chokehold. Near Goldman's body were a blue knit cap; a left-hand, extra-large
Aris Isotoner light leather glove; and the envelope containing the glasses that he was returning.
[65] A trail of the assailant's bloody shoe prints ran through the back gate. To the left of some of the prints were drops of blood from the assailant, who was apparently bleeding from the left hand. Measuring the distance between the prints indicated that the assailant had walked—rather than running—away from the scene.
[67]
Prosecution exhibit of Map of Rockingham estate and showing trail of blood and position of parked Bronco.
On the night of June 12, Simpson was scheduled to board a
red-eye flight from
Los Angeles International Airport to Chicago, where he was due to play golf the following day at a convention with representatives of
Hertz rental car Corporation, for whom he was a spokesman.
[68] The flight was due to leave at 11:45 p.m., and a
limousine arrived early at Simpson's Rockingham estate to pick him up at around 10:25 p.m.
[69][70] The limousine driver drove around the estate to make sure he could navigate the area with the stretch limousine properly and to see which driveway would have the best access for the limousine. He began to buzz the intercom at 10:40, getting no response. He noted the house was dark and nobody appeared to be home as he smoked a cigarette and made several calls to his boss to get Simpson's home phone number. He testified that at one point he saw a figure the same size as Simpson enter the house through the front door from where the driveway starts, before the lights came on. He did not see what direction the figure came from.
[71] He testified that he saw Simpson's house number on the curb outside the estate, but no car was parked outside. The prosecution presented exhibits showing the position next to the house number on the curb in which Simpson's
Ford Bronco was found the next morning, implying that the limousine driver would surely have noticed the Bronco if it had been there when he arrived to pick Simpson up.
[71][69]
Around the time the limousine driver witnessed this "shadowy figure" head towards the south walkway where the bloody glove would later be found, Kato Kaelin was having a telephone conversation with a friend. At approximately 10:50, something crashed into the wall of the guest house Kaelin was staying in, which he described as three "thumps" and which he feared was an earthquake. Kaelin hung up the phone and ventured outside to investigate the noises, but did not go directly down the dark south pathway from which the thumps had originated. Instead, he walked to the front of the property, where he saw the limousine parked outside. Kaelin let the limousine in, and Simpson finally came out through the front door a few minutes later, claiming he had overslept.
[69] Both the limousine driver and Kaelin would later testify that Simpson seemed agitated that night.
[72]
The limousine driver noted that on the way to the airport, Simpson complained about how hot it was, and was sweating and rolled down the window, despite it not being a warm night.
[73] The driver also testified that he loaded four luggage bags into the car that night, one of them being a knapsack that Simpson would not let him touch, insisting he load it himself. A
porter at the airport testified that Simpson only checked three bags that night,
[74] and the police determined that the missing luggage was the same knapsack the limousine driver had mentioned earlier.
[75] Another witness not heard at the trial claimed he saw Simpson at the airport discarding items from a bag into a trash can.
[76][77] Detectives Tom Lange and Philip Vannatter believe this is how the murder weapon, shoes and clothes that Simpson wore during the murder were disposed.
[78]
The hotel where Simpson stayed in Chicago, pictured in 2014
Simpson was running late but caught his flight. A passenger on the plane and the pilot testified to not noticing any cuts or wounds on Simpson's hands.
[79] A broken glass and bedsheets with blood on them were recovered from Simpson's hotel room, at the
O'Hare Plaza Hotel. The manager of the hotel recalled Simpson asking for a Band-Aid for his finger at the front desk
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, anus, and mouth due to sexual assaults.
