Can we call off the search for the “real killers” now?
A construction worker found a knife buried on the perimeter of the former O.J. Simpson estate … and it’s currently being tested by the LAPD in a top secret investigation … law enforcement sources tell TMZ.
The story is incredible. We’re told a construction worker found the knife years ago — we have heard several different stories, ranging from “several years ago” to 1998, when the house was demolished. The weapon is a folding Buck knife.
Our law enforcement sources say the construction worker took the knife to the street, where he saw an LAPD cop. He told the officer where he found the knife and the cop took it.
Turns out the cop — who worked in the traffic division — was off duty at the time, working security for a movie shoot at a house across the street on Rockingham. Our sources say the officer took the knife home and kept it … kept it for years.
What? Possibly one of the most notorious missing murder weapons in American history and the cop… takes it home? (The murders occurred in 1994.) This is an example of a Buck knife, although the knife used in the murders had a longer (5-6″) blade:
It gets weirder:
In late January of this year, after the cop retired from the LAPD, he contacted a friend who worked in LAPD’s Robbery Homicide Division (RHD). The cop told the friend about the knife and said he was getting it framed to put on his wall. He wanted his friend to get the DR (Departmental Record) number for the Nicole Brown Simpson/Ronald Goldman murder case, which he planned on engraving in the frame.
We’re told the friend was indignant, and told his superiors. The brass was outraged and demanded that the retired cop turn the knife over, which he did.
TMZ goes on to report:
Our sources say the knife is currently being tested for hair and fingerprints. It will be moved to the Serology Unit next week, where it will be tested for DNA and other biological evidence. One source familiar with the investigation tells us, cops who eyeballed the knife think it could have blood residue on it, but it’s hard to know without testing because it’s extremely rusted and stained.
Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. A knife was found in the Simpson residence (now razed) but wasn’t introduced at trial because it had never been used and couldn’t have therefore been the murder weapon. In any case, the chain of custody for this particular knife is irretrievably broken, so its possible evidentiary value is limited. And simply “eyeballing” a Buck knife, which is made of stainless steel, is hardly dispositive. Further, the knife could have belonged to anybody.
And, finally, O. J. — who’s currently doing time in a Nevada prison — can’t be tried again, since he was found not guilty of the double murders.
Stay tuned as America’s favorite crime story continues…
Watch: Was O.J. Simpson Guilty?
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