OJ Simpson murder case’s 9 mystery fingerprints could be retested: filmmaker
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Nine fingerprints that went unidentified in the course of the authentic O.J. Simpson murder investigation could maintain new clues greater than 30 years later, and one filmmaker believes advances in forensic expertise could assist reveal who left them behind.
Ari Mark co-directed the Peacock docuseries, “OJ’s Accomplice,” which reexamines the 1994 murders of Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her pal, Ron Goldman.
The sequence explores the idea that the previous NFL star could not have acted alone, specializing in convicted drug trafficker and Simpson affiliate Joey Ippolito, who reportedly had ties to organized crime.
Mark advised Fox News Digital he needs investigators to contemplate reexamining 9 fingerprints recovered from the crime scene that could not be matched to any identified samples in the course of the authentic investigation.
O.J. Simpson sits in Superior Court in Los Angeles in 1994 throughout an open court docket session. “OJ’s Accomplice” is at present obtainable for streaming. (Pool/AFP through Getty Images)
“The fact that there’s nine fingerprints sitting around that nobody wants to put through a system that’s very updated and technologically not what it was before, that just seems unnecessary,” Mark mentioned. “Just do it.
“You can take latent prints and analyze these in a manner that you simply could not earlier than,” Mark continued. “Also, bear in mind, the techniques over time are clearly amassing extra knowledge and extra individuals. So, for those who’re in search of a match, you’ve a better probability of getting one all these years later.”
Former DEA agent Robert Brisolari appears in Peacock’s “OJ’s Accomplice,” which explores the theory that O.J. Simpson may not have acted alone. (Peacock)
In 1995, the Los Angeles Times reported that none of the identifiable fingerprints investigators collected at the Bundy Drive condominium where Brown Simpson and Goldman were murdered matched Simpson. Fingerprint specialist Gilbert Aguilar, a defense witness, testified that police knew that Simpson’s fingerprints did not match the identifiable prints recovered at the crime scene.
O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson March 16, 1994, in Los Angeles. She was murdered in June of that year. (Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images)
Under questioning by lead defense attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr., Aguilar testified that nine prints found at Bundy Drive could not be matched to any known sample. According to the Los Angeles Times, Simpson’s lawyers argued that unknown attackers committed the murders and that detectives failed to adequately investigate that possibility because they quickly concluded Simpson had killed his ex-wife and her friend.
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According to Aguilar’s testimony, investigators compared the unidentified prints with those of Simpson, Brown Simpson and 58 friends, relatives and acquaintances but found no matches. Aguilar also testified that investigators searched federal and state computerized fingerprint databases without finding a match.
Mark said his goal for the docuseries was “to lift sufficient questions that it will get a re-evaluation.”
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A family photo of Ronald Goldman, who was murdered with O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, June 12, 1994. (Lee Celano/WireImage)
“I’m very cautious concerning the name to motion as a result of there are victims’ households concerned right here, and you’d need them to be supportive of that,” Mark said. “That would be my first precedence. Assuming it was one thing they had been interested by, I feel everybody deserves to know what really occurred and if that entails a second individual, third individual or no matter it’s, nice.”
Aguilar, who seems in the docuseries, raised the chance that right this moment’s expanded fingerprint databases could produce a match.
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“At the crime scene, there have been 9 identifiable prints that I by no means recognized to whom they belong,” Aguilar said in the documentary.
“Back in 1994, you are working prints by AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System). But, first, it is checking all people that is been arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department. Then it might be run by Sacramento. Then run by all of the Western states.
Denise Brown, sister of murder sufferer Nicole Brown Simpson, cries on the witness stand in Los Angeles as an image she took of an injured Nicole Brown Simpson is proven on a display screen. (Pool/AFP through Getty Images)
“If any individual is arrested exterior your database, like in New York or the state of Florida, you’re not going to get something,” Aguilar continued. “LAPD has all the prints, and they could have them [tested again]. They may or may not. I don’t know. It’s up to them now.”
It is unclear whether or not investigators have reexamined the 9 unidentified fingerprints utilizing trendy forensic expertise or up to date fingerprint databases.
Tom Lange is a retired LAPD detective who served as one of many lead investigators within the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. (Peacock)
An LAPD spokesperson advised Fox News Digital the investigation stays open.
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O.J. Simpson seems at a brand new pair of Aris extra-large gloves prosecutors had him placed on for the jury throughout his double murder trial in Los Angeles June 21, 1995. The gloves had been the identical sort discovered on the Bundy murder scene and the Simpson property. (AFP through Getty Images)
“The O.J. Simpson case remains an open and ongoing investigation. The Department has an obligation to continue to pursue justice in this matter, at a point that, if new evidence is found, detectives will follow those investigatory leads. At this point there is no other information available for release.”
In the docuseries, protection investigator Pat McKenna mentioned the fingerprints ought to simply be despatched to a lab for additional evaluation.
Kato Kaelin was staying in a guesthouse at O.J. Simpson’s property on the evening of the 1994 murders and later testified at Simpson’s felony trial. (Peacock)
“This is like a door,” he mentioned. “Wide open. Don’t you want to close that door? I would think they should want to do that. But I think they’re afraid of what it would show.”
Pat McKenna, an investigator for O.J. Simpson’s protection staff throughout his 1995 murder trial, seems within the Peacock docuseries, “OJ’s Accomplice.” (Peacock)
According to the docuseries, the producers requested the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to have the unidentified fingerprints reexamined however obtained no response. Fox News Digital contacted the workplace for remark.
“I wouldn’t put anything past technology,” Mark mentioned. “I think we all know that tech, it’s just gotten so advanced, especially when it comes to forensics, that I believe something could be pulled from those fingerprints. Ideally, there’d be some sort of DNA that’s been preserved, and the right type of reopening would force a reinvestigation of those materials.
OJ Simpson in a Los Angeles Police Department mugshot (Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
“I really feel very assured that if everybody was on the identical web page, and we wished to have a look at one thing objectively and see if there’s any new fact there, we could do it.”
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OJ Simpson, Nicole Brown Simpson and their two children attend the “Naked Gun 33 1/3” premiere at the Paramount Pictures Studio Backlot in Hollywood. (Barry King/WireImage)
The unidentified fingerprints are part of the docuseries’ broader investigation into whether Simpson had an accomplice the night Brown Simpson and Goldman were killed.
Before the docuseries premiered, Joey Ippolito’s brother, Sam Ippolito, advised The New York Times Joey returned to a Los Angeles residence round midnight on June 12, 1994, carrying a bag containing a heavy object.
Police officers stand outside the home of Nicole Brown Simpson in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles in June 1994. (Getty Images)
Sam said his brother appeared to have blood on his hands after leaving the apartment hours earlier to help a friend. According to Sam, Joey stuffed his clothes into the bag and instructed him to dispose of it while he showered.
Sam Ippolito told the newspaper he tossed the bag into a dumpster near a construction site along Doheny Drive in Los Angeles. Sam shared a similar account in the docuseries.
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Sam Ippolito (pictured here), the brother of Joseph “Joey” Ippolito, has alleged that his brother returned to their Los Angeles apartment on the night of the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman and asked him to dispose of a bag containing a heavy object. Sam later sought to retract his account. (Peacock)
Sam’s account has also faced questions about its credibility. According to The New York Times, he sought compensation from the newspaper and later attempted to retract his statements after the newspaper declined his request for payment. Friends and relatives have disputed suggestions that Ippolito participated in the murders.
Ippolito, who escaped from a Florida prison in May 1994, became a federal informant after his arrest in August 1995, while Simpson’s nationally televised murder trial was nearing its conclusion. He died in 2006.
Ron Goldman’s father, Fred Goldman, and his sister, Kim Goldman, in court. (Getty Images)
A December 1996 federal prosecution memorandum, unsealed at The New York Times’ request, described Ippolito as a valuable source who possessed information about Simpson’s alleged efforts to dispose of the murder weapon and his attempted flight from authorities.
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Charles “Charlie” Ehrlich, a longtime friend of O.J. Simpson who later became his co-defendant in the 2007 Las Vegas armed robbery case, appears in Peacock’s “OJ’s Accomplice.” (Peacock)
Former federal prosecutor David Kelley described Ippolito in the memorandum as a “outstanding supply of data” whose cooperation had proven valuable to investigators. Kelley later told The New York Times he did not believe Ippolito participated in the murders.
“My intuition is that not solely did I really feel that he was telling the reality, however I additionally felt that he had extra to share,” Mark mentioned.
Prosecutor Marcia Clark points to a chart as she describes to jurors where evidence was found at O.J. Simpson’s home during opening statements in the murder trial. (AFP via Getty Images)
“I feel The New York Times in all probability spooked him a bit as a result of they’re an enormous publication. … But I actually do consider him. I believed him then, I consider him now.”
Tanya Brown, the youngest sister of Nicole Brown Simpson, has become an advocate for domestic violence awareness following her sister’s 1994 murder. (Peacock)
Brown Simpson’s sister, Tanya Brown, rejects the theory that Simpson had an accomplice. In the docuseries, Tanya Brown said she believes Simpson alone was responsible for her sister’s murder.
“I feel it is unattainable for those who’re in her place to invest about theories, and I do not blame her for that,” Mark said. “Everything about her felt just like the little sister of any individual who’s an unlucky sufferer.”
Nicole Brown Simpson’s grave (Sygma via Getty Images)
Simpson and Brown Simpson married in 1985. They had two children, Sydney and Justin, and divorced in 1992. Two years later, Brown Simpson and Goldman were found stabbed to death.
The white Ford Bronco, driven by Al Cowlings and carrying O.J. Simpson, during a 90-minute slow-speed car chase on June 17, 1994, on the 405 freeway in Los Angeles. (Sygma via Getty Images)
Investigators quickly focused on Simpson. After the 1995 murder trial, he was acquitted of killing Brown Simpson and Goldman. In 1997, a civil jury found Simpson liable for their deaths. He later served nearly nine years in prison after his conviction on armed robbery and other charges stemming from an unrelated incident in Las Vegas. He died in April 2024 at age 76.
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OJ Simpson died April 10, 2024, at age 76. He had been battling prostate cancer. (Jason Bean-Pool/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.