Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Oct 22

Nicole Brown Simpson's Sister Urges Probe Into 1994 Killings as Accomplice Questions Resurface

Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Oct 22

Nicole Brown Simpson's Sister Urges Probe Into 1994 Killings as Accomplice Questions Resurface

Q: Could newly unsealed files finally reveal who helped hide the missing murder weapon in the infamous 1994 Simpson case after decades of silence?

Not yet. The newly unsealed files add a potentially important lead, but they do not definitively reveal who helped hide the missing murder weapon. What the records do show is that Joseph “Joey” Ippolito, a mob-linked drug trafficker who later became a federal informant, gave authorities information described by federal prosecutors as “very helpful” on O.J. Simpson’s alleged disposal of the weapon, his flight from police, and related details. The problem is that the unsealed letter does not spell out exactly what Ippolito told investigators, where the weapon supposedly went, or what evidence backed him up. The most explosive claim comes not from the court files themselves but from Ippolito’s brother, Sam, who told The New York Times that Joey came home the night of the killings with what looked like blood on his hands and a heavy bag, then asked him to throw it away near a construction site. Sam later denied or softened key parts of that account after seeking payment, which significantly weakens its reliability. That leaves investigators with a plausible but unproven accomplice theory. Tanya Brown and Alan Dershowitz are both urging further scrutiny, and the LAPD has said the double homicide remains an open investigation. But former prosecutor Marcia Clark has said she never knew of Ippolito and doubts he had credible evidence. So the files may justify renewed investigation, but they do not, on their own, finally identify the person who hid the weapon or prove that anyone did.

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 22

Tanya Brown said law enforcement should examine whether more than one person was involved in the 1994 killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
Brown said she believes someone may have helped O.J. Simpson dispose of the murder weapon, citing a recent New York Times report built on newly unsealed court files and interviews.
She said she does not want the full case reopened because of the trauma of the 1995 trial, but wants prosecutors to determine whether anyone assisted Simpson or joined a cover-up.
Alan Dershowitz, one of Simpson's former defense lawyers, also called for a special prosecutor after the report detailed an informant's account of the missing weapon and alleged disposal of a heavy bag.
The renewed scrutiny revisits a case in which Simpson was acquitted in criminal court but later found liable in a civil case for the 1994 deaths.