Hours after the world began buzzing after learning of a bizarre new twist in a decades old murder case, multiple law enforcement sources are already saying the knife found where O.J. Simpson once lived is “inconsistent” with the 1994 killings of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman.
Legal Analysts, however, say forensic tests being done now could still provide clues into the still-open case.
Twelve years ago, a construction worker handed over a knife to an off-duty police officer, who was working at a film set across the street from Simpson’s old house in Brentwood. The officer, now retired, told LAPD the worker found it at Rockingham.
Multiple Sources tells NBC News the utility knife is fairly inexpensive and commonly used by construction crews and gardeners.
“Depending on where an item is kept and stored and maintained that it’s possible to get DNA,” LAPD Capt. Andrew Neiman said during a press conference today.
Other sources say the knife doesn’t look like it was buried long enough to have been used in the killings, but warned forensic testing must still be done to rule it out as the murder weapon.
“Even though O.J. Simpson can never be tried twice for the same crime, if there was someone else involved in this case and this knife sheds light on that, that person could be brought to trial because there is no statute of limitations for murder,” NBC Bay Area legal analyst Steven Clarke said.
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Clarke says the real spotlight is now on the retired officer, whose identity has not yet been released.
“There’s no question it was negligence in the highest degree for him to hang on to that knife and treat it as a piece of memorabilia,” Clarke said.
The family of Ron Goldman issued a statement about the discovery today: “Until the LAPD completes its investigation of the recovered knife, the validity of the knife as it relates to Ron and Nicole’s murder is purely speculative.”
